Do You Nurture Or Throw Into the Fire - Or Do You Even Know?

After chatting with one of my managers from a long week of trying to determine how we are going to staff all the work we have to accomplish this summer (which is a wonderful problem to have!), we embarked on a great conversation about "nurturing" new hires versus the proverbial "throw 'em into the fire".

If you are a manager, or an independant entrepreneur getting ready to hire contract workers, do you realize and know how you bring up to speed new people working for you?

Nurturers:

• Give new hires a plan from day one


• Meet with new hires regularly to ensure questions and needs are met


• Provide clear goals and objectives

Fire Throwers:

• Provide a few recommendations on how to get started


• Expect a new hire to come to them when needing help


• Has the new hire create their own plan and objectives

So are you more of a nurturer or fire thrower? Even if you are one versuses the other, there's a trick - it's not how you want to bring someone up to speed, but more so about how your new hire needs to be brought into your team's culture.

For example, more junior resources need to be nurtured where more senior can be let loose. Or, you have a particular project at hand you know how it needs to get done versus a new opportunity looking for someone new to look at tackling it from a different perspective.

It's important as you grow your team, and your self as a manager, that you learn how to manage and cultivate a diverse team of talent and experience, where you are capable of sensing which type of ramp up you need to deliver and then knowing how to deliver each method.

So when you look to bring on a new person remember to

1. Recognize what you need to have accomplished in the first 3-12 months


2. Understand the strengths and experiences of the new hire to tailor your ramp up style to him or her