Top tips for assimilating values in induction, supervision and appraisal

The assimilation stage is about how you can support new employees to integrate into your workplace culture, in a way that makes sure they:

• deliver the best outcomes for children and young people
• feel they are thriving and enjoying work 
• want to stay in work. 

You can find out more about building a positive culture at work in our positive cultures guide.

Include different opportunities for new staff to learn about your culture, values and expectations of how they put your values into practice in their role during the first few weeks of their induction.

Use the information that you may have learnt about the candidate’s values, learning styles and communication preferences to develop an inclusive, personal, induction and training plan.

Include a focus on staff well-being, and strategies for managing their own well-being and resilience in their induction period. This shows that you:

• value them
• recognise challenges in the roles
• put your values into practice by caring for them.

Give new staff regular feedback on what they do and how they put your values and behaviours into practice.

This means giving them opportunities to reflect on their behaviour, and understand what they need to do in line with your culture and expectations.

Use regular supervision as an opportunity to both recognise when staff are displaying positive values and behaviours, and to raise and address concerns about behaviour and attitude.

Model your values in practice by making sure you show people respect and compassion by:

• scheduling and not cancelling supervision
• taking time to prepare for the full conversation
• listening not judging
• supporting staff to take responsibility for any changes they need to make to make sure they can thrive and succeed in their role.

Make sure people who do appraisals have the training and skills to do it, and can model the values they’ll be discussing in the appraisal.

Give values-based feedback to reinforce the positive values and behaviours that you want to see in staff and to help them to feel valued. 

You can do this:

• in supervision
• informally in day-to-day conversations
• through formal staff recognition, such as monthly emails from leaders or staff values awards. We have a certificate template you can download.

Include your values and behaviours in appraisal conversations by linking objectives and achievements to your values, reviewing the past year and setting SMART objectives for the coming year aligned to your values. 

SMART objectives are:

• specific
• measurable
• achievable
• relevant
• time-bound.

Here are some examples: