I teach humanistic
management and have a background in both the for profit and non-profit sectors.
I am also on the USA chapter board for the International Humanistic Management
Association.
I recently had an
epiphany about on-boarding while discussing the on-boarding practices for
Greyston Bakery – who practice open hiring – meaning – anyone who wants a job –
gets hired. Their on-boarding procedures – reminded me of my volunteer
management on-boarding procedures. And my volunteer management program was well
regarded and I was loaned out to other organizations to help them set up and
manage their volunteer processes.
Eleanor Roosevelt once
said (and I am paraphrasing) treat your employees like volunteers. There is a
lot to be said for this. In volunteer management circles – we have
a document titled – the 7 sins of volunteer management. These “sins” relate to
what needs to happen to successfully on-board a volunteer.
To put this “sin” list
into positive terms a good on-boarding will.
1.
Explain
the work that needs to be done (clarify job descriptions – roles,
responsibilities etc)
2.
Explain
WHY the work needs to be done. (mission orientation)
3.
Provide
the tools for the work that needs to be done (what they are, where to get them,
how to use them – how to navigate the organization if they have a problems)
4.
Ensure
the staff is trained on how to use the tools properly
5.
Verify
staff know how to do the job correctly in real life – not just – here is the
training go
6.
Follow
up - check in for a month to make sure work is being done and that staff
understand priorities and that anything unclear in the training is clarified
for future trainings or changed if it turns out that in real life – staff do it
differently.
7.
Thank
them as part of the follow up – again- to help ensure they understand the
importance of the priorities.
Recently asked questions about on-boarding and their answers:
1.
What
are your best and tested methods to on-board new joinees? Is it orientation,
training, first day experience or any other(s)?
a.
The
orientation MUST include information on why the work being requested is
important. An orientation to the history of the organization and the
mission and purpose of the organization. Most of the motivation issues can be
addressed if the onboarding includes the moral imperative of getting the work
done. What happens if your company didn’t exist and the customers didn’t have
you all to help them? Why does what you do matter?
Examples: I was
in Japan a couple of years ago and toured the Inax museum. They make toilets
and other porcelain products and have for a couple of centuries. While we were
there - there was a new employee orientation training going on. They new
recruits learned about tile around the world. The history of toilets in Japan.
How porcelain is made, all about soils from around the world and the properties
of soil and how it impacts the final product, how the company helped rebuild
Tokyo after the Ginza fire and more. This wasn’t simply – a – we need you to
make sales calls for us orientation. This was a several day immersion into the
history of the company and all aspects of production. Only THEN could the
employees go on to do whatever it was they were hired to do.
Greyston Bakery has a
similar on-boarding. They bring people in as a group – and orient them to the
bakery. What is the bakery’s history? How was it founded. What are the
principles that guided the founders? Who all are the customers. How do all the
parts of the organization work together to get the brownies out the door and to
whom and what happens if they don’t get those brownies baked. It’s not
simply a – we need you to do accounting for us. Everyone – EVERYONE is given an
immersive week long orientation. And if they don’t complete it – they don’t move
on to the production floor. This is why they can open hire. The people who stay
through on boarding – WANT to be there and re committed to the project. This is
similar to volunteer on boarding. You make it exclusive – something that has to
be worked for – and the people who rise to the challenge – are great.
2. Do you have any
different onboarding methods depending on the position or department a
candidate joins?
No. You should not have
different on-boarding methods. Everyone should go through the same orientation.
3. What on-boarding methods, even thought to be great, aren't as effective in driving engagement and
why?
If you don’t include
information on why the company exists, who the customers are and why it is
important that your organization exist to solve whatever problem you are
solving and how the company is organized and how the parts of the organization work
together to solve those problems - your employees won’t necessarily understand all that and they are
more likely to just view their own work in isolation – which is not very
motivating and it doesn’t encourage collaboration or motivation. Understanding
how a person’s work impacts other employees – is VERY motivating. Most
orientations – cover the job- legal requirements and little else.
If you are interested in learning more - let me know - I may just create a - how to on-board effectively program.
