Your company doesn’t have a monopoly on great ideas, approaches and processes. In fact, the architects of the present systems (that is, you and your current colleagues) are often incapable of “building the better mousetrap,” so to speak.
Fortunately, new hires are amazing sources of new ideas. Their experiences outside your company may have exposed them to superior ideas, approaches, and processes. Unfortunately, however, most new hires are not yet confident enough to challenge how things are done in your firm.
To combat this, why not build a process into your onboarding program for the sharing of these types of ideas? For example, one approach may be to have new hires fill out a survey after 60 days to answer the following questions:
What can we do better?
What’s one thing you love about working here?
What’s one thing you wish you could change?
What did your old firm do better than we do?
The idea is to make it safe for new hires to offer their ideas early in their tenure. To sweeten the deal, you may even offer a gift certificate, company coffee mug, or some other form of recognition to thank them for their suggestions.