All the bells and whistles for 3 fun filled days and then crickets. Back to your desk and back to reality with a massive downer.
Why do companies do this? Most new joiners have enough anxiety as is, now they must deal with a come down of “oh, sooo those 3 awesome days are in fact not a reflection of how my new job is going to be.”
So then I thought, onboarding shmonboarding!
Just make sure the newbie signs their contract, has an email address, has access to the shared drive and assign them a buddy. If they are the right culture fit, then they will find their feet and ask if/when they need help.
I thought wrong! I recently started a new job and being a millennial and all, I have been through my fair share of new “opportunities” #findingmypurpose and trust me it never gets easier.
Through my recent experience I’ve learned and understood the importance of onboarding and the impact it can have on a new team member if done correctly. Onboarding should be a fun, interactive, informative, and empowering process. And it can be.
It doesn’t matter if you are a big or small organization, or what level the new joiners are. The objectives are the same:
Get the new joiner up to speed as quickly as possible
Make them feel like they are part of the team
For new team members to start adding value to the business ASAP
To retain talent
How my remote onboarding experience ticked all the above:
I wasn’t sure what to expect, and naturally the anxiety levels were running high.
But trust me when I say that this onboarding experience was nothing short of strategic brilliance.
This was most definitely not put together the day or week before. This was a cleverly thought-out process, that covered all my questions and concerns before I even knew I had them.
We all know time is a valuable commodity, so majority of my onboarding experience was digitally led. But it was setup in such an engaging, interactive way that I always felt like a priority.
A Slack bot called “Lily-Scope” was programmed to guide me through my entire onboarding experience. Lily-Scope and I were communicating on a Slack channel and the rest of my team was able to follow my progress and comment or react as I was learning about the company. Lily-Scope was setup with a fixed time schedule including Airtable links, team recordings and fun interactive activities and tasks for me to complete and report back on.
I also had a profile and access to all the working tech tools - Confluence was my guide to everything. This was my go-to and still is 3 months later. Absolutely everything about the business is captured on confluence.
From whom my team members are, company values, ways of work, how to use each of the tech tools, the business internal weekly/monthly rhythm and the list goes on and on. Confluence also includes links, pictures, videos, templates, reviews, and a feedback area.
Confluence empowered me with all the need-to-know details and more. I didn’t have to ask any “silly” questions because the answers were all there, so when I had scheduled time with various team members, I had a base level of understanding and context.
After 3 days with Lily-Scope, various team check ins and the handy Confluence platform, I felt updated and excited to be part of the team. Not only I did learn about the company, I was already operating on the most important comms tools used by the company, Slack. I also had a clear understanding of the culture and values of the business.
My innovative onboarding experience even included a retro to gain insights into what worked and what didn’t work from my experience and to make those changes/adjustments before the next new joiner…talk about practice what you preach as a company.
Thereafter my diary was filled up for the next 2 weeks. Every meeting and every check-in was in my diary. I was assigned a buddy, and for the first 2 weeks we had Zoom check-ins scheduled every morning and every afternoon. It is so important having a structured rhythm from the get-go, I never felt like I was bothering anyone or wasting time waiting for someone.
Because of my detailed, and very strategic onboarding experience, I am confidently working with clients, outputting on goals and I feel like I am adding value already.
Regarding the last point, I’m only 3 months in…but I have a good feeling about this one, and the plan is to be retained.
The Biggest Secret to successful onboarding?
Planning. Innovative, strategic planning. It takes days of prep work and setup. And then for the million-dollar question:
Is it worth it? YES! And that’s from someone who said “onboarding smonboarding”
We have great onboarding concepts, ideas and tried and tested frameworks. Chat to us, our team can assist in designing and deploying an awesome digital onboarding program for your new joiners.
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