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When Michael D. Watkinson, author of the onboarding bible, “The first 90 days,” surveyed more than 1,300 senior HR leaders, nearly three-quarters agreed that success or failure during the first few months is a strong predictor of overall success or failure in the job (Watkins, Michael. “The first 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter,” Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). Though many companies have onboarding programs in place, most of these programs could do better in supporting new hires to be successful.
The most common mistake is too much focus on delivery of information. The onboarding agenda often is determined by the question, “What do people need to know?” But the ease of transition and the success of an individual in a new role in a new organization is defined by behavior and understanding of the organization rather than knowledge. So the leading question when designing an onboarding program should be: “How can we best support individuals to be successful in our organization?”
Let’s look at some key elements of a successful onboarding program.
1. Accelerate networking.
For many participants in an onboarding program, meeting other people who are also new in the organization can be the most valuable part of the whole event. When asked what they liked most about the program, “meeting my colleagues” has always been what people mentioned first in feedback questionnaires for all the onboarding programs I have done.
However, supporting new hires to build networks is also a good thing for the employer. Individuals who are well connected and who have formal and informal networks in their organizations have proven to be more successful in their roles. It, therefore, makes sense to accelerate the networking of new hires. It is not enough to just put people in the same room for a couple of days. People tend to stay in their comfort zones and will most likely interact only with individuals they already know or stay within the same group throughout the whole event. It is important to facilitate networking using techniques such as speed dating or profile card games. To help build connections, your agenda also should include room for meaningful conversations. A positive way to do this is setting up “fireplace talks” with senior leaders. This doesn’t only build connections among new hires, it also builds trust in your senior management.
With tight travel budgets and the current Coronavirus restrictions, it can be challenging to do live events. Technology provides the infrastructure for connectivity and ways to create virtual onboarding experiences. It is critical to find creative and engaging ways to make this an attractive alternative to a live event.
2. Show the behaviors that make new hires successful.
If new hires are quick to understand how to navigate the organization and which behaviors lead to success, they will have a much easier time in their transition. The behaviors that make an individual successful in an organization are determined by organizational structure and company values.
A big barrier to the success of teams lies in unproductive behaviors in global and local organizations. All the companies I worked with in my career faced similar challenges regarding the effectiveness of collaboration between global and local teams. An onboarding event is a unique opportunity to address this and to educate people on how to work effectively within their organizations and to show which behaviors drive success. Missing the opportunity to address this early might nurture unproductive team behaviors.
If you work in a value-based company, the values should be brought to life during onboarding. Company values are often generic and can be associated with different things by different people. For example, the company value, “being entrepreneurial,” can mean different things such as being a risk taker, having a high focus on innovation, the absence of hierarchies, etc. An onboarding event represents an opportunity to show what the values mean to your organization and what your expectations are toward employees regarding their behavior.
3. Limit content and maximize activities.
The decision on what content to include in the onboarding agenda should be determined by some initial questions, including: “How can we help people to be successful in our organization?”
There is a tendency to pack too much content into an onboarding program and overwhelm people with too much information.
An outline for an agenda could look like this:
1. Our way of doing business
Describe your specific way of doing business and how it differentiates from other companies. How do you define success and how does good look like?
2. What excites us about our company
An onboarding program is a great opportunity to fuel excitement and to keep up the engagement level. Your objective should be to transform every new hire into a brand ambassador.
3. Our key challenges
Talk about challenges. For example: Is your company under scrutiny for environmental or consumer health reasons? If so, what is your strategy to address this? Share challenges openly. Transparency builds trust and engages people to be part of the solution.
4. Our strategy and vision
Invite senior management to share the company’s vision and strategy. Have a member of the Executive Board open the onboarding program. This is a great gesture of appreciation that acknowledges the importance of people.
The area where onboarding programs often have the highest potential for improvement is in training design. When it comes to how the content is delivered, PowerPoint should be kept at a minimum (Dirksen, Julie, “Design for How People Learn,” New Riders, 2016). Aim for a high frequency of learning activities and reflection exercises. Your target should be for people to out of their seats as often as possible to actively participate in the program, rather than just sitting back in their chairs and passively consuming the content.
A well-designed onboarding event has the potential to form a team of highly motivated and engaged people that hits the ground running. It most certainly will pay off for a long time in employee engagement and can significantly accelerate the value creation of new hires.
Kerstin Strubel is the founder of the Lupo Marketing Training Company, which provides onboarding programs, tailored marketing training, and competency frameworks. She has worked for Coca-Cola Atlanta, NIVEA, and Google. Strubel draws on 20 years of experience in CPG marketing. Prior to setting up her own business, she was the Marketing Capability lead for Europe at Mondelez. Before that, she worked in marketing for brands such as Toblerone, Starbucks retail, Jacobs, and Milka. Contact her at: kerstin@lupomarketing.ch