Bring New Employees Up To Speed FAST For Top Performance.

The socialization of a new employee is often an important element helping employees to 'hit the ground running.' Traditionally, new employees are oriented toward learning as much about the organization as possible in a short time--its vision, mission, products/services, policies and procedures.

Although this information is important, much of the real learning occurs once the employee has reached the new job site. It is here that coworkers communicate to new employees how to act, whom to stay away from, and the reputation of the management staff. Organizations basically turn the important socialization process over to existing employees to educate new employees about the organization's culture. That may be a frightening thought.

Suppose a new employee asked you to describe your corporate culture. Would he watch your blank stare as you struggled with the answer? You now see why this component is usually not included in the more traditional educational process. Corporate cultures are typically not defined.

In an attempt to tell the employee something, you would probably begin describing behavioral characteristics of individual managers, such as:

* The CEO is an intense risk taker who is not satisfied with the status quo.

* The vice president of manufacturing has only one way of doing business...his way.

* The vice president of finances is extremely conservative and avoids risks at all costs.

* The chief operating officer works to win the popularity contest.

You are right, that is the state of many corporate cultures -- left to the whim of the personalities.

Even so, the behavioral characteristics of individual managers would be pertinent information for any new employee to know. In the absence of a defined corporate culture, companies could put the behavioral characteristics of their managers in writing and include this document along with other information new employees are expected to read.

Providing this information to new employees in a written format rather than requiring them to learn it through the rumor mill or by trial and error is a logical approach to increase new employees' learning curve on the road to being a high performer.

Do you know why this common-sense approach is not used? Because some managers would not be proud of the written word. The company leadership doesn't want to embarrass anyone by putting in writing the information that other employees already know, so new employees are required to learn this information by organizational osmosis, through day-to-day operations.

Let's return to the issue of describing the culture and begin by defining culture to mean, "the way things get done in this organization." In essence the culture is the organization's personality-- determining how people work together to get things done.

As you think about working together, words such as "trust," "respect," "change" and "communication" probably come to mind. How would you describe the behaviors that institutionalize these values in your organization?

Consider trust for a moment. Would you say that people can be depended on to do what they agreed to do in the first place, to keep confidential information private, to empower employees. Or would you use less flattering words to describe this value?

How would you describe organizational change? Would the description convey that the organization is extremely conservative and changes occur only after months of careful deliberation? Would it convey that the organization is more entrepreneurial and risk taking? Is change implemented in a chaotic fashion or is it planned and organized?

Even as you read these descriptions, your thoughts probably wander back to the personalities of certain people in the organization.

Leaving such important cultural characteristics to the whim of personalities probably results in a less than desirable corporate culture. Do you leave your financial or production systems to the whim of these personalities? Obviously not. That would be chaotic.

Suppose your corporate culture in practice reads something like this:

* People are told one thing and we do something else.

* Expressing opposing opinions meets with the threat of retaliation.

* Decision making is controlled by a select few.

* Priorities are changed daily.

* "My way" thinking is the rule rather than the exception.

Change occurs only if it is the manager's idea.

Our guess is that you would find these types of written descriptions embarrassing, although we've heard (you probably have, too) these same words used to describe numerous cultures.

Instead of leaving these important organizational characteristics to the quirks of personalities, consider formally defining the organization's culture.

The ideal definition would identify social values with carefully defined behavioral descriptions. For example, the desired cultural behaviors associated with communication might include:

* Encouraging people to express their opinions.

* Keeping people informed.

* Having input into decisions that affect the employee.

* Providing accurate information.

* Providing timely information. The cultural description for change could include:

* Encouraging innovative and creative ideas to enhance both working relationships and product design/service delivery.

* Viewing mistakes as learning opportunities.

* Constantly seeking opportunities for improvement.

You would probably be very proud to work in an environment that held employees accountable for institutionalizing the cultural descriptions above.

Once the desired behaviors are defined, periodic measurement is the next step to ensure successful implementation. As you know, accountability is the vehicle that converts words into action, and measuring behavioral change can be the communication tool to institutionalize accountability.

Can you imagine the positive effect a prospective or new employee would experience after reading a description of the organization's corporate culture and associated data to demonstrate the degree to which the culture is being implemented? Leaders who define and implement their cultures are sending a very powerful message -- "we care about our people." That is smart people being people-smart.

Larry Cole is founder of Cole Training Consultants (www.peoplemax.net) and author of the book "Frustration Is Your Organization's Best Friend." Michael Cole is a doctoral student in the department of management at Auburn University, Auburn, Ala.