Manager Onboarding: 12 Best Practices to Perfect the Process for New Leaders

Bad manager horror stories have been pouring in on LinkedIn during the Great Resignation.

From bosses who openly mock their staff to those who require toilet break permission, is it any wonder that 2 in 5 employees have already quit because of their manager?

People Management reports that a further 50% are considering leaving because of their boss.

If you've lost a ton of staff to competitors or are dealing with a quiet quitting epidemic, you might face a leadership nightmare.

Looking for a proactive solution? Don't underestimate the power of effective manager onboarding. 

It's in your best interests to invest in manager training right from the outset so your team leaders don't have to "figure it out" themselves. Understand that your leaders are human and make mistakes, but implementing a stellar manager onboarding program will set your managers up for success from day 1 in their role.

✈️ What is manager onboarding?

Manager onboarding involves orienting and acclimating new managerial hires to their role, responsibilities, and company culture. It is an essential part of the employee lifecycle and should receive the same attention and resources as any other employee onboarding program.

Wondering who manager onboarding is best suited to? 

✅ Any new manager who joins the company; 

✅ Current employees promoted into first-time leadership roles;

✅ An experienced manager who is transferring from another location or company;

✅ A remote manager who is joining the company for the first time.

Tip: Design this strategic process to support managers transitioning into their new roles. The goal is to help them hit the ground running, give them all the tools they need to support their direct reports, and ultimately ensure a smooth introduction into the company culture.

💸 Why commit to onboarding managers?

If a hiring panel has selected a candidate for a managerial role or promoted an employee internally, they must surely have what it takes to lead. So, why bother with manager onboarding at all? 

Here are some points to consider following the hiring process.

1. The strategic role of managers 

As the link between senior leaders and front-line employees, managers play a pivotal role in driving company culture and promoting engagement.

Gallup research reveals that managers account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement.

In other words, creating a positive company culture and engaged workforce comes down to developing your managers. 

2. Costs of manager turnover 

Replacing a bad manager costs US companies $960 billion annually. Ouch! But what's the cost to an individual team? 

Laszlo Bock, the co-founder of Humu (a workplace software company) and former CHRO of Google, explains that if you rate a manager between 1 and 10, those scoring one will prompt employees to quit. 

The result? 

Expect an immediate drop in productivity as you lose team members and take time out to recruit and train new joiners — all the while, the bad manager remains in-seat, draining morale further.

3. High stakes of failed onboarding 

Our employee onboarding stats reveal that only 12% of organizations have an effective onboarding program. 

When you consider the high stakes involved in manager onboarding — from the cost of turnover to the impact on company culture — it's clear that this isn't an area where businesses can afford to cut corners. 

Plus, HR News reports that attrition is a significant issue, with 20% of new hires leaving a company within 45 days and 33% leaving within six months! 

4. Manager impact on team engagement 

Employee engagement is a hot topic, and Korn Ferry's studies reveal that 33% of workers leave their roles because of boredom! Employee recognition is also a huge factor, with 84% of highly engaged employees admitting their boss acknowledged their achievements at work, compared to only 25% of disengaged employees, according to Bonusly. 

During onboarding, leaders can learn about the impact their team management style has on direct reports in terms of engagement. But managers also need to feel engaged to keep the wheel turning. 

Elise Finn, Director and Co-Founder of NkuziChange asks managers to reflect on their performance:

"If you're leading a high performance team, I'm sure you spend loads of time thinking about KPIs, performance indicators, metrics, goals. And that's right – we need to worry about those things.

But how much time are you actually spending thinking about your contribution, your impact for your team on their performance?

What are you doing to amplify their performance? And what are you doing that might squash or detract from their performance?"

🪜 Step-by-step approach to new manager onboarding 

An effective manager onboarding program will follow a clear structure.

Phase 1 - Pre-onboarding: This stage focuses on paperwork, introductions, and providing access to tools.

