I see it all the time. A health agency hires brilliant young analysts. The CVs shine. The interview scores dazzle. Everyone expects instant miracles. Yet three months later, these same recruits are still stuck on basics. They keep asking where to find data, how to format reports, and who signs off on what. Meetings drag. Deadlines slip. Old staff grumble, “These new ones are slowing us down.”
The problem is not the new hires; it is leadership sluggishness. Companies throw people into the deep end and call it “learning by doing.” That is not learning, it is drowning. You do not buy a high-performance car and refuse to fuel it. Yet that is what most leaders do: hire the best but fail to onboard.
Onboarding is not about policies and a tour of the office. It is about wiring new people into execution from day one. If they cannot see how their role drives the bigger machine, they hesitate. If they do not know the shortcuts in systems, they waste time. If they cannot secure a quick win, they look incompetent. And once the old staff label them dead weight, recovery is hard.
Onboarding is not HR’s job, it is leadership’s job. A CEO who thinks onboarding ends with a welcome email is a CEO who slows execution.
When I get an opportunity to work with organisations, I insist on one rule: every new hire must deliver a visible win in the first 30 days. A report. A project. A small but real result. That win changes perception. It says, “I belong here, I add value.”
Execution slows not because the new hires are incompetent, but because leaders think onboarding is a formality. Look at onboarding as the ignition switch of strategy. When you fail to align fresh talent with your culture, tools, and expectations, you pay twice: in wasted time and in disengaged staff.
A leader must treat onboarding like a surgeon treats sterilisation. You do not cut corners. A proper induction is not an orientation slideshow; it is structured integration. New hires must see how their role connects to the bigger engine, shadow real projects, and deliver a small win within 30 days. That win builds confidence and shows the team they add value.
Here is a tool. Map your onboarding like a relay race.
- Week one: values, strategy, and role clarity.
- Week two: systems and tools mastery.
- Week three: mentorship and shadowing.
- Week four: a first real deliverable.
Do this, and you turn new hires from passengers into drivers of execution.
I remain, Mr Strategy
