Chapter 10
The Follow-Up Coach
What’s in This Chapter
• Increasing onboarding effectiveness through follow-up activities
• Ideas for follow-up activities
As stated several times throughout this book, onboarding is an ongoing process, not a one-time event; therefore, your job is not over once you have conducted the orientation training program. One of the goals of onboarding is to integrate the employee smoothly and quickly into the organization so that he or she can become a productive member of the team. The integration process, conducted over a period of many months, should include both operational and cultural integration and involve a variety of activities that fall into five basic categories: conducting periodic check-ins, learning opportunities, resourcing, building relationships, and building a sense of community.
Conducting Periodic Check-ins
The importance of periodic check-ins cannot be overstated. Often new employees leave the orientation training program excited and motivated, yet that enthusiasm quickly wanes once they actually begin the job because no one checked with them to ensure that they feel welcome and prepared for their jobs. Check-ins not only provide feedback for the organization, they communicate to the new employees that the organization really does care about them.
30-Day Follow-Up Survey
A good place to start is sending a survey to new employees 30 days following the end of the new employee orientation training program. The survey will collect feedback about the effectiveness of the training program and the degree to which the new employees found it helpful as they began their jobs. Assessment 2 provides a 30-day follow-up survey that you can adapt easily and deliver in print or online versions.
60-Day Follow-Up Survey
Once the new employee has been on the job a couple months, he or she is in a good position to reflect on and evaluate how well he or she is integrating into the organization. Assessment 3 offers a 60-day survey to help you determine both operational and cultural integration. Once again, you can deliver this survey in paper or electronic versions.
Chat-and-Chew Sessions
In addition to surveys, you can engage the new employees in a face-to-face activity that affords them the opportunity to ask questions and share challenges. A good time frame is 60 days so that employees have been on the job long enough to have settled in, received job training, and likely encountered challenges along the way. In this activity, participants meet in a small group for breakfast or lunch and discuss the experiences, good and bad, that they have had so far. This should be a facilitated discussion led by a human resources professional and conducted much like a focus group. The facilitator collects the feedback he or she believes is relevant in maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of the onboarding process.
Learning Opportunities
Continuing to offer learning opportunities to new employees sends the message that your organization wants to support them over the long term. It takes time for people to process new information, reinforce new patterns of behavior, and start applying new skills and knowledge. Continuing learning can take many shapes and forms, ranging from formal training programs to webinars to discussion forums and beyond.
Webinars
Webinars are a great way to address specific topics such as product knowledge or employee benefits. Subject matter experts or product specialists can conduct these sessions any time throughout the day, and the sessions can be archived for those who cannot participate in the live session. You could also offer question-and-answer sessions with executives from various areas of the organization. Webinars are especially effective for employees in remote locations.
Discussion Forums
Discussion forums can be useful in helping new hires learn more about the organization’s values and culture and build a sense of community. Consider developing case studies with discussion questions that address the organization’s values and post one every week or month. Ask new employees to answer the questions in the discussion forum and then respond to each other’s posts. One topic for the discussion might be “what makes this company unique?” You could also expand this delivery method into facilitated forums through web conferencing.
Guided Research
In a guided research activity, new employees participate individually or in teams to research the products and services of the organization’s competitors. Assign each person or team one competitor and ask them to compare and contrast the competitor to their organization. In addition to information they would gather online, they could do a “mystery shop” and actually visit a competitor, if appropriate. Have participants post their findings on the organization’s intranet or discuss in a chat room. You could make this an ongoing activity, assigning and showcasing a different product or service each month. This activity is really useful for sales or service functions.
Resourcing
As a human resources or training professional, you are a great resource. Use your understanding of what new employees need to know along with the inside information you have about the organization to help employees gain confidence and assimilate more quickly. Regularly send out checklists, job aids, tools, and other information through email, intranet, or social media. For example, you could send a tip sheet on how to navigate various processes, a cheat sheet for using the telephone system or planning a meeting, articles relevant to employee success, and even a list of inexpensive places to eat in the neighborhood with coupons attached. Whenever you come across information you believe would be valuable to the new employees, send it on!
