14 simple ways to improve your onboarding process

Attracting the right person for your organization, navigating the interview process together, and deciding to give (or accept) a job offer is—let’s face it—a lot of work.

When done well, recruitment is a collaborative process across several teams within an organization. It is also a life-altering decision for the person changing their job, culminating in a final leap of faith for everyone involved.

Once the offer letter is signed, it can be tempting to put your feet up on your desk and relax, knowing your work here is done.

But wait—there’s more!

Immediately after recruitment comes onboarding, which includes everything you do to prepare your new team member for their start date and then get them up to speed once they join. Some companies have a detailed onboarding experience that lasts for months, while others focus most of their attention on the first few days.

Whether you are designing a new onboarding program or updating a system that already exists, it helps to break the onboarding process down into a few stages. Doing so is useful for planning and ensures everyone is on the same page about what to expect. That sense of alignment is critical for achieving a sense of person-organization fit and helping your hire thrive in their new work environment as smoothly as possible.

Here are some ideas for the first few stages of an onboarding process:

Pre-start

Reach out to express your excitement that they’ll be joining the team. These things are always worth saying (or even repeating).
Communicate with your new starter about who they should contact for questions and when you plan to get in touch to exchange updates. Ensure the follow-up from your HR team is prompt and easy to understand.
Consider putting together a welcome kit that you can send them. This can be digital or a package that you drop in the mail. Company swag, a book that connects to their role, and notes from the team are always great. You could also share some information about how the team works together, along with a screenshot of the group’s Attuned Team Dynamic.

Plan to connect a day or two before their start date to reconfirm the final details and give an overview of the schedule for day one.

First Day

Start with a warm welcome, immediately followed by a meeting to share need-to-have resources, expectations for the upcoming days and weeks, and time to set up all of their tech.
Try to balance the day with scheduled events and time to rest or review what has been covered so far.
Set up a calendar invite for your first 1-on-1 meeting and have your new teammate retake their Motivation Assessment. After making a significant life change, there might be some shifts in their motivational hierarchy that will be valuable for both of you to know. Let them know that you’ll discuss their Motivator Report together during that meeting.
At the end of the day, wrap up with a few minutes to connect, confirm plans for the next day, and give a gentle invitation to sign-off. That final step is significant with remote work, where many of us tend to let our work time drift late into the evening.

First 1-on-1 Meeting

Use this time to check in with how things have been going so far and to align on expectations for the next week, month, and upcoming 90 days.
Discuss communication styles and make space for any questions your new colleague may have about “the way things work around here”.
Share your top Motivators and explain what they mean to you, as well as how they show up in your work. Invite your new starter to walk you through their top Motivators as well.
Revisit the Attuned Team Dynamic, highlighting your profile first, then theirs. From there, look at your Motivator Gaps and potential blindspots. Do a brief premortem together, brainstorming ways these differences in perspective might pop up and how you will work together to overcome them. Also, take this time to explain how your team utilizes the pulse surveys and incorporates Attuned into your work.

Agree on a cadence for your future 1-on-1s and make sure the next meeting is in your calendar.

Beyond the First Week

After the initial orientation phase, you may fall into a business-as-usual pattern as your team member feels less “new” and more settled in. Continue making time to zoom out from the day-to-day tasks and discuss how they are progressing toward their benchmarks, especially within the first 90 days.
Ask for feedback about how their experience has been and what you can do to make it better—both for them, right now, and for future onboardings.
Remember to review their top Motivators before your meetings to help keep them top of mind.

Onboarding is a critical time in the development of a new work relationship. In addition to the logistical details of the transition, remember to plan how you will introduce aspects of the company culture, values, mission, and vision with your new colleague.

Be intentional about how you invite them to participate in these aspects of your work and aim to find connections to their key motivations. In short, use this onboarding experience as an opportunity to cultivate a fulfilling environment that benefits everyone.

Want to learn about the motivational trends reshaping the workplace?
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