Leveraging personality profiling insights to drive engagement in onboarding!

This week, AHRI’s Let’s Take This Offline podcast shared an interesting story about a neuro-divergent employee who was ready to quit a new job by lunch time on day one.

Why? The day started with an intensive breakfast introduction with a large group of senior leaders, and the week ahead was filled with a range of one-on-one meetings with a variety of people – with no clarity around what the meetings were for or the outcome.

For this person who was introverted, socially-uncomfortable and goal-focused, this just made them feel like they had TOTALLY landed in the wrong role.

This is an extreme example.

But it’s a really great example of how a one-size-fits-all approach to onboarding (or any moment in the employee lifecycle!) is doomed to fail.

Today, more and more employees are expecting that leaders see and understand them - and will help to shape their role in a way that will make sense for them.

It’s the trend of personalisation.

This month at TALY we’re sharing ideas on how you can use personality profiling insights to make this super easy for you as a people leader. To catch up, you can catch up on why it matters and some high level ideas to make an impact.

Today, let’s focus on onboarding…

Get in touch to find out more about how you can use TALY profiling to give you the insights you need to build great teams - from recruitment onwards! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.

What does personalisation mean in onboarding?

Well, for starters, it does not mean recreating the entire onboarding program for each employee every time.

Personalisation, when you break it down, is just about making things personal.

It’s about tailoring a few elements around the edges so that the new team member feels seen and understood, and that they feel like they’ve landed in the right place.

The first few months are critical not only to get people firing and contributing, but also to make sure they feel like part of the tribe and culture. The changes don’t need to be significant – a big part of building alignment in any relationship is to show that you’ve made a little effort.

Importantly, when leaders show a level of flexibility and that they are willing to connect with team members, this has the flow on effect of creating an environment that encourages two-way dialogue. Open and honest dialogue back and forth that enables the resolution of tension - and to focus on being amazing!

What can leaders do to keep engagement HIGH during onboarding?

As you know, the first 6 months for any new team member are critical - Day 1 is peak engaging, riding from a (hopefully) positive recruitment process and decision to take on this new role.

Personality profiling can be used across this time to keep engagement high, supporting the critical interactions between an employee and their new leader with data and insights to make it work.

At TALY, we focus on four moments during this time…

• Recruitment

• Onboarding

• Feedback

• Ongoing coaching

The secret to maintaining positive engagement during onboarding is to start with a little curiousity. Stop for a moment, see the new person and think about what works for them – and of course use independent, science-based data like TALY to give you the true story.

Here are some key areas to think about during this important time…

Understand what they are most excited about…

Our personality underpins a lot of our behaviour - including how we see the world and what motivates us. Ideally the onboarding experience should seek to AMPLIFY the connection between what excites the new employee and the role…

A highly conscientious person, focused on goals, will want to start making an impact quickly. How can you get them firing quickly and getting a few early wins?

A highly open-minded and strategic person will want to understand their role in the bigger picture. How can you connect them with the bigger picture so they can start to imagine the contribution they can make.

The flip side of this is a first week filled with activities that don’t align. Sure, they will engage, but they won’t feel engaged!

Understand what might they be more concerned about…

Your personality also underpins how you respond to different situations. Are you highly resilient or more emotionally sensitive. Are you a highly structured person coming into an environment of change and fluidity. Or are you a highly unstructured person coming into the team during the implementation of a new, intense, detailed process.

Being mindful of where the business, situation or team dynamics may cause conflict based on personality - and openly discussing and managing this - is critical to keep engagement high!

Understanding the team they are coming into…

The team the new employee is coming into is also full of different personalities. Different personalities working together openly and effectively can drive great outcomes - but without understanding there can be tension.

Leveraging personality insights to understand where there might be differences or tensions, and encouraging open dialogue around this, can be a great way to get ahead of problems.

Imagine a highly agreeable person coming into a team of challengers. Without recognising this different style can be linked to personality, it just feels like there is tension and blockers everywhere - and we don’t want these new team members starting to wonder if they made the wrong decision

Keep checking in…

While personality insights can give you a super power in tailoring your communications in a way that will best connect with you team, this can be super charged in an environment of open dialogue.

The best relationships start with clarity in expectations, but are even better with open dialogue. Encouraging new employees to be open and honest about what works for them – and for leaders to be open and honest about what works for them and the organisation – can only lead to the quick resolution of issues.

At TALY, we’ve built intelligent, AI-driven insights inside our personality profiling that unpacks this for leaders at each of these moments. It’s powerful!

Peak engagement starts on Day 1 – don’t waste it!

Take a moment to think back to that first example – the new employee that wanted to quit by lunch time on the first day.

Imagine time was given before they started to understand what would work best from them, and a few small tweaks were built into the onboarding process to align better to their needs.

Their desire to feel aligned, engaged and committed would be have been met. Their leader would not have needed to switch into recovery mode. Their Day 1 energy could translate into great outcomes for the team.

Technology and AI, powered by science-based data like TALY, can now make this super easy for all leaders. But we have to lean in first.

The TALY approach to personality profiling brings together a unique mix of Five Factor and Emotional Intelligence profiling to help organisations, hiring managers and teams to make better decisions about recruitment and teams.

Get in touch to find out more… we love talking about this stuff! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.