What Is Orientation For New Leaders?

Have you ever wondered why some organizations seem to enjoy an ever-expanding roster of successful, experienced leaders while others struggle against a relentless cycle of executive recruitment processes followed by quick turnovers?

Or why do some new executives seem to hit the ground running, settling quickly and easily into their new role and rapidly making positive impacts, while others take months to grasp the basic responsibilities and expectations of their new role?

Effective orientation may be the answer you’ve been seeking! Orientation for new leaders is an essential step in the onboarding process that can either set the stage for steady success or plant the seeds of issues and missteps that could impact the longevity of your newest executive hires. 

If you want to learn more about new leader assimilation, read on. We’re breaking down each of those topics and more to help executives just like you navigate the complex and challenging executive recruitment and onboarding process to generate better results.

What Is New Leader Orientation?

New leader orientation is the first step in the onboarding process that follows a successful employment offer. 

New leader orientation introduces recent executive hires to the broad strokes of their role and responsibilities as well as foundational information about your organization, its strategic goals, ongoing projects, and competitive advantages. 

Now leader orientation also typically includes tasks and processes like:

• Filling out new hire paperwork
• Touring your organization’s facilities
• Arranging introductory and compliance meetings with H.R.
• Introducing your company’s mission, vision, values, and culture.
• Outlining individual and team performance objectives and success metrics
• Arranging meetings with new leaders’ teams, stakeholders, peers, and superiors.
• Introducing new leaders to the tools and technology they’ll be using to fulfill their duties
• Onboarding an executive-level position
• leadership orientation definition

What Are the Two Types of Leadership Orientations?

There are two types of leadership orientations companies can use to outline their unique approach. The type of leadership orientation you choose should largely depend on your company culture, hiring goals, and leadership philosophy.

The two types of leadership orientations are:

1. Task-Oriented Orientations – Task-oriented orientations rely on quantitative checklists, frameworks, and milestones to guide, monitor, review, and evaluate new leader orientation success. This type of leadership orientation benefits from its impartial and easily replicated nature, which reduces opportunities for bias, oversights, or missed opportunities to provide support. 

2. People-Oriented Orientations – People-oriented orientations are more flexible and structured than task-oriented orientations. Instead of strictly adhering to a formalized process or checklist, people-oriented orientations prioritize high levels of attentiveness, support, and guidance from hiring managers, trainers, and mentors to support new leaders’ success. This type of leadership orientation can help companies adapt to new leaders’ unique needs, challenges, and preferences.

What Is New Leader Onboarding?

The executive onboarding process is a series of systems or processes designed to streamline leadership transitions, encourage strong assimilation, provide a path toward effective integration, and transform newly hired leaders into trusted, experienced company assets. 

Executive onboarding best practices call for providing newly hired leaders with everything they need – including resources, training, development, mentorship, a new leader assimilation toolkit, and technologies — to assume the responsibilities and expectations of their new role effectively.

What Are the 4 Cs of Effective Onboarding?

The 4 C’s of effective onboarding come from a widely accepted business theory created by Dr. Talya Bauer, a researcher at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation. 

The 4 C’s theory proposes successful onboarding relies on compliance, clarification, culture, and connection.

1. Compliance – Smoothly handle basic onboarding tasks like paperwork, policy and procedure introductions, and detailing company-wide rules.
2. Clarification – Clarify your newly hired executives’ role, responsibilities, individual and team expectations, and key performance indicators (KPIs)
3. Culture – Educate new leaders on your company’s culture, values, communication style, and organizational hierarchy, as well as tour facilities and worksites.
4. Connection – Arrange meetings and conversations between new executives and their peers, superiors, direct reports, and relevant stakeholders.

Why Are Onboarding and Orientation Important?

The importance of onboarding and orientation can’t be overstated. Companies that choose not to invest in developing data-backed systems do so at their own peril and invite issues like climbing recruitment costs, spiking turnover, a shallow leadership structure, and stunted growth. 

Companies that elect to give their onboarding and orientation process the attention, resources, and development they deserve, on the other hand, will enjoy benefits and perks like: 

• Reduced turnover and churn
• Improved performance and productivity
• Stronger morale at the leadership and worker levels
• Stronger alignment with company values and culture
• Reduced recruitment and onboarding expenses
• A deep, multi-faceted roster of experienced executives and business leaders 

How Medallion Can Help

Medallion Partners has provided expert support and guidance to companies interested in developing, evolving, or refining their onboarding, orientation, and assimilation processes. 

Our unique approach to stimulating new executives’ success has generated impressive wins for our clients, like a 98% executive retention rate after 24 months. The average tenure for executives across industries has plummeted to 18 months or less. 

To learn more about how our top-rated firm empowers our clients to propel hiring and onboarding outcomes to new heights, contact us today.