Onboard New Employees to “Get It” from the Get Go

We’ve all played the game of Telephone. The leader shares a comment with one person, and the idea is whispered around the room. By the time the last person shares what they heard, everyone roars at how distorted the info is.

And so goes the onboarding of new employees.

To protect the sanctity of your vision, values, standards, and other key information, consider an automated process on your Intranet. Here are a few ideas of what could be included:

• A video from the president talking about the vision and values of the organization. He or she could also share the internal language and cover special “languaging” of your organization, such as “Results Rule” or “Live Your Word.” When people get the language, they acclimate and find home much quicker.
• Pictures of employees with their titles, key responsibilities, contact info–something personable about them so they feel the connection.
• Customer service training videos with a printout of your customer service standards.
• Coaching for success on their initial mystery shopping calls.
• A video of your Kick-Butt Kick-Off® to show how the team came up with your standards for treating customers and each other.
• A checklist of self-study items to learn based on the position. May include product knowledge, project management software, time management procedures, or whatever is significant for the role.
• Industry language cheat sheets
• Standards procedures for new employees, such as instructions on how to set up voice mail, email etiquette, travel policy and dress code.
• Policies and procedures around key functions like IT (not giving out passwords and time frame for changing them), email (writing “Action req:” in subject lines for all tasks, copying in those who need to be in the know but having the actionable people in the “to” line, etc.)
• Online testing to make sure that employees are mastering the knowledge they are required to know with results going to their manager and to HR.

Most importantly, make sure your new employee orientation is trainee-based, not trainer-based. In other words, the person accountable to learn the information is the individual being trained. If they are confused, they need to know that they must pursue all answers so they can be held accountable for knowing the material quickly.

You’ll still want some face time with your new people to engage them, but this system will allow for a streamlined process.