Onboarding new managers checklist

Managers craft strategy and lead their team members to achieve goals. When you’re recruiting a new manager (or promoting from within) make sure you set the stage for success with a carefully planned onboarding process.

The following checklist will help you properly onboard new managers, whether they’re new hires or current employees. Combine this template with our first-day onboarding checklist and new employee training checklist to design a complete onboarding process.

How to onboard new managers

• Highlight your company’s management culture. Do this by sharing:
  • A video that showcases your values and ways of working
  • A book that echoes your management style
  • A message from your leadership that conveys your company’s mission
  • Explain what’s expected of managers at the end of each month, quarter and year. This will help new leaders understand short-term and long-term goals and focus on results. Include company-wide, department and individual goals and make sure to cover how you keep track of progress (for example, using reports or a task management tool.)
  • Brief managers on individual team members. Describe the department’s structure (for example, their direct reports and who their supervisor reports to) and where their department fits within the entire organization. Also, mention any recent:
    • Promotions
    • Conflicts
    • Hires
    • Separations
    • Schedule one-on-one meetings with relevant coworkers.
    • Their direct supervisor
    • Their team members
    • Other managers
    • Motivation: Managers need to inspire team members to remain productive, despite difficulties.
    • Conflict management: Disagreements could arise within a team and a good manager should not let issues escalate.
    • Time management: Team leaders manage deadlines and delegate tasks, so they need to know how to prioritize work and complete tasks on time.
    • Team management: Managers should learn how to coach team members on-the-job, track performance and plan career paths.
    • The review process you follow (for example, 360° evaluation, 1:1 meetings)
    • The software you use
    • The frequency of performance reviews (for example, quarterly or annual)
    • The criteria you use to evaluate performances
    • Leave policies (including paid time off and sick days)
    • Security policy
    • Remote work policy
    • Confidentiality policy
    • Monetary bonuses (e.g. based on performance)
    • Non-monetary rewards (e.g. additional paid days off after a big project)
    • Ways to acknowledge success (e.g. a “thank you” on your company messaging app)
    • Your hiring plan review process
    • Your internal mobility policy
    • Your recruitment policy
    • Any recruiting software you’re using
    • Trainings
    • Resources (e.g. books)
    • Subscriptions (e.g. online courses)
    • Software and hardware
    • Team-building activities