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Planning Next Steps: Where Do You Go From Here?

In This Chapter

• Achieving program sustainability • Looking out for program roadblocks and barriers • Exploring options for ongoing learning • Understanding online onboarding

Program Sustainability The previous five chapters have taken you through what you need to do to have a successful employee onboarding program. After such an investment of time and resources, you want to ensure the long-term sustainability of the program to benefit the business. Employee onboarding has to become part of the company culture through consistency in delivery and communications for sustainability.

Chapter 5 introduced one of the most critical issues for the program’s long-term sustainability: measurement and evaluation of results. Your company can only make informed decisions about the future of the program based on compelling data presented in meaningful ways.

Onboarding program accountability is important because nothing happens in organizations if no one assumes ownership. Powerful positive onboarding results will promote the involvement of key stakeholders in the process and foster the participation of other employees as onboarding becomes integrated into the company’s culture.

PRO TIP “Nothing breeds success like success.”

—Bob Ross

Assuming program ownership also means anticipating and mitigating roadblocks.

Onboarding Sustainability Roadblocks It’s important to watch out for roadblocks and barriers as you move forward with your program into the future. Let’s look at a few you may run into.

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 8 . A s s o c i a t i o n F o r T a l e n t D e v e l o p m e n t .

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Change and Uncertainty Organizational changes and uncertainty become a barrier for program sustainability because they can cause the company infrastructure on which you based your program to disappear. Any time changes occur, the content of your onboarding program has to reflect them, which leads to rework.

Other possibilities include program stakeholders and participants who supported the program assuming new roles or leaving the organization on short notice. To combat these changes, it’s important to constantly emphasize the program’s value so you maintain top management’s buy-in. Expanding your cadre of resources who deliver the program by selecting and preparing additional facilitators will help if some of your facilitators leave the company.

It’s important to keep all resources and stakeholders up-to-date on the latest onboarding program revisions so that they convey the correct message to program attendees. Take additional steps to be prepared for last-minute changes that affect the program; even though they are beyond your control, these changes could cause a negative impression on new or new-to-role employees.

Lack of Long-Term Support If onboarded employees aren’t supported in their role long term, it can result in employee disappointment, which can lead to disengagement and decisions to leave the organization. Onboarding programs have to go beyond the formal group sessions, individual meetings, and training sessions. When companies don’t set up an infrastructure to support onboarded employees in the long run, they are more likely to feel isolated and abandoned. Your organization can support employees without incurring extraordinary expenses by maximizing the resources that they already have and increasing managers’ awareness of the importance of enabling employee success. Monitor progress consistently.

First Impressions Underestimating the power of a new employee’s first impression can make companies come across as if they disregard their brand. Sometimes companies wrongly assume they can erase the consequences of errors or oversights during onboarding. However, employees are very vulnerable during their first days at work because they are undergoing a major transition. Thus, they are more likely to misinterpret cues and make assumptions based on the limited information they are receiving because they lack points of reference and comparison to reach their own conclusions. Give special attention to every detail to ensure that it reinforces the brand to achieve the desired effect.

Providing an Incomplete Company Picture Limiting the scope of involvement and participation in the onboarding program to one or two company functions, rather than the organization as a whole, gives new employees an incomplete picture of the company and what it values. When onboarding programs, especially general onboarding, present a limited view of an organization’s departments and functions, employees aren’t able to appreciate the full scale of the operation they joined. This restricts and delays potential contributions beyond their units until they can obtain the information on their own. Individual differences in employee competencies and aptitudes may mitigate or exacerbate the negative effects of this shortsightedness. Make onboarding inclusive across the organization. Remember the “WOW!” effect.

Ignoring the Learning Curve Underestimating the importance of the employee’s learning curve to meet performance standards places the employee at a disadvantage. Onboarding allows companies to establish a level playing field for employees to meet performance standards. Even though onboarding, especially at the role-specific level, typically shortens the time that employees need to achieve performance standards, it is not a quick fix that will accelerate productivity. Account for the learning curve of each position for every employee to reach the desired performance level.

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Lack of Support From Managers’ Direct Reports A manager’s direct reports will influence their success or failure in delivering results because managers work through others. In general, it is in the direct reports’ best interest to have a successful manager. Therefore, they will likely be aligned with the manager’s vision for the future and facilitate cultural assimilation by providing useful insights and feedback.

However, if some of a new manager’s direct reports have a longer tenure with the company, whether they are new to the company or to the role, any informal alliances they have forged over the years will influence the level of support from others in the team positively or negatively. Those who were interested in the position, but were passed over, may resent the new manager. Former peers who are now direct reports may not understand the need to shift behaviors or may insist on maintaining a relationship that can’t exist anymore. HR and L&D need to support the new manager in handling these issues promptly to reduce the likelihood of long-term repercussions. The manager’s career and the business depend on their swift action.

