DESIGN SUCCESS FROM THE START: FIVE ESSENTIAL TIPS
Written by Jessica Murray
Let’s talk today about setting people, teams and businesses up for success.
Entrepreneurial teams move fast and are typically lean. Especially in the earlier stages, there’s always more work to do than people or budget. At times, the pace is so accelerated that the focus becomes getting more bodies in seats to increase velocity, and key steps like clarifying roles, expectations or structured employee onboarding get overlooked.
The costly assumption? New hires will simply figure it out for themselves.
Putting off setting your people up for success rarely pays off. Instead, it hurts you, your team, the individual and the business.
Don’t believe me? This excerpt came straight from Gallup’s 2025 State of the Workplace report:
Last year, global employee engagement fell, costing the world economy US$438 billion in lost productivity.
To flip to the positive, another Gallup article from last year indicated that the top-quartile of businesses, ranked for level of employee engagement, achieved 23% higher profits than those in the bottom quartile.
What drives employee engagement? Setting individuals up for success from the beginning.
Here are five tips for getting on the right side of this trend.
Tip #1: Provide clarity on roles, responsibilities and expectations
You aligned on a job description or scope of work when you made the hire. But that alone doesn’t secure high performance. Once on board, it’s time to double down on clarity.
The role: Anchor on where someone fits into the organization and the value that role brings.
Key responsibilities: Reduce ambiguity by concisely outlining what the individual owns and is accountable for delivering.
Overall expectations: Be clear about availability, work product and communication norms. Your new hire isn’t a mind reader; provide the opportunity to adapt early.
90-day milestones: Provide focus and alignment in their first 90 days to effectively measure performance.
Without clear roles and expectations, you’ll end up answering the same questions on repeat and end up frustrated that your new hire isn’t meeting unspoken expectations.
Tip #2: Everyone needs onboarding
Whether a C-Suite executive or it’s someone’s first job, everyone deserves an onboarding experience when joining a company.
At a certain level, it’s tempting to assume experienced hires will onboard themselves. But no matter how seasoned someone is, they’re stepping into your systems, culture and workflows for the first time.
Provide context: Ground someone new on how the business operates, team dynamics and other norms.
Equip with tools and resources: Make sure all systems, logins and other resources are ready on Day 1.
Develop a structured onboarding plan: This goes for the new hire and other internal stakeholders. Create a simple schedule a checklist for trainings, who to meet and tasks to complete.
Tip #3: Show them what good looks like
Your version of “good” might look very different from what your new hire is used to, and they won’t know unless you show them.
Share examples: Provide templates, prior work and communication samples.
Teach critical skills: Build role-specific training that sticks. Test for retention.
Model values in action: Demonstrate how your mission, values and culture shape decisions. Make it more tangible.
If you don’t define good, you shouldn’t really expect to get it.
Tip #4: Centralize key institutional knowledge
In lean businesses, knowledge often lives in people’s heads or scattered sources. This slows down teams and fosters over-reliance on individual gatekeepers.
Develop a single source of truth: This could be very simple (e.g., a Google Doc) or more complex (e.g., a Wiki built in Notion). Whatever the medium, what’s important is that new and existing team members have one place to look for key processes, ways of working, company info, FAQs, etc.
Make it accessible: Share where to find information from Day 1.
Develop a process for feedback and updates: Institutional knowledge isn’t static. It constantly evolves; refresh it regularly.
Tip #5: Provide early feedback loops
Feedback is critical, especially when time-to-impact needs to be short. Without it, missteps compound and become harder to unwind.
Set weekly 1:1s or standups: These are great opportunities to surface challenges, sync on priorities and provide actionable suggestions.
Find asynchronous opportunities to connect: Progress and feedback don’t always require a meeting.
Make it a two-way dialogue: Shared perspective and understanding drives progress.
Intentionality upfront pays dividends
Take the steps now to avoid the frustration of rework, misalignment and turnover later. Your team will be more cohesive and you’ll give yourself an increased shot at success.