How to Onboard a Connector Profile

Welcome to my series on successful onboarding.

Why blog about onboarding? It’s a bit dull and the deal is done by then, isn’t it?

It’s far from done! This is where the hard work begins.

Get the onboarding wrong and there’s a strong risk of the candidate not settling in and you may well have the right candidate but you lost them because the onboarding was poor – this is preventable.

We use a platform called Contribution Compass to guide our onboarding towards a successful integration. Being @Paul Avins’ Team Coach I understand this stuff at a deep level.

How do we do that?

We invite the employer to profile the role and we profile the candidate against the role and we can tell the employer with a reasonable amount of certainty how they are most likely to show up at work and what their preferences will be before they pitch up and start work with you.

I’ll look at the 8 different profile types – all different people and all of which need to be treated in a different way.

Next up is the CONNECTOR profile.

• Connectors are skilled diplomats with a natural talent for striking the right deals and fostering deeper, trusted relationships. However, sometimes they become so engrossed in connecting with people that they forget to utilise the network they already have.
• Connectors are practical and like to learn through experiencing things. They like to “be in the room” and experience things as they learn by doing.

How do you keep them engaged and upgrade them?

• Introduce them to the team as early as possible & schedule touch points with them. The high sustaining energy needs that too so that it’s regular AND scheduled.
• They don’t need high-fived every week – the contact and sharing time with them is more important than any ego boost.
• As a general rule, set up a phone or Zoom call rather than email – that will help the contact touch points.
• They have a realistic view of the world, and they are very grounded so will not get on with woolly plans.
• They want to be connected to the work they do because they care about it and really want to do a good job. Value is created from a well negotiated deal.

Power summary

• Give them time to settle in
• Call / Zoom rather than email
• They won’t get on with woolly plans, so make them realistic
• Give them time to nurture relationships
• Schedule touch points with them

Do you need a Connector on your team or are you about to onboard someone like this and you’re not sure?

Email me gbrown@forcesrecruitment.co.uk if you’d like to find out or if you would like a full copy of my FREE onboarding guide to see how ALL profile types engage.