Essential Onboarding Checklist for New Managers [Download for Free]

As businesses grow, they’ll likely have to onboard new managers from time to time. 

Whether this is a promotion from within or hiring a new team member, a good manager-onboarding program can set your new managers up for success from day one.

By and large, onboarding managers is similar to onboarding new employees. 

There’s plenty of planning and preparation involved in both cases that extend before and after the new hire’s first day of work.

But although the manager-onboarding experience is pretty much the same as that of any other employee, there are some key differences that organizations need to be aware of. 

In this article, we’ll go over the details of manager onboarding and the five principles of onboarding, and will also include a free downloadable manager-onboarding checklist.

Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of May 3rd, 2024.

What is the purpose of manager onboarding?

Whether we’re talking about employee, manager, or executive onboarding, the purpose remains more or less the same. 

The aim is to get new hires, regardless of job title or experience, accustomed to their new position as quickly and as effectively as possible. 

In terms of manager onboarding, the purpose is to help them get better integrated into their new role, understand their responsibilities, and get acquainted with the company culture. 

An effective onboarding program also aims to develop the new hire’s skills and abilities. It helps them learn about company policies, mission, values, and vision, too, as well as the organization’s products and services. 

It’s also at this time that new employees get to meet their team and generally learn the ropes of the organization.  

According to the Brandon Hall Group in collaboration with Glassdoor, organizations with a strong onboarding process see, on average, an 82 percent improvement in new-hire retention and over 70 percent in productivity. 

This brings us to the five C’s of a successful onboarding strategy.

What are the 5 ‘C’s of new-hire onboarding?

These so-called five ‘C’s help organizations and their human resources teams better understand the basics of manager onboarding.

They offer a framework on which to build an effective new-hire onboarding process that’s able to drive the desired results.

The five C’s of new-hire onboarding—in no particular order—are the following:

• Compliance: Generally, the first ‘C’ to focus upon because it typically includes things covered during the employee’s first day or week.
  It ensures that new managers are aware of all of the company’s procedures, policies, and regulatory requirements.
  Compliance includes all the necessary paperwork like tax forms, contracts, and background checks, as well as any mandatory compliance training relevant to the business sector or industry.  
• Clarification: Emphasizing full transparency. As new hires come through the door, they have little to no idea what to expect.
  It’s at this stage that both parties discuss key onboarding and performance metrics, the performance review process, set clear milestones, and establish Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART) goals for the first month and quarter.
  This step is critical in providing direction, setting expectations, and helping to dispel any uncertainties that managers may have about their new job.
• Culture: Managers also need to get the “feel” of the organization’s culture as quickly as possible. This includes things like shared values, beliefs, mission, history, behaviors, and other company-specific ways of doing things.
  It’s generally best practice to immerse the new hire into the company culture during the early stages of onboarding to make a good first impression and confirm if there’s a good fit. 
• Connection: While on the topic of first impressions, the fourth C is about forming connections between the new manager and the rest of the organization.
  This helps build connections between team members and departments, boosts camaraderie, drives engagement, and opens up opportunities for social learning.
  To facilitate connection, companies need to organize casual meetups, social events, and various team-building activities, as well as foster an environment based on open communication and feedback. 
• Check-in: Regular check-ins ensure that the new manager is adjusting to their new role and is in line with the onboarding plan.
  By scheduling weekly one-on-one meetings during the first month or so, companies can help their new hires with any concerns or challenges they may encounter along the way.
  These check-ups also open up opportunities for discussing performance metrics and any areas for improvement, without making it seem like an official performance review. As time goes on, these meetings can become just monthly or bimonthly, preferably throughout the new manager’s first year. 

Based on these five C’s of onboarding, companies can lay the groundwork for an effective new manager–onboarding strategy. 

New manager–onboarding checklist

The following manager-onboarding checklist will help you organize your onboarding tasks and reap the many benefits of effective employee onboarding. 

Grab our free checklist

Let’s now take a look at what this new hire checklist looks like, what it includes, and the steps needed to provide a great onboarding experience to new managers from day one. 

1. Arrival preparations

Contrary to popular belief, the onboarding process doesn’t begin on the new hire’s first day with the company. 

Known as the pre-boarding stage, this is the period between the new employee accepting your offer of employment and the official start date. 

This window provides an opportunity to make some initial preparations and ensure that once the new manager arrives on their first day of work, you can begin in earnest. 

It’s also a good time to set their mind at ease for accepting the offer to join and make a good first impression. 

