Episode 329 - Re-onboard Long-Term Employees

Leadership Podcast. It's episode three twenty nine, and this one might challenge some traditional leadership thinking because when we talk about onboarding, we usually think about new employees getting them up the speed, showing them the ropes, and making sure they understand the culture and the expectations. But what about the employees who have been around four years. Here's the truth most leaders don't want to admit. Time doesn't equal alignment.

Just because someone has been with your organization for five, ten, or even twenty years doesn't mean they're still operating the way you want them to. Habits drift, processes, get bent, shortcuts sneak in, culture gets interpreted instead of upheld, and pretty soon your most experienced team members are operating from muscle memory instead of a mission statement, and no one notices it until it becomes a problem. So what do you do about it? You re onboard them, yes, even

the ones with seniority, especially them. Here's why culture isn't permanent. It's perishable. Just because someone learned the culture ten years ago doesn't mean they're living it today. Maybe your values have shifted, maybe the mission evolved, maybe the tone changed. If you haven't checked in, you're assuming alignment that may no longer exist. And that's how we've always done it is a very dangerous phrase. Veteran employees can become protective

of old methods. They lean into what worked a decade ago and resist what works now. Re onboarding is your chance to clarify, here's how we do it today, and they're setting the tone, whether you like it or not. Long term employees are often the unofficial culture carriers. New people look to them as examples. So if your senior staff are disengaged, cutting corners or just doing things their own way, that ripple effect is killing your team's standards and setting the tone. So how do you re onboard?

So let's get tactical here for a minute. Here's five things to include when re onboarding long term employees. Number one, I call this the mission reconnect. Reintroduce the mission, ask them how they think their role impacts it. Then tell them how you see their role impacting it, and align those answers. In number two something called the values reset. Go over your organizational values word for word. Ask which ones they feel most connected to and which ones they

feel the team needs to work on. This isn't fluffy, it's directional. Number three the expectations update. Be honest, say, I know you've been here a long time, but as we grow, we've tightened expectations around X, Y, and Z, and I want to make sure we're all rowing in the same direction. Number four is the feedback loop. Ask what's been frustrating them and listen. Long term employees have a mental folder of things they've tolerated for years. You will learn a lot, and you might spot areas where

the processes need improvement. In number five is the culture cont Make it clear seniority doesn't exempt you from accountability. It gives you more of it. Let them know they're not just employees. They're leaders, examples, and standard bearers. So here's the payoff. When long term employees feel seen, heard, and realigned, they often become your strongest culture drivers. They stop leading from memory and start leading from your mission

bullet points. But if you ignore this, if you assume tenure equals loyalty or that experience means alignment, you'll miss the quiet drift that slowly erodes your standards. This week, I challenge you to pick one long term team member and schedule a re onboarding conversation. Don't call it that, call it a check in, a sink, a leadership talk, whatever works, but ask the questions, reset the tone, because even the best people get off course if the compass

isn't recalibrated. This has been the seven minute leadership and I thank you for listening. For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com