Hidden Agendas in Staff Orientation

"I like to think of thoughts as living blossoms borne by the human tree."
–James Douglas

HIDDEN AGENDAS IN STAFF ORIENTATION

In the Exchange book, Staff Challenges, Marlene Weinstein and Joe Allen provided some guidelines for "Orienting Staff Right from the Beginning." One pitfall they caution against is "hidden agendas":

"Often, supervisors see orientation as a chance to make a pitch for their own special interests, to improve on some aspect of the job done by a predecessor, to develop some kind of supervisor/supervisee relationship. Or they may be so eager to make the new employee feel excited about the center that they will gloss over serious problems or paint an overly rosy picture.

"Newcomers, too, may have the idea that orientation is the time to make an impression, to make sure people are glad they hired her. Both perspectives are understandable and to a certain extent unavoidable. However, if either party gets preoccupied with these hidden agendas, this may cause important pieces of information about roles and relationships to be distorted or misconstrued.

"Solution: Orientation should be an honest, informative experience for all participants. At some point in the first day, it should be pointed out to newcomers that it is natural to feel on the spot at the outset. They should be assured that no one will hold them to high performance standards until they have had the opportunity to get their bearings.

"At the same time, the person, or persons, doing the orientation should be forthcoming about center shortcomings and problems, particularly about those that will impact upon the new employee's job. For example, if the teacher in a newcomer is replacing was fired against the wishes of her parents, she should be told about this so she doesn't misconstrue any lingering hostility of the parents as being directed toward her."

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