ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT 2. ONBOARDING Hiring for shared values is step one. Establishing an environment where every employee feels included and part of a larger whole is step two. “Onboarding is way more than a tour through the oiffce, showing hires their new desk and the coffee machine.’” says Grosse. “It’s when you get the information and access to the people necessary to do a good job.” Practically speaking, onboarding is also when new employees have the time to learn about the company, and meet colleagues they might not otherwise encounter. “This is the time to introduce them to each function — the data team, the tools team, the sales team, the product team, you name it — before they get buried in their day-to-day work,” says Lotfesness. “Fostering an understanding of what each team does, what their challenges are — the basic act of putting names to faces atfer a meaningful interaction — is a great way to sidestep factions down the road.” The speciifcs and demands of your business will dictate how much time you can spend on this interdepartmental “get-to-know-you.” But even a few half-hour meetings with colleagues in various departments can make a big difference. On the other end of the spectrum, formalized, week-long (or longer) rotations on different teams can establish even stronger bonds. Here’s how a few companies have approached onboarding: “eero just launched a ‘shadowing program,’ where new colleagues from other departments get a day-in-the-life view of your job,” says Lotfesness. “The sales team, for example, actually takes engineers, CX reps and managers out to a Best Buy, walking them through their retail training program. They see ifrst-hand the end caps and how the product is positioned. They get to really experience the life of the sales team.” At Amazon, where customer satisfaction is paramount, Lotfesness, like all managers of a certain seniority, was required to spend several days training as a customer service rep. “The ‘Customer Connection’ training was an eye-opener, I’ve got to say. It was incredibly motivating, too. The problems you thought your team needed to focus on would shitf when you actually saw what real customers’ frustrations were, and where there were opportunities to make them happier,” he says. 85