• Send the new manager a welcome email that contains general information about the organization, its culture, products, and services. You can also include an employee handbook, if applicable, and other relevant information like company policies, work hours, dress code, etc.
• Schedule team meetings with their direct reports and other informal sessions with different managers, department heads, direct supervisors, and relevant stakeholders throughout their first week on the job. 
• Set up the new manager’s workspace and ensure they have all the necessary tools, resources, office supplies, etc., ready and available by the time they arrive. 
• Optional: Send them a care package with handwritten notes, company swag, and other tokens of appreciation. This helps them feel more appreciated and sets the tone for a future productive relationship. 

2. New manager orientation

Although used interchangeably, orientation and onboarding are not the same thing. The employee orientation phase is part of the onboarding process and should include the following: 

• A general overview of the company’s culture, mission, vision, values, goals, etc.
• Handling all necessary paperwork, direct deposit/bank information, and going over regulatory requirements that go with the position. 
• Going over the organization’s products, services, target market, and other relevant information about the company’s operations and business landscape. 
• Making the first introductions with team members and other stakeholders. 
• Going over the departmental structure in terms of individual team members, as well as any recent changes or developments in terms of new hires, promotions, conflicts, etc. 

3. Manager training

On-the-job training is an essential element of the manager-onboarding process. 

According to a 2019 LinkedIn report, a whopping 94 percent of employees say they would stay with a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.  

To that end, manager training should consist of: 

• Shadowing experienced managers to learn daily responsibilities and best practices in the role. 
• Attending regular management-training sessions on topics related to time management, conflict management, motivation, performance management, and other areas relevant to the job.
• Offering opportunities for practice work and tutorials on various scenarios they may encounter in their position.
• Optional: Developing a mentorship program for transferring institutional knowledge, facilitating growth and development, and fostering a collaborative work environment. 

For efficient manager training and onboarding to occur, you will need to invest in a professional learning management system (LMS) for employee onboarding.  

With a robust LMS solution, like Docebo, companies have access to a course content library with over 30,000 off-the-shelf courses on numerous topics. They can also use AI to create their own, in-house training materials. 

Docebo also uses AI to deliver highly personalized training experiences through adaptive learning paths, content recommendations, and automated upskilling opportunities. 

Personalized learning is not just a nice-to-have functionality. Over 80 percent of employees demand personalized, timely, and quality training opportunities. 

4. Processes and policies training 

Companies also need to provide their new managers with the right processes and policy training. In fact, the job role demands that managers know all the ins and outs of how the company operates. 

This includes: 

• Mandatory compliance training on workplace health and safety, information security, data privacy, and any other industry-specific regulations. (With Docebo LMS, companies can also issue, manage, and automate employee certifications to ensure constant national, regional, and industry regulatory compliance.)
• Overview of the company’s employee performance–review process (type of evaluation, frequency, criteria for evaluation, etc.).
• Detailed training on relevant company processes regarding security, confidentiality, internal mobility, bonuses, success acknowledgment, remote work, leave policies, etc. 

5. Regular check-ins

For the manager-onboarding process to be successful, companies need to conduct check-ins at regular intervals during the first 30, 60, and 90 days. Preferably, this process can extend to a year but at a lower frequency. 

This step involves: 

• Scheduling weekly, monthly, and bimonthly check-in meetings with the new manager to touch base and see how they’re settling into their roles. 
• Offering them support and resources as needed, going over their progress goals, and answering any questions they may have. 
• Celebrating their early successes, identifying areas of improvement, and helping them overcome any challenges they encounter along the way. 
• Gathering manager feedback to identify trends and possible areas of onboarding-process improvement. 
  This allows them to centralize quantifiable feedback, and merge it with other learning data from the LMS and the rest of the company’s business intelligence, to analyze and report on the broader impact and effectiveness of the organization’s onboarding efforts.   

By following the steps in this new manager–onboarding checklist, you are sure to design a strategy that helps managers shorten their time-to-productivity and become valued members of the team. 

If, by any chance, you’re wondering about remote team onboarding tips and best practices, we’ve got you covered. 

We also have a free remote employee–onboarding checklist to help you get started. 

Now over to you

An effective manager-onboarding process is often a key element in an organization’s long-term success. 

Managers are the glue that holds the entire company together, acting as bridges between employees and executives. 

They also have the power to motivate, empower, and encourage the workforce to strive for success and always need to lead by example. 

To ensure a successful onboarding strategy, it’s best to use a professional learning management system able to deliver desired results, streamline processes, and ensure a great new-employee experience throughout. 

Docebo can be that LMS for you. Schedule a demo today and see how it can bring your ideal onboarding strategy to life.