The First 240 Days

Retention of new hires is recognized by most companies as a critical issue, and onboarding is universally viewed as a key factor in retention. Six out of seven companies claim to have an onboarding program. Yet most companies’ onboarding processes last a week or shorter; only 6% have onboarding programs that extend beyond the first 90 days. The necessary assimilation to cement successful behaviors and sustain employment takes longer than this. We believe that it takes executives eight months to be highly functioning members of an organization. We will outline key steps in the assimilation process and what companies can do to ensure that their leaders have the tools they need to succeed.

• The difference between orientation and onboarding
• The ripples of assimilation that happen in the critical early months on the job
• Pre-hiring personality assessments
• Orientation for executives
• New Manager Assimilation Workshop
• Addressing political savvy
• Internal and external guidance
• Establishing boundaries of responsibility
• Culture and the organization’s immune system
• Ensuring advice is heard

• The risks and costs of failed hires
• Different perspective on why executives fail in new roles
• How companies fail their new executives
• The difference between orientation and onboarding
• What’s right and wrong with The First 90 Days
• The ripples of assimilation that happen in the critical early months on the job
• Best practices in executive assimilation

The probability that a senior hire will fail in the first 18 months is 50%, and the associated costs of failure can be 10x salary. Companies often blame these failures on the executive, instead of considering the easy steps they can take to mitigate risk and ensure success. We will cover those steps.

• CEO
• CHRO
• VP or Director of Talent Acquisition
• VP or Director of Talent Management

Steve Moss served as Chief Marketing Officer four times in consumer and technology companies. In his last role, he lasted only 19 months – and didn’t even diagnose some of the issues he faced until months after he had left. He has learned from his own hard knocks, and from research by HR thought leaders, to identify success strategies for new executives. Steve takes pride in developing leaders. Over 50 of his direct reports have gone on to become VPs or Presidents. Steve is President of Executive Springboard, a company that uses a network of 80+ external mentors to deliver an onboarding program that helps leaders excel in new roles.