Phase 2 - New hire orientation session: beginning on your manager's first day and lasting up to a week. The phase focuses on welcoming your manager to their new team and introducing them to other key members of the organization.

You'll also discuss relevant safety information and personal benefits such as medical insurance, PTO, and other company policies. Managers must know how each of these policies affects themselves and their impact on their team members. 

Phase 3 - Role-specific training: this is the most crucial stage of incoming manager onboarding, so getting it right means they can ramp up quickly to become productive. Get it wrong, and your new managers will make leadership mistakes that affect morale across your company. 

Key elements include role clarity and expectations, performance goals, and role-related managerial training, including job shadowing. 

Phase 4 - Role transition: time to let go! In this penultimate stage, you'll set your manager up for success by providing regular check-ins and access to additional resources. You'll also encourage their input on how to improve the team onboarding process for future joiners.

Phase 5 - Easing the transition: this stage is about ensuring a smooth transition for your manager into their new role. 

A few months after joining, they should be comfortable and confident in their leadership ability, making managerial decisions in line with company culture and OKRs. 

Tip: Ensure you offer ongoing growth opportunities to help managers progress in their careers.

➡️ Check out more information on the stages of onboarding.

💡 12 Best practices for effective manager onboarding

In an Egon Zehnder survey of 588 execs, 60% revealed it took six months to have a full impact in their roles, while almost 20% believed it took 9+ months.

Want to speed the process up?

These best practices will accelerate the transformation from enthusiastic rookie managers into seasoned leaders who inspire.

‍Outline processes and workflows 

Before your new manager starts, take the time to document all key processes and workflows they need to know. Having a go-to source of information will be helpful if they ever get stuck.

Cataloging workflows is also an opportunity to determine if automation could speed up repetitive tasks.

Define clear expectations 

Role confusion is one of the main reasons new managers fail. But you can mitigate this by setting clear expectations from the start. 

For example, you should discuss what they're accountable for, their team's responsibilities, and how you'll measure their performance.

Establishing what type of leader you want them to be is also important. For example, do you want them to take a hands-on approach or step back and let their team members take the lead? 

What's your preferred approach to conflict management? 

Make sure these expectations are clear and realistic based on their available resources.

➡️ Dig deeper into creating your leadership competency model. You'll find five steps to developing a leadership competency model.

Clarify short-term objectives 

A set of short-term objectives will give your new manager a tangible goal to work towards and a way to measure their progress.

As well as setting long-term expectations, you should outline OKRs for the first few months.

Harvard Business Review describes how new managers can quickly become overwhelmed as they get up to speed in all aspects of the business. 

The guidance? 

Why not set a short-term 100-day challenge in a specific area and shape onboarding around it? This approach prompts the new manager to achieve value while improving critical processes. 

Set up a new manager-team date 

Your new manager's team is key to their success. So, they must form a strong relationship and define how they'll lead them as early as possible.

Tip #1: Begin by creating a team directory in Loom where each person records a welcome video with a little information about their role and fun facts about their personal life. 

Introductory videos will help the manager memorize faces and names and builds an initial connection. 

Introduce team members before the manager's start date to allow everyone to break the ice and build trust. 

Tip #2: You could also arrange a team-building activity for their first day. It will help them bond and start working together towards a common goal.

Prioritize stakeholder introductions 

Your new manager must build relationships with various stakeholders inside and outside the company. Encourage those connections and prioritize introducing them to the most important people they need to know.

Tip: Decide whether to use a formal or informal introduction template depending on the person's seniority. 

An example of a formal template would be:

"I'm delighted to introduce you to {NAME}. They have X years of experience working for Fortune 500 organizations, and we're excited about the breadth of skills and experience they'll bring to our team.

{NAME} is passionate about {AREA OF EXPERTISE} and has a real talent for {UNIQUE SKILL}. Their start date is mm/dd/yyyy, and they will work in {OFFICE/REMOTE LOCATION}.

Please join me in welcoming {NAME} to the team!"

