Part 4 of 6 in a series on onboarding, supervision, and helping new staff find their place.
Every new professional walks into an organization carrying two things: a set of skills, and a quieter question. Who am I becoming here?
That question sits at the heart of meaning making, the process of understanding how your work connects to your purpose, your identity, and the community around you. During onboarding, it matters just as much as learning the policies and procedures. It just gets a lot less time on the calendar.
Development doesn’t stop at graduation
Anyone who has worked in student affairs knows development theory. We use it to understand how college students grow. But college students aren’t the only ones still developing.
Robert Kegan’s work on adult development and Marcia Baxter Magolda’s research on self-authorship both describe growth that continues well into adulthood. Baxter Magolda defines self-authorship as “the internal capacity to define one’s beliefs, identity, and social relations.” A new job is exactly the kind of transition that tests and stretches that capacity. People are figuring out not only what to do, but how to belong and who they want to be in this new place.
“…the internal capacity to define one’s beliefs, identity, and social relations.”
— Marcia Baxter Magolda
If you don’t make space for meaning, people make it on their own
When someone is new, they’re constantly interpreting what they see: decisions, priorities, how people treat each other. If they don’t have space to talk through what they’re experiencing, they’ll still make meaning of it. They’ll do it on their own, often without the full context of the how and the why behind what’s happening. That’s how small misunderstandings turn into big conclusions.
So build that space on purpose. Meaning making and goal setting may not fit inside a weekly supervision meeting that’s already full of updates and tasks. Consider separate time for it. For example, at the end of someone’s first week, schedule a conversation that exists only to reflect on what they’ve experienced and help them connect it all together. From there, let a personal and professional development plan drive the goals you set together.
Supervision and mentorship aren’t the same relationship
Meaning making doesn’t always have to happen with a supervisor. Sometimes a mentor is better suited for it. Mentorship can be one facet of supervision, but being someone’s mentor isn’t a supervisor’s responsibility.
Supervisors provide structure, clarity, and accountability. Mentors offer perspective, encouragement, and room to think bigger. New professionals usually need both, and mentorship helps with the transition as well as long-term development.
A supervisor’s role here is to help new staff find those mentors, often beyond their direct reporting line. That layered support helps people feel seen and supported from more than one direction.
When I’ve been new to a role, I’ve been thankful that I could turn to mentors to help me make sense of it all. They asked me questions, dug a bit deeper, gave me context, and left me with things to think about or try. Having a mentor who understood the kind of work I was doing, or the type of organization I was working for, but wasn’t in it day to day made a huge difference. A colleague across the company or campus can be a real help too, and that relationship is worth leveraging. But they already have their own ideas about your supervisor or your department. That outsider perspective is what can truly open your eyes.
Ways to make room for meaning and mentorship
Ask deeper questions. In one-on-ones, go beyond project updates. Ask what parts of the work feel most energizing, and which feel most challenging.
Share your own transitions. Talk about the times you were new, and how you came to understand your own work.
Make introductions. Connect new staff with colleagues who could mentor or inspire them, inside and outside their team.
Reflect often. Build reflection into the rhythm of onboarding, not only the first week.
Finding your place
Helping new professionals make meaning of their work is part of good onboarding. When supervisors make room for both meaning making and mentorship, new staff do more than learn a job. They start to find their place in it.
Next in this series: the confidence curve, and how to support new staff through imposter syndrome.
If you’d like an outside look at how your organization supports new people as they find their footing, that’s part of what my organizational and culture assessment covers, for companies and for associations and nonprofits.
Sources
Marcia B. Baxter Magolda, “Three Elements of Self-Authorship,” Journal of College Student Development 49, no. 4 (2008): 269–288.
Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self (Harvard University Press, 1982) and In Over Our Heads (Harvard University Press, 1994).
Austin Arias, “Supporting Staff: Impact of Onboarding, Transition & Meaning Making,” AFLV Virtual, 2021.
Austin Arias and Michelle McNulty, “Supporting Entry Level Staff: Impact of Onboarding, Transition Issues and Meaning Making in Overall Success,” CDSE Virtual Conference, May 28, 2020.
Tags: mentorship, meaning making, professional development, supervision, onboarding