Over the last few months I have been contacted by a number of people looking to build new on boarding processes for their businesses, and I wanted to share a few observations and thoughts with you if you are planning to do the same.
So here we go… What makes a great onboarding experience?
- Reassurance of a decision well made
- Preparation for rolling up those sleeves and getting stuck in
- Minimise fear of the unknown
- Dedicating time to allow individuals to see and experience the culture
- Excitement about things to come. Knowledge that the basics are covered. A warm welcome
When it comes to truly valuing the people that you’re investing in, there’s no better place to start than creating a delightful induction programme.
If you engage both the head and the heart, you’ll appeal to both logic and emotion.
Paving a smooth path getting up to full speed and laying the foundations of a fruitful working relationship.
I believe that a mix of the practical with the playful, purpose with personality will deliver an exciting and useful initial experience for colleagues.
Now this does not mean you should run off and create a load of collateral..in the same way as you might approach building a customer experience, look at it from a ” Resources First” approach. For example what do you need people to Think, Feel and Do as a result of the interactions, how do you involve the management, colleagues from across the company so it is no longer the domain of HR to lead and manage on boarding.
There are some fantastic examples of innovation in this space, just look at L’Oreal creating a on boarding app, Linked in Toolkit in a Box or even the Culture Books that companies are creating. However it is in my opinion important to keep asking yourself WHY and HOW does this enhance the experience for newbies and if you do not need it do not do it!
The 4 building blocks that I use when supporting companies are:
- Simple Navigation – Drop the ten page forms to fill in and jargon filled procedural documents. Provide the most essential information for the newbie- where they fit- in simple and easy to understand language.
- Paint a Picture – Create a clear and real picture of the first day, week, month, 100 days i.e. what will life be really like at your company.
- Add the Personal Touch – Adopting a human tone of voice in all communication, using first names and where possible personal messages from colleagues and managers- all of these things set a newbie up for an enjoyable start.
- Future Focused – Inspire the newbie with the vision of the future, where the company has come from. Stories from real people about what makes your company a great place to work and how to make the most of the information networks across the business
By looking through this lense you will create a consistent and creative approach on or offline which addresses the questions you are trying to answer be that high levels of churn, engagement, diversity etc.
So if you would like to know more and chat about some of the cool innovations in this space connect with me and happy to share.