Encourage managers to build their personal brand 

A manager's personal brand constantly reinforces their leadership style and what they stand for. Use an onboarding program to:

• Offer guidance on social media for personal branding.
• Arrange media training.
• Help them write thought-leadership articles.
• Suggest speaking opportunities at conferences.
• Set up internal networking paths. 

Celebrate your company culture 

Your workplace culture will significantly influence your new manager's success. So, they must understand and buy into it from the start.

One way to do this is to immerse them in your culture from day one. 

Some examples of activities to share glimpses of your culture are: touring the office, meeting key people, and attending company events.

Tip: You could also consider sending regular updates on company news and developments. 

A constant flow of company news will help them feel connected to the business, even if they're not in the office daily.

Balance learning and doing 

Training is integral to manager success.
‍

‍Ron Ashkenas, Partner Emeritus of Schaffer Consulting, suggests asking the incoming leader to identify what they want to learn about the business and then build training around it: 

"Most high-level people who take new positions have done enough due diligence about their new role that they have a number of smart questions or areas that they are curious about or assumptions they want to test. So rather than force the new person to learn what you think is important only, build the onboarding curriculum together." 

🤯 Common problem: it's easy for managers to get bogged down in learning materials instead of actually doing their job.

💡 Solution: Strike the right balance with powerful training formats for new managers that will slide right into the working day. 

Consider a mix of classroom-based training, online courses, and on-the-job learning such as roundtable discussions and micro-learning programs. This approach to learning will allow your new manager to gain theoretical knowledge and put it into practice in a real-world setting.

➡️ Freeletics enlisted Zavvy to help create a training routine for their leaders. They implemented a leadership onboarding program, people manager roundtable discussions, and regular microlearning to supercharge leadership growth.

Focus on belonging 

Like any new joiner, a new manager must feel swiftly connected to the company. This sense of belonging will enable them to do their best work. 

• Make sure they have a dedicated point of contact within the company: their direct manager, HR, or someone else in a leadership position.
• Encourage them to participate in company life by attending social events, joining employee resource groups, or volunteering for corporate responsibility programs.
• Ensure DEI commitment is in place. Gartner research reveals that companies with a 20% increase in inclusion are associated with greater employee performance and on-the-job effort. 

Provide mentors 

Even the most successful CEOs have used mentors to develop their careers. 

So, don't underestimate the power of mentorship when onboarding new managers. 

Mentorship could help your leadership talent to stick around. Pushfar reports that access to mentoring is a deciding factor for 86% of employees who stay at an organization. 

Tip #1: Pair your new manager with a more experienced colleague who can offer guidance and support. The mentor could be someone they shadow for a day or week or regularly meet with.

Tip #2: Arrange mentorship programs with external experts. This approach could be helpful if your new manager is moving into a new industry or taking on an entirely new role.

➡️ If you're new to mentorship programs, check out our in-depth discussion of their benefits. You'll also find our guidelines for launching your first mentorship program. 

Check in to receive constructive feedback

Employee feedback is key to improving company culture and can include upward feedback loops from managers, company leaders, and HR departments. 

Check in with your new manager for feedback on how they're settling in. Sharing and collecting feedback could be done informally through regular catch-ups, a more formal process such as an onboarding survey after 30 and 60 days, or a regular pulse survey with a short list of questions.

Bonusly calculates that only 41.8% of companies collect this vital information annually or less frequently. 

So allow your managers to excel by setting up constructive feedback loops.

Offer continuous feedback

When done correctly, manager onboarding can be a powerful tool for developing managerial capability. 

Tip #1: A robust leadership development plan and a commitment to continuous feedback will give your new manager the best chance to succeed.

Tip #2: Identify managerial capability gaps and provide upskilling opportunities to close these gaps.

For example, you can choose from additional training courses, e-learning modules, learning events, or webinars. 

Tip #3: 360-degree performance reviews will also allow your manager to get feedback from their direct reports.

Finally, make sure you provide regular feedback on their performance. Do this informally or through a more formal process, such as quarterly or annual reviews.

