H OW L E A D E R S S H O U L DS U P P O R T I N T E R N A L H I R E S

T H I E R R Y D E N T I C E

When hiring external candidates for various openpositions at a company, there is a certain process

that allows for support, training and structureoffered to the new employee regardless of

department. Unfortunately, far too commonlyinternal hires lack various forms of structure which

is generally offered to employees who comeexternally from other firms, companies or

organizations.

Unlike internal hires, external hires received intensiveonboarding support, briefings on how the business or

organization operates and emotional support toassimilate to the new company culture. In many

companies, the process related to helping internalhires or employees to adjust to their new job was

often times less prioritized for resources to help guidenewly employed external candidates.

Faulty leadership can create a mentality for new internalhires based on the “sink or swim” notion that definitely ismore detrimental to not only, the employee, but also forthe department she/he is currently affiliated with. This

overall lack of emotional support in various areas is proneto not only a high turnover, but, in addition, a great loss of

talent that has not been properly fostered in a nurturingway geared towards long- term success.

As an increasing amount of companiesand organizations are realizing this fault

in what is called their “inboardingprocess,” this provides an ideal time for

leaders to initiate the necessary changesin order to alter the ineffective nature of

the process in place.

According to a recent study at Genesis Adviserscategorizing around 500 leading HR companies,

roughly a third of new hires at any given companyare employees from other internal departments. One

very useful way for leaders to rectify this lack ofsupport in this employee transitional phase is to

most effectively “assess transition risk” in order forevery party involved to benefit from this internal

transfer.

The first step for leaders to better understand andassess transition risk is to create a model to frame

major shifts in the company. These shifts caninclude promotions, business deals between

departments and their brief job history. With allthese factors in mind, this could develop into an

essential tool to decipher the kind of supportneed for internal hires.

The main takeaway from this assessment of thetransitional risk model is to not only better set

priorities in a more effective way, but also for leadersto dismantle to the ongoing politics or setbacks in

departments where internal transfers are made. Thiswill in turn create a more holistic level of awarenessacross various areas to improve both individual and

professional performance.