How to Onboard New Team Members
A Comprehensive Guide to Welcoming New Team Members
In the realm of people management, the onboarding phase is more than just a quick welcome. It can shape the whole path of an employee's time at the company. Just like a good first impression when you meet someone new, a strong onboarding process starts things off on the right foot and helps build a lasting relationship.
Onboarding is an opportunity to engage, inspire, and integrate new hires into your organization and team's unique culture, expectations, and work methodologies. Its importance is not only beneficial for the employee, who gains a comprehensive understanding of their new role, but also for the overall health and efficiency of the organization.
In this essay, I will delve into the essence of onboarding, exploring both the psychological and practical aspects.
In particular, we will cover the following topics:
🏆 Challenges and Benefits of Onboarding
🛠️ Crafting an Effective Onboarding Process
🪜 The Onboarding Stages
🗓️ 30-60-90 Plan (Template Included!)
While our focus will be on remote onboarding, as it is an area where I have significant experience, the principles discussed can be applied to in-office work environments as well.
So let's begin!
🏆 Challenges and Benefits of Onboarding
Onboarding, especially in a remote setting, comes with its unique set of opportunities and challenges. Recognizing and understanding these can lead to building an onboarding process that ensures a positive and productive start for your new hires.
Onboarding Challenges
There are several common onboarding challenges that new hires could face, including:
Isolation and Disconnection: especially in a remote work environment, new hires may feel disconnected from their colleagues and the organization due to the lack of interaction.
Too Much Information: starting a new job means learning a lot of new things. If this isn't managed well, it can lead to confusion and frustration.
Fitting into the Company Culture: it can be tough to understand and fit into the company's culture, especially for remote workers who don't get to experience the daily office environment.
Feeling Uninvolved: when a person joins a new team, it takes time to fully take part and keep up with the others. This period, which in the best cases lasts 1 to 3 months, can be frustrating if not handled correctly.
Benefits of a Solid Onboarding Process
A robust onboarding process addresses these challenges and creates a welcoming environment for new hires. Such a process ensures that new hires feel more connected, manages the flow of information to avoid overload, involves them in hands-on activities, and supports new employees in assimilating the company culture. Let's consider some more benefits:
Job Satisfaction: a positive onboarding experience enhances job satisfaction and promotes loyalty, commitment, and engagement towards the company.
Higher Productivity: by ensuring that new hires have the necessary knowledge and resources, a robust onboarding process supports quicker ramp-up times, resulting in higher productivity levels.
Reduced Turnover: a good onboarding experience lays the foundation for a positive work experience, reducing turnover rates and enhancing the organization's retention capabilities.
🛠️ Crafting an Effective Onboarding Process
Every onboarding process is unique, shaped by factors such as company culture, team structure, and the nature of the work. It involves various stages to integrate a newcomer into the complex dynamics of a team. The ideal approach is to craft a learning path where new team members can actively participate, explore, try things out, and reflect on their experiences. Providing a tailored experience for each new team member is key to a successful onboarding process.
Applying David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory
David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory offers a roadmap for understanding how people learn from experience.
It outlines a four-stage process, that form a cycle:
Concrete Experience: this stage is about having a new experience or dealing with a fresh situation.
Reflective Observation: in this stage, learners contemplate the experience, observing and pondering what occurred.
Abstract Conceptualization: learners then build theories or concepts, or gain new insights based on their reflections. They try to explain their experience through what they've learned.
Active Experimentation: finally, learners apply what they've learned to new situations, putting their theories to the test in real-world scenarios. The cycle then starts over.
Kolb suggests that effective learning happens when someone moves through each of these stages, starting from a concrete experience, reflecting on it, forming a theory or concept, and finally, applying it in practice.
Onboarding Through Experiential Learning
David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) is a powerful learning framework that fits well within the onboarding process. The cyclical nature of Kolb's theory aligns seamlessly with onboarding, where new hires are constantly experiencing, learning, and applying new concepts.
Here's a sample breakdown of how the cycle could work:
🖥️ Concrete Experience: John's first days are filled with new experiences. He's introduced to the team, the projects they're working on, and the tools they use. He's also given a simple task to understand the development environment and the product.
🤔 Reflective Observation: after John completes his first task, he's asked to reflect on the experience. What did he find challenging? What was more comfortable than he expected? This reflection helps John identify his strengths and areas for growth.
💡 Abstract Conceptualization: next, John's manager or mentor introduces him to the wider picture. They discuss the company's strategy, how the team fits into this, and how John's work contributes. They also explore the underlying principles and best practices of the technologies they use.
🚀 Active Experimentation: now, armed with a deeper understanding, John is given a more challenging task. He applies his newfound knowledge, tests different approaches, and learns from the outcomes. His colleagues provide feedback and support throughout the process, reinforcing his learning.
Onboarding, like any process, doesn't always follow a straight line. However, keeping these principles in mind when developing your onboarding programs can significantly enhance their effectiveness.
🚴♀️The Onboarding Stages
While there isn't a one-size-fits-all method for onboarding a new team member, over the years and after welcoming dozens of new individuals to my teams, I've identified four stages that I believe are crucial for ensuring a smooth onboarding experience.
Let's take a look at them.
1/4 - Preparation Stage
Before the new hire even starts their first day, several tasks should be completed:
Inform the Team: announce the arrival of the new member to foster a welcoming atmosphere and prepare the existing team to incorporate their new colleague.
Prepare All Necessary Documents: this includes paperwork, cultural resources (which help the new hires understand the company's values and culture), a broad overview of your team, its technical stack, and tools used, among other things.
Create a Checklist of Tools and Accounts: to ensure a smooth start, make sure the new hire has all the necessary tools, accounts, and credentials ready from day one. Even though everything is almost automated, in my team we have a dedicated checklist for the onboarding.
Welcome Packages and Equipment: send new hires any necessary work equipment or tools, especially if they're working remotely. This might include company-branded items, laptops, or software licenses.
2/4 - Pre-Training Stage
The Pre-Training stage prepares new hires for their roles and the company culture. This stage can be managed by a team leader, onboarding specialist, or HR department.
Key elements include:
Company Culture Overview: provide an introduction to the company culture, sharing the company's mission, values, and work norms.
Policy Training: ensure new hires understand company policies from the start, including safety measures, leave policies, and professional conduct guidelines.
Systems Access: setup all necessary access to company systems in advance, including email accounts, project management tools, and any job-specific software.
The pre-training stage sets new hires up for success by providing the necessary tools, information, and training right from the start.
3/4 - Welcome Stage
The first day sets the tone for the employee's journey in the company. It's essential to make this day as welcoming and organized as possible:
Introduce Them to the Wider Team: whether it's an introductory video call or a warm welcome email, introducing the new hire to the entire team fosters a sense of belonging.
Encourage Them to Introduce Themselves: asking the new hire to share a bit about themselves can break the ice and make the new member feel appreciated and heard.
Schedule the First 1on1: as a manager, it’s important to personally welcome your new team member and explain them the next stages of their onboarding.