"Onboarding doesn't sit with one person. It's a partnership with their line manager and the people team. To ensure that the training is applied in the right way and all development needs are met.

I was able to do this by gathering feedback from both the managers and their managers. The interesting thing was that it was less about having the hard skills or learning a new process but having the soft skills like having crucial conversations or managing key stakeholders." - Chichi Erachalu, Head of Leadership Development at Multiverse.

✅ Your go-to checklist for onboarding incoming leaders

Looking for a manager onboarding checklist? Use this template to storm through the first three months. 

Prep stage

• Send out the required paperwork.
• Check that the new manager has signed the paperwork.
• Order necessary hardware.
• Prepare account access and other rights and privileges.
• Notify colleagues and arrange team meetings.
• Ensure relevant documentation is current (internal policies, company culture, data protection, IT training, compliance regulations, role-specific content).

Preboarding

• Send a welcome package and message (video welcome, company swag) with essential details about the start date, time and location, and who to report to).

Day 1

• Provide access to hardware/software accounts.
• Introduce the new manager to their onboarding buddy.
• Introduce the new manager to company goals and individual goals.
• Provide a welcome reception (say hi in person or set up a virtual chat). 

Week 1

• Sign all formal policies. 
• Have 1:1 conversations. 
• Encourage networking. 
• Create an initial assignment.
• Provide access to training resources. 
• Send a celebratory end-of-first-week message.

First 30 days

• Ask for feedback on the manager onboarding process.
• Provide regular day-to-day tips. 
• Encourage the onboarding buddy relationship. 

First 60 days

• Expand manager's role-related training. 
• Review first goals. 
• Continue to encourage the onboarding buddy relationship. 

First 90 days

• Continue to collect feedback on the manager onboarding process.
• Smooth transition to the overall continuous development process. 
• Continue to encourage the onboarding buddy relationship.

➡️ Fast-track the time to new manager productivity with Zavvy 

Who has time for a manual approach to manager onboarding in today's fast-paced work environment? 

Use Zavvy's suite of onboarding tools to maximize your new leaders' potential and get them productive. Fast! 

We offer: 

✅ structured and enlightening onboarding journeys

✅ highly effective manager training programs 

✅ learning in the flow of work 

✅ career frameworks and targeted development plans 

✅ 360 feedback to help leaders develop and coach their teams 

✅ tools to nourish a culture of high performance in the workplace 

Ready to learn more? Arrange a demo of our manager onboarding and training software today to build your complete onboarding process.

❓ FAQs

Still got burning questions on manager onboarding? That's what this section's for! 

What should a new manager do in the first 30 days? 

New manager training can happen in the flow of work, so learners quickly receive all the information they need to put their new skills into practice immediately. The first 30 days are critical for a new manager and should focus on understanding the company's culture, values, and goals. They should also build relationships with their team and get to know their direct reports. 

What should a new manager do first? 

Learning the lay of the land is a priority for a new manager. 

In the first few days, they should meet with their team and get a feel for their new organization. 

After that, they'll rely on a range of soft skills such as communication, listening, and empathy to get to know their team and build trust.

At the same time, the first few days are the time to review any relevant documentation, such as internal policies, company culture, data protection, IT training, compliance regulations, and role-specific content.

What is the most important element in onboarding new managers? 

Relationships are the foundation on which to build a productive and cohesive team. That's why onboarding buddies and mentors are such a key element of the process, offering that human connection to help new managers feel welcome, supported, and settled in their new roles. 

How do you measure manager onboarding success? 

It's impossible to know how your manager onboarding measures up without tracking the success of your process. We know from Harvard Business Review that better employee experiences during onboarding lead to better employee engagement. So, gather valuable onboarding metrics, including: 

• onboarding completion; 
• onboarding score surveys;
• employee net promoter score (eNPS); 
• top performers.

Use this data to produce an effective onboarding procedure over time so each version is better than the last.