Onboarding Guardrails: Keeping New Hires on Track Without Replacing Leadership’s Role
TJ Kastning
Hiring the right person is just the beginning. Without ongoing alignment, even the best hires can drift off
Hiring the right person is just the beginning. Without ongoing alignment, even the best hires can drift off course. That’s why our onboarding check-ins act as guardrails, helping both the company and the new hire stay on track while preserving leadership’s vital role in direct support and mentorship.
Our process isn’t a replacement for internal leadership check-ins but rather a reinforcement tool that ensures critical conversations don’t fall through the cracks. One of the most overlooked challenges in onboarding isn’t technical ability—it’s understanding and relationship calibration between a new hire and their leadership team. That’s where our structured approach makes a difference.
🔹 The Pre-Onboarding Call: Laying the Roadmap for Success
Before the new hire starts, we hold a pre-onboarding call with the hiring team. This ensures the company is prepared to integrate the new hire effectively rather than leaving them to figure things out alone.
In this call, we establish:
✅ Clear role expectations – Aligning expectations before the hire starts.
✅ A structured 90-day plan – Defining key milestones for early success.
✅ Key relationships – Ensuring the new hire connects with the right people.
✅ Potential challenges – Surfacing any risks or concerns proactively.
Example:
📌 A newly hired project manager was expected to own the schedule immediately, but leadership assumed the superintendent would provide a detailed handoff. Nobody had explicitly stated this. The pre-onboarding call uncovered the gap, ensuring clear expectations were set before the hire even started.
Many construction leaders, deeply engaged in projects and deadlines, don’t always check in with new hires as much as they should. This call helps make onboarding intentional rather than reactive.
🔹 Onboarding Check-Ins: Guardrails, Not a Replacement for Leadership
Once the candidate starts, our structured onboarding check-ins act as alignment tools, but they do not replace a manager’s responsibility to build strong relationships with their team. Instead, they serve to highlight areas where deeper conversations might be needed.
📅 Our Check-in Cadence:
- Week 1 – Does the hire feel welcome? Do they have what they need?
- Month 1 – Are they integrating well? Any early concerns?
- Month 2 – Have they developed the right relationships? Are any areas unclear?
- Month 3 – What’s working? What’s not? Where can we improve support?
- Month 6 – Are they set up for long-term success?
- Year 1 – Reflecting back: What did we learn from this hire that can improve future ones?
Example:
📌 A newly hired estimator expressed frustration in their second-month check-in because they still didn’t have access to key software needed for bid calculations. Leadership assumed IT had taken care of it, but the oversight had slowed their productivity. This check-in helped surface the issue before it became a retention risk.
We also encourage candidates to share any of their observations directly with their team. We are not a replacement for internal communication, but we often help prompt these discussions by asking reflective questions around common onboarding pain points and key time frames.
For example:
💬 “Are you getting enough feedback?”
💬 “Do you feel like you understand leadership’s expectations?”
💬 “Have you had a conversation with your manager about how you prefer to receive feedback?”
By encouraging open dialogue, we help new hires take ownership of their experience while providing hiring teams with valuable insights.
🔹 Reviewing the Bilateral PXT Assessments: Optimizing Team Relationships
Another key element of our check-ins is reviewing the bilateral ProfileXT (PXT) assessments between the new hire and their manager.
Why is this important? Because:
🔹 When a hiring decision is made, PXT assessments provide predictions about working styles, strengths, and potential friction points.
🔹 Once the new hire and their manager start working together, they begin calibrating these results in the real world—and sometimes, things look a little different in practice.
🔹 Revisiting the assessment helps optimize understanding in relationships and allows both parties to navigate common points of conflict with clarity.
Example:
📌 A newly hired superintendent and their project executive both scored high on assertiveness in the PXT assessment. When onboarding started, they were unintentionally clashing, as both felt the need to lead conversations. The PXT review surfaced this dynamic, allowing them to discuss ways to adjust their communication styles and avoid unnecessary friction.
This review helps both sides refine their working relationship early, reducing friction and increasing alignment.
🔹 Encouraging and Tailoring Onboarding for Better Results
Another often-overlooked value of this check-in process? Encouraging onboarding teams that are doing a great job.
✅ When a candidate expresses that they feel supported, we reflect that back to leadership—because recognition fuels motivation.
✅ When we see patterns of success, we help teams replicate what’s working for future hires.
✅ When we notice small tweaks that could improve alignment, we surface them before they turn into real challenges.
Even teams with robust onboarding processes often need customization for individual hires. Our check-ins help identify these unique needs, ensuring that onboarding isn’t just standardized—it’s strategic.
Example:
📌 A company had a strong onboarding process but realized through our check-ins that their new preconstruction hires struggled with internal meeting cadence. The team adjusted by adding a mentor system, which significantly improved engagement and retention.
Why This Matters for Construction Companies
🚧 Without guardrails, even great hires can drift off course.
Bad candidates don’t cause most hiring failures—they happen because of misalignment, gaps in communication, or lack of proactive support. Our onboarding process ensures:
✅ Faster ramp-up times – Helping hires become productive sooner.
✅ Stronger engagement – Making sure new team members feel valued from day one.
✅ Lower turnover – Catching misalignment before it leads to resignations.
Final Thought: Guardrails Prevent Wrecks, but Leadership Steers the Wheel
Hiring the right person is just the first step. Without onboarding guardrails, even the best hires can drift off track. But with the right support, they don’t just stay on course—they thrive.
📅 Schedule an exploratory meeting with Ambassador Group today to discuss your hiring and onboarding strategy:**
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Onboarding success is built on awareness. Let’s build something that lasts—starting with your team. 💪
