So there he is, the new specialist, and takes up his work. A person with individual knowledge, unique experiences and cultural background, and his very own personality. An employee and person who now has to be integrated into the company. Again and again, it is particularly exciting to observe this process: One has opted for a new employee, because he will bring fresh blood into the company, and the first thing that happens is to teach him how things work in the company. Often he will be faced with negative responses when the new colleague points out that things were done differently in other companies, as if there actually were a right or a wrong in this constellation. And the question of who has to adapt to whom can be answered with the question of whether anyone has to adapt at all?
If you want to preserve the fresh and novel perspectives of the new employee for as long as possible, the initial training and familiarisation with the new company should take on a different form. Especially with companies whose employees have been working together for many years, it is crucial to quickly build a network that supports the new employee in expressing his ideas in a benevolent atmosphere. It might make sense to let him participate in a project that is not so important in itself, but in which all influencers participate. In this way getting to know each other takes place on a more neutral ground and many possibilities of positive integration open up.
The acceptance of being different always plays a role. This also applies to the change of generations in companies. Much has been written about Generation Y and now Generation Z and their peculiarities. Yes, they are indeed different from other generations: Hierarchies play a lesser role. Instead, expertise counts. The HR manager is responsible for human resources development, so he does not also have to be the technical chairman. That may dupe many members of the older generations. What can also irritate the older co-workers is the question of why, i.e. the fact that a strategy is not just accepted, but is scrutinized and only supported if it is comprehensible. That can get some strategists to work up a sweat …
Or there is a new employee from abroad who has a different cultural and linguistic background, which in turn is a reflection of history. Hofstede (https://www.geert-hofstede.com/) has explained to us how completely different cultures can be. So this is an area which can also quickly lead to misunderstandings.
If, given all the differences, reciprocal integration is not actively worked on, the new employee has little chance of fully developing his potential. And nothing is worse than losing a difficult-to-find manager after merely a few months only because the integration did not work in the company. This is where it is similar to all bilateral relations: failure always takes two … However, how you can make such processes a success is something I can tell you!
Leave a Reply