Onboarding to create confidence and success

Excited to have recently hired a new colleague, I'm preparing her onboarding and training schedule.  This is an exciting time for all of us - for my new colleague in her new role in a new organization, for myself and our direct team partners, and for our organization and the families we serve.
















Yet, how often do supervisors and organizations squander this opportunity to build a strong foundation for their new colleague and, thusly, for their team, organization and client base.  It is so easy to stay buried in your own work, to hope (rather than plan) for success, to inadvertently throw your new colleague into the fire.

I'm reminded of the Forbes article featured on LinkedIn early this year, 1 Thing Every New Hire Should Get On Their First Day.

When I worked in the book business, one of my key responsibilities was to train new Community Relations Managers.  It was great fun.  I designed a curriculum to disseminate policy, procedure, expectations, and best practices.  We spent days together.  And by the end, we were both exhausted.  There was just so much.  How much better to incorporate practices from my workshops: fun, tailored for various learning styles, and generating excitement?

And for my new colleague, I also seek to create confidence in her training - that is, I want her to feel as well as be well-trained and ready to create success.  In building a fun, effective, organized and clear training plan, we illustrate that we value our colleagues.

Lastly, I'm pondering how to illustrate to my new colleague how we on my team support each other, and how our organization serves our clients: a personalized welcome sign at the community entrance, lunch for my new colleague and our direct team to initiate early partnerships, a clear training document, a great reference manual, lots of positive introductions, and ... ?  To further prep, I'll review some favorite leadership / management books.


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