Onboarding, The key elements

Over the years, I've had to build a few onboarding plans. Some were over four weeks long, others were just over two weeks, and some were just a couple of days. Regardless of the length, there are some key ingredients that ensure an onboarding is successful.

1. First, you need to give the new hire information. They need to have all of the information to do their work successfully. Historical information and upcoming information (strategies/ OKRs, plans). Let them read and process all of the various data that's going to help them be successful in their role. People have different learning styles. Share the information in a variety of mediums, readings, videos, and, my personal favorite, conversations. Speaking to people and being able to ask questions about that data is a wonderful way to support the new hire.

2. The second element is that this person joined your team and the company for a reason, right? But in most cases, it is a rather superficial reason because you only really know a company once you have spent some time as part of the team. Onboarding is a great time to showcase all the awesome things your company has to offer. Give the new hire a chance to fall deeply in love with your company and your culture. What are the values? Introduce them to some habits and rhythms within your team. Give them a chance to find anchorage in their personal why so they can fall deeply in love with their work beyond what you tell everybody on an external level.

3. The third is to allow them to develop authentic relationships. Have them meet different people over coffee or lunch; do not allow people to skip this. Organize some icebreakers in meetings that they are attending for the first time. Give them a chance to build relationships with their colleagues, your customers, or any other stakeholders that they might be interacting with through in-person interactions in their first few weeks.

These ingredients in an onboarding plan really show that you're 1000% behind the new employee and are ready for them to hit the ground running.