Building Relationships
Buddy Program
A buddy program is a cost-effective and powerful way to help new employees become acclimated and assimilated into the organization. In a structured, six-month buddy program, you match a new employee with an employee who has been with the organization at least 12 months. Generally, the buddy is someone in the same department as the new hire. Choose individuals who have excellent interpersonal skills; understand the organization’s vision, values, and culture; are good performers and role models; and of course show an interest in and excitement about participating in the buddy program. The buddy will
• Introduce the new employee to other people in the organization
• Help the new employee understand the politics, procedures, unwritten rules, and customs of the organization and department
• Serve as a tour guide
• Identify resources the new employee may need
• Train the new employee in some areas.
The buddy and the new hire would meet once a week for 30–45 minutes for the first month and then once a month thereafter. Quite often the relationship between the buddy and the new employee develops into a friendship that extends beyond the prescribed period.
The buddy becomes the “go-to” person for the new employee and helps him or her with both operational and cultural issues. One of the buddy’s roles is to help the new employee understand “how it works around here.” The buddy is a valuable resource to convey the unwritten and informal (or sometimes formal) norms distinctive to the specific department or organization for a variety of topics:
• Dress code. Knowing what to wear and what not to wear can be a mystery for new employees.
• Behavior. So many expected behaviors can pose real hurdles when you are new to an organization—even something as simple as lunchroom or break room behavior (making coffee, cleaning the refrigerator, keeping the lunchroom clean, and so on).
• Terminology. The buddy can help the new employee to get up to speed on terminology that is unique to the department, organization, or industry.
• Personal address. In some organizations, it’s important for employees to know how to properly address others by name (first names or surnames), by advanced degrees or professional titles (such as doctor, professor, officer, or others), or by job title (in some companies, position on the organization chart may determine whether or not to use first or surnames).
• Country and culture. Nationality and culture will determine the level of formality expected by employees, as well as many other issues.
With many of these issues, new employees may feel more comfortable approaching a buddy about them than their supervisors or human resources staff.
Mentoring
Unlike the buddy, the mentor offers professional advice and helps the employee in his or her development. The mentor can provide more in-depth information and insight into corporate politics and appropriate behaviors. The mentor becomes a “safe haven” for the new employee. It is an informal relationship in which the mentor offers support and helps the new employee adapt to the new environment. Mentors help newcomers feel more comfortable in the workplace, become more knowledgeable about the organization, and be better able to internalize the company’s values and culture.
Building a Sense of Community
Tours
When possible, conduct tours of the site or facility and ask designated employees at each stop along the way to give a brief overview of the department and answer questions. These department information specialists should be knowledgeable about the department and able to articulate clearly the department’s function and how it fits into the big picture. This is particularly important in a manufacturing environment. This responsibility can be rotated among the members of the department so that one individual isn’t unduly taxed with the role. To ensure uniformity and consistency, consider giving department representatives talking points and perhaps even a modified presentation skills session. If actual tours are not possible or practical, you could develop virtual tours delivered online. The scavenger hunt in Learning Activity 13 is an example of an interactive variation of a tour.
Meetings With the President or Executives
Consider hosting a brief reception either during a break or after the session during which members of management mingle with the newcomers, getting to know them on a personal level and answering any questions they may have but were afraid to ask in front of the group.
You could also schedule a “Lunch with the Leader” for small groups of 10 to 12 employees approximately three months after they have joined the organization. This is a good opportunity for the CEO or other executive leaders to answer questions employees may have regarding the organization and to identify any problems or issues that may prevent them from becoming fully engaged employees.
Social Events
Depending on the size of the organization, you may want to organize new employee reunions. At any interval you choose (three months, six months, even 12 months), invite all employees who have joined the organization within a designated time period for an after-hours reception or some other social activity. This gives people an opportunity to renew or reinforce the relationships they developed during the orientation session and to share stories with each other about their experiences so far.
Key Points
• Remember that onboarding is a journey, not an event.
• Follow-up activities, with multiple offerings, will help new employees quickly become productive contributors to your company’s mission and success.
• Be creative and consistent. Ongoing commitment to new employees’ integration into the organization will pay big dividends in the long run.
What to Do Next
• Select one of the activities from each the five categories of follow-up activities—check-ins, learning, resourcing, relationship building, and community building—and plan to incorporate them into your onboarding program.
• Collect data and measure the effectiveness of the activities you used.
• Stick with it. Don’t give up when you face resistance, meetings are cancelled, or you discover that only five people have viewed the recorded webinar that took you 10 hours to create. Take notice of the activities that seem to resonate with the participants. Do more of those!