The First 90-Days: Goal-oriented Onboarding
Being onboarded into a nonprofit isn’t always pleasant. Usually it means a gauntlet of briefings, a pile of forms, a bunch of reading. And lunch.
If the onboarding was unpleasant but useful, then you could consider it a necessary evil. But all too often, it fails the utility test as well. How could providing so much information not be useful? When it’s not in service of accomplishing clear objectives. The path to better onboarding starts by asking what you are hoping for the new employee to accomplish through it. The answers cluster into four categories:
Learning how to accomplish tasks at the organization.
Establishing relationships with manager and coworkers.
Initial acculturation.
Producing work.
For each of these, your organization should define specific objectives. When shared at the outset with the new employee, these objectives equip the employee to be an active partner in, rather than a passive recipient of, the onboarding. This approach models behaviors you likely wish to instill— good communication, results-focus and collaboration, among others.
Learning to accomplish tasks. Onboardings are often structured around what a new staff person needs to hear. Instead, focus on what they should learn and how they can be best learn it.
Prioritize initial sessions to concentrate on the essential tasks the new employee needs to be able to accomplish after the first day, the first week and so on. This will better motivate the new employee, focus the learning, and provide immediate feedback on whether the information has been absorbed.
Utilize multiple approaches to ensure that the new employee actually takes in the information they need. Engaging exercises (read: games) that require staff to use the new information are fantastic. Intranets are ideal tools for this, in part because their ongoing availability reduces the need to overwhelm the new employee with data. Current org. charts, office maps, policies and procedures should be easily accessible when the new employee needs them. Other staff are vital sources of information. Identify and introduce staff members who are ready, willing and able to provide instruction and reminders.
Of course there’s a great deal that new employees should know that isn’t immediately actionable—history, org. chart, finances, plans, etc. Consider the transfer of this information in terms of push and pull. How much do you need to push into each new employee versus how much should you make available for employees to pull for themselves when they have a need or interest?
Establishing relationships. Almost every job requires substantial interactions between supervisors and their teams and among colleagues. These interactions are enhanced and sustained by solid relationships. Onboarding is an opportunity to initiate these relationships with clear objectives in mind. Usually these objectives will be fairly generic—establish open communication, develop trust, etc. But whatever you emphasize, give new work relationships the time and attention they need to develop:
Daily check-ins for the first week and then weekly check-ins for at least the first two months. Over time you may want to reduce these, but that will be easier and more effective after you’ve gotten to know one another. If you aren’t available for these at the outset, consider delaying the start date.
Explain and demonstrate how your new staff person should most effectively manage you; learn how you can most effectively manage the new staff person. Focus on understanding your respective styles and work habits.
Introduce and practice constructive conflict. In particular, find early opportunities to offer and receive feedback so that this becomes a normal part of your relationship.
Acculturation. Onboarding is an important opportunity to influence how the new hire is introduced to your organizational culture. To the extent that elements of your culture are healthy, your objectives will be geared towards encouraging the new hire’s alignment with these. You are unlikely to succeed in sheltering a new employee from your culture’s less healthy aspects. Rather than opposing these directly, emphasize strong interpersonal relationships and the work itself. More generally:
Your organization’s “way of doing things” are not obvious. Customs and interpersonal norms will need to be pointed out. Think of yourself as a tour guide for someone visiting a foreign country.
Facilitate the new staff person’s engagement with peers who have the potential to be professional role models.
Talk about organizational values, how these do and don’t align with organizational behavior. Share how you approach navigating any disconnects when you encounter them..
Be candid about cultural challenges—honestly discuss organizational struggles so that you are positioned to help the new staff person process these. This will strengthen your relationship even as it supports the new hire’s acculturation.
Get to Work. The hiring process provided you with an initial understanding of what the new employee would be able to do. Now is the time to test—and hopefully validate—that understanding. Any deficiencies are vastly easier to address early in an employee’s tenure rather than further down the road.
Assign short term tasks to get a clear sense of work quality and efficiency. Initially, I like to provide estimates for how long tasks should take (and then have a quick check-in at that point) so that the new hire doesn’t spend far too long on assignments or head off in the wrong direction.
Be explicit about how workload is to be managed. Will you be taking the lead (defining tasks, asking for them when they’re due) or do you expect the new staff person to do so?
Set broad objectives for the first few months. This will enable the new staff person to contextualize various tasks and learn how to prioritize appropriately.
Onboarding sets the tone for a new staff person’s tenure at your organization. Consider the messages embodied in your current approach to onboarding. How would engaging a new staff person in a goal-oriented approach to onboarding fit with your existing culture? What messages would it convey about the importance of learning, rigor, collaboration, prioritizing and, ultimately, results?