Many of today's successful businesses abide by a set of core values that are integrated into their company culture. Communicating these values to your team can be the difference between a healthy and an unengaged work environment, especially during the onboarding process.
As a business leader, it's your responsibility to integrate new recruits into your culture and ensure they're aligned with your values. To help you do this, we asked the members of Forbes Human Resources Council how to set the example during an employee's first few weeks on the job. Here's how they recommend demonstrating the importance of your core values to new hires.
1. Participate In Community Involvement Events
For companies that have a community involvement program, managers should invite new hires to participate in an upcoming event along with the rest of the team. This not only functions as a team-building activity, helping the employee to bond with their co-workers, but it also helps the new hire learn about the company culture firsthand and experience the company’s values and giving spirit. - John Feldmann, Insperity
2. Tie Their First Tasks To Company Values
Engage new hires in your values right away. Tie the values to everything that they do in their first few weeks. For example, if they are assigned their first project, explain how that contributes to the organization's mission and how it exemplifies the values. - Lotus Buckner, NCH
3. Introduce Corporate Beliefs And Values Early and Repeat Often
I’ve found it’s essential to introduce and emphasize corporate core values into your HR processes, starting with recruitment and onboarding, employer branding and future internal communications. Reinforce and repeat your message across company communication platforms to reaffirm organizational focus and priorities. It's not only about what you say, but it's also about what you repeat and do. - Anne Iversen, TimeXtender
4. Create Online Training Modules
If one of your core values is "No Arrogance," the online training module will have a situational question to evaluate how an employee responds to arrogance or how they treat others when they hold powerful positions. Whether they get the answer right or wrong, the core value is explained through a video of the CEO explaining why it is so important to the company's culture. - Abhijeet Narvekar, The FerVID Group
5. Establish Strong Connections One On One And As A Team
The fastest way to get a new hire to understand and believe your values is to establish trust and communication early on at all levels. Be hands on and available in the early weeks, and make sure to set up events and opportunities for them to learn about and enjoy their peers. If possible, also set up meetings with members of leadership who are great at driving home the vision and opportunities. - Angela Nguyen, Ad Exchange Group
6. Chat About Culture During The Interview Process
Start by discussing the company culture early in the hiring process when engaging candidates and continuously talk about and exhibit it through the interview process. When they come aboard, make discussing the culture a key part of the first-day onboarding process. Then ensure their manager takes a lead in exhibiting the culture during their continuous onboarding so those behaviors become natural. - James Banares, Valimail
7. Strategically Design Employment Documents
Job descriptions, job postings and offer letters are strategic documents. Incorporate your core values into the message with each. Consider the importance of maintaining the relationship between offer letter acceptance and the employee's first day. There is immense potential to provide informational pieces, videos, etc., about how the core values are part of the employee experience. - Christine Wzorek, White Label Advisors
8. Challenge Them To Exemplify The Value Through A Creative Outlet
Instead of just talking about the core values to the new hire, give them the task of showing and telling the significance of the core values through a creative outlet such as a video, poster, T-shirt, etc. Divide the new hires into teams and make it a competition that the CEO will select the best reflective of those values. The winning concept can be shared on the company intranet or newsletter. - Bridgette Wilder, Wilder HR Management & EEO Consulting
9. Reinforce Through Branding And Employee Recognition Programs
A company’s core values must be reinforced constantly through an array of integrated tools, including handouts given during day-one training, marketing around the office with signage and other visual displays, and recognition of employees who exemplify those values. Assigning a mentor who positively role-models the company values can accelerate a new hire’s alignment, too. - Genine Wilson, Kelly Services
10. Have Company Leaders Tell Stories About Your Values
There's nothing more important than immersing new hires in your culture and values. Make day one memorable by putting the paperwork aside. Have a senior leader highlight their favorite value, followed by a discussion. Stories stick, so rather than just defining the values, describe a time when your values helped the company make a hard decision. Have people write down what the values mean to them. - Mikaela Kiner, Reverb
