Lessons From the Water is a series of blog postings I’m writing about team dynamics. The posts draw upon my experiences sailboat racing to illustrate principles which apply to almost any team situation.

This posting is the first of a two-part series about “Onboarding.” This HR term has a number of definitions, but my focus is not on logistical things like setting up benefits or ordering laptops, cubicles and post-it notes, but on the much more important process of forging the relationships required within a high performance team.

Leaders have a number of concerns when their organization is either growing rapidly, utiizing cross-functional teams or merging groups.

Will the additition of team members slow the rest of us down?

How can I most effectively reduce the time it takes to incorporate a new person as an accepted, valued and productive team member?

What influence do the other team members have in the process? How do I make sure it’s positive?

The best skippers I’ve raced with take very simple steps to facilitate onboarding.

1) Share the news. Good skippers communicate with the team and explain the reasons for adding a new member to them as well as what his or her role will be and what job functions they will be performing.

2) Share background info and foster credibility. Skippers know that a new person can be an unknown quantity distracting people from their tasks and causing them to worry about performance degradation. Describing the new member’s relevant background and what they’re bringing to the table will put the team at ease.

3) Engage the team. Rather than sitting back to see how the new person lives up to expectations, the best crew members take ownership and pride in the success of new members. Good skippers make this an explicit team norm and convey clearly that everyone can play a role and dramatically shorten the time someone feels like or performs like a newbie.

4) Practice working and practice bonding. Good skippers never “throw someone into the mix” and don’t believe in “trial by fire.” Skippers organize practices and team meetings for the express purpose of giving people an opportunity to learn about others styles and share/develop team norms. Without exception, winning teams practice more than those behind them at the finish line.

5) Debrief. As part of every practice session, and after each race, great teams have candid debriefs. Honest feedback is acceptable and expected. Everyone’s opinion is valued regardless of whether they are at the helm, trimming sails or working in front of the mast. Great skippers solicit comments from everyone, which helps incorporate new people and expose old hands to the value of new blood and new perspectives.

During my days at IBM, Adobe Systems, DigitalThink and a number of other start-ups, I served as a member of multiple teams where leaders applied many of the steps above and others, too. I’d welcome builds to this posting which showcase business examples.

In my sailing career, I’ve been fortunate to have opportunities to be fill-in or flown-in crew for teams competing in Key West, Chicago, Annapolis, Newport and Texas. Sometimes the experiences have been phenomenally good. Other times, it’s been a train wreck, and much of the responsibiity falls squarely on my shoulders.

But in every cloud, there’s that silver lining, which in this case are lessons learned. The next posting in this series will discuss steps new team members can take themselves to make their onboarding experience as productive, rapid and successful as possible.

Fair winds,

JP