Recently, in my little corner of the ‘Ville, change happened. A colleague who had been by my side since my first day here moved on. She didn’t just move on, she moved out of state, actually. And, she wasn’t just a fellow employee, she was, professionally speaking, my rock; personally speaking, a cherished friend. As someone who has always been flexible with change, I stiffened with this one. It was too much to accept and I let my despondency get the better of me for a good week or more. Tears in the bathroom stall, tears walking the aisles at Target, tears as I type this now. (I guess I haven’t quite recovered yet, have I?)

I realized I needed to snap out of it, so I dug out a piece of my own advice—a post I wrote last year around this time—about dealing with change. Since it bears repeating for my own benefit, I figured it would be a worth re-sharing with our readers, too. After all, change happens every day to all of us in some form: new people come in, familiar faces leave; new technology is embraced, old ways are abandoned. With that in mind, here’s the meat of that post…

I’ve been working at Baudville for more than six and a half years, and, the other day, I realized something: gradually, I’m learning to be a better person. I’m not saying I was a complete barbarian “Before Baudville,” but I am definitely improved “After Baudville.” How did this happen? Did I simply mature? Unlikely. No, I’m pretty sure it’s all this exposure I’ve had to the practice of recognition and culture building. Here are some of changes I’ve noticed:

We get it: you’re busy. You’ve been in back-to-back meetings, your inbox is virtually overflowing, and the second you get to take a deep breath, your phone starts buzzing. This is the life of a manager. It seems everyone wants a piece of you—and they’re all taking their share. What’s left when the scavengers have scattered? Is there anything for you, let alone your team? You may think there isn’t, but it’d be better for everyone if you believe there is.

Years (and years) ago, I was working as a document editor at a mortgage company. I progressed quickly and found myself just three years later leading a department of 21 people. It was around this time that I had the privilege of attending a week-long 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® workshop. This course was one of those monumental growth experiences that I mark as a milestone in my career. I learned to focus on putting first things first and the importance of sharpening the saw. But, my biggest takeaway was this quote by Stephen Covey:

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

When we first started understanding the value of good onboarding, I began compiling all kinds of research and data on the subject. I now have a massive repository of information filled with statistics and best practices—all to help companies be better at welcoming and acclimating their new team members. I compiled my learnings into an issue of RecogNation  and we have also segmented a part of the Baudville Blog to this meaty topic. Along the way, a funny thing happened: I stumbled on an article written by a faraway connection, who has, in the past, enthusiastically contributed to our blog. She had a different take: how to help employees be better at onboarding themselves.