We’ve been onboarding several new team members. They are in positions that require some specific procedural or technical knowledge, but mostly intangible skills. When I train people in these types of positions it is often hard to know for sure that they understand the information.

However, I figured it out. I’ve discovered how to know both that they get it and that we hired the right type of person. It’s that moment they take initiative on their own accord and do something good that you didn’t expect. Here are a couple of examples that illustrate what I mean:

Inside our organization my father is seen as the seasoned engineer, the expert, the sage, the one who solves the toughest problems. He is the one that everyone goes to when they hit a wall and cannot get over a technical hurdle. He is also the one everyone goes to for design approval. No, this story is not about him. He has already finished his onboarding. This is about another engineer that challenged a product concept my father suggested. We were in a brainstorming session about a new product design and after my father shared his concept, one of our newest engineers spoke up with an alternative design concept. They both turned out to be right and the final design incorporated elements from both concepts. This was the moment that it was obvious we hired the right engineer for our organization because he was willing to step out with a new idea, challenging even the most experienced of our engineers, an admired pillar in our industry, to think beyond his initial concept. This engineer that was new to the organization leapt beyond what I expected from him at this stage in his development. Way to be bold Zeke!

Another engineering example comes from a new product that is just about to launch. Our newest engineer was paired with my father to develop concepts then the young engineer was to steer it all the way through certification. The initial concept worked until it faltered in its reproducibility. This hurdle was overcome. The revised design worked well until it failed an internal pre-certification evaluation. This hurdle was overcome. When it came time for the actual certification our young engineer flew for the first time to accompany the product to the lab and went beyond the expected level of effort to find a critical part when the fixture we thought would adapt the product to the test system failed to connect. Ultimately this hurdle was overcome and the product passed certification. I think most people inside the organization were secretly holding their breath hoping it would pass, but worried it might not pass the first time, forcing us to delay our launch date. Nothing to worry about now because Blake repeatedly rose meet the challenges!

I recently lost my Sales Manager, and then shortly thereafter another sales person left the organization. That left me with a sales team comprised of one experienced inside sales person. A few days later a new sales rep started. We jumped right into his sales onboarding. About 5 weeks later two more sales people joined our team. Even though he’d been with us only a matter of weeks, Kennedy was sharing what he had learned with his slightly more recently hired colleagues. He was even setting up customer calls for me so he and I could collaborate with customers to build stronger business partnerships. Now in his 8^th week he’s taken on a complex customer relationship with multiple locations, multiple project moving at different levels with many people involved from both organizations. Great work Kennedy!

There are other examples from the past and will be more in the near future. These are simply some recent examples that illustrate the point.

It is a beautiful thing to see when it clicks and new staff members have the confidence to take the initiative to do something great!