Recently, I had one of my clients ask me in a workshop that I was running around Emotional Intelligence: “Colin, what’s most important when someone starts new in the organisation? What are the most important needs that you need to consider to make sure that they onboard smoothly?”

What I want to share with you today is a really important insight. This insight will help you if you’re a leader or a manager of people. Specifically, it will help you in the way you engage new employees when they first start on the job. Many times when a new employee starts, they’re doing their best with what they know. I trust you remember the first time you started in your current role. There’s a lot of uncertainty, you’re unsure about how far you can push your ideas, how much you can speak up in meetings and what the culture is like.

Here are three needs you must meet in a new in employee in their first week:

1. Certainty
At our core, we have a need for certainty. When you start a new job or a new role, certainty is going to be fairly low for the person. In other words, everything is kinda new. It might be a new start time, new employees, new job description, a new way to work. You’ve got to make sure you meet their need for certainty when they first start. One way you can do this is by having a conversation with them about their role and their goals, and just making them feel comfortable.

2. Significance
Every human being has a need to be needed. The need for significance is kinda like the need to feel important. When you start in a role, you’re questioning, “Do these people value me? Do these people value what I have to share and say?” As a leader and a manager, I would encourage you to make sure that you acknowledge people and appreciate them. Especially when they are starting in a new role, make them feel like they are a contributor and they are significant. I love Simon Sinek’s idea around leadership — it isn’t so muc about making people servants as it is about making people allies. Partnering with people and treating them like human beings give people significance.

3. Connection At the core of every human being is a need to feel related and feel like we’re connected to people and our environment. Making sure that you’re authentic and open with people, and sharing a little bit of your personal life will make people feel connected to the organisation and to you as the team.

The three ideas are certainty, significance and connection.

If you can meet these three needs, it will make a significant difference in making sure that the employee gets plugged into your organisation, onboard and producing results faster.