Sink or Swim Is Not an Onboarding Strategy
Sink or Swim Is Not an Onboarding Strategy
This week, I added a new team member. She has four legs, the sweetest face, and she’s scared of her own shadow. Because of her fear, she’s been in the shelter for a while. No one wanted to put in the time it would take to help her adjust.
Working with her this week made me think…
How many companies treat their new hires the same way?
In this episode, we explore why “sink or swim” is not onboarding — and why expecting performance without structure is a leadership failure.
In This Episode We Cover:
- The 4 Parts of Effective Onboarding:
- Acclimation
- Expectations
- Training & Patience
- Support & Tools
- Why production cannot come before orientation
- The cost of unclear expectations
- The difference between exposure and training
- Why most performance problems are actually onboarding failures
- The hard questions leaders need to ask themselves
Reflection Questions:
Do you have a documented onboarding plan — or just a checklist?
Have you defined 30, 60, and 90-day expectations?
Is training structured — or random exposure?
Do you check in consistently during the first 90 days?
When someone struggles, do you blame the person — or evaluate the system?
Onboarding isn’t paperwork. It’s leadership.
If this episode resonated with you, share it with another leader who needs to hear it. Until next week — Lead with confidence. Focus on your people. Let’s build a better business.
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