A New Manager’s Peers The influence of a new manager’s peers will pave the way for their smooth assimilation into the role. While most learning and acculturation will come from experience, the new manager will need a reference group to adopt behaviors and points of view consistent with the company culture and with the manager subculture. This reference group can become a source of support and information about the business, its history, and its future. They know and have gone through what it takes to perform the role. HR and L&D have to be ready to address any potential conflicts that may arise. Internal politics always need to intervene in these interactions, particularly if some of the new manager’s peers perceive any career threats from the new manager.

Issues With Other Employees Other employees within the department can become the company’s cultural ambassadors, but they need preparation to understand the role. These employees can either become a source of support for onboarded employees or a major barrier for their success because they interact with individual contributors whether they work at the same location or remotely. In those daily interactions, these employees transmit many of the unwritten rules of behavior of the department and company. They can also point the onboarded employee in the right direction to find solutions and provide introductions to start building important relationships within and outside the department. Managers and HR have to anticipate and address any misalignments and political issues with these employees before their actions become a major challenge for the onboarded employee, the department, and the company.

TOOL Use the “Onboarding Program Roadblocks Checklist,” located at the end of this chapter, to identify potential challenges that could derail your company’s general onboarding or role-specific onboarding program.

Ongoing Learning Onboarding is the beginning of the employee’s learning and development process in the company. Sustaining onboarding implies sustaining employee learning through a carefully orchestrated combination of informal and formal learning experiences that continue after the onboarding program ends.

By continuing the learning experience, you show onboarded employees that the company values them and wants them to have the best learning experience in the organization. It also helps to encourage employees to learn new skills, especially ones that are needed long term within the organization. An employee becomes

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more engaged when they believe the company values their learning goals. Table 6-1 lists some suggestions for development activities that employees can do to continue

strengthening their skills. They are organized by the groups of employees who would benefit the most from them.

Table 6-1. Suggested Ongoing Development Activities by Group of Employees

Online Onboarding Face-to-face contact in onboarding is irreplaceable. However, we understand that online onboarding is the only option for some companies, especially for general orientation. If companies decide to put their onboarding programs online, we have several recommendations. Companies with online onboarding programs need to:

• Address new employees’ learning preferences. • Include images, pictures, sound effects, and simulations. • Maintain data and keep information up-to-date. • Assign an owner to the process. • Make content and delivery visually appealing. • Ensure that the programs are truly representative of the organization.

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Online onboarding does have some benefits: Companies that automate their onboarding gradually diminish their dependence on printed documents, thus reducing costs. It’s also a way to ensure a timely and steady delivery of information when employees need it, which means they are more likely to retain the information.

In online onboarding, everything is presented in more detail because the information is self-explanatory—so adjust the content to the media that you will use. More information is better than less information; however, the key to avoiding overload lies in structuring the delivery of that information in manageable chunks. Before you can create a successful online program, you’ll need to thoroughly document everything you plan to include and create scripts—leave nothing to chance. In your scripts, speak to all the typical concerns of new hires upon joining an organization. Repeat and reinforce key messages through different means to make sure that they are understood. Have a plan B so that the program can continue if you encounter any technical problems.

Avoid having to handle the following situation.

Gregory’s Story Gregory is in charge of the company’s online onboarding program. Even though the program was initially successful, the situation changed when the company restructured and the program’s content was not updated.

Managers and supervisors are saying that the onboarding program is useless because the information is out of date. Gregory has been requesting the information he needs to update the program, but he has not received any responses.

The company’s online onboarding program has lost its initial effectiveness. Having support from all stakeholders is key for the program’s success. Gregory needs to garner support from key stakeholders whose commitment to the program will ensure that he receives the necessary information to update the material. Keeping stakeholders informed of the program’s progress and its impact on business results will sustain the program’s positioning as a worthy investment.

Your company may choose to leverage its available technological resources for role-specific onboarding, such as addressing technical and regulatory content; nonetheless, managers still need to be directly involved with their employees.

PRO TIP If onboarding takes place online, be sure to include the program’s essential elements and make it interactive with questions, quizzes, games, and exercises.

Next Steps, Building Relationships To keep the program alive and strong, the key is consistency. Now you have a road map to follow to revisit that organizational snapshot, create a compelling business case, and justify the company’s investment in the program. You will not be starting at square one.

The lessons you learned along the way will be the most useful resources to prepare and launch the next iteration of the program. You know what worked and what did not work to make onboarding successful. You understand what you need to do to get management and other stakeholders involved in general and

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role-specific onboarding. You have built relationships that will contribute to the success of the program and, most important, to the success of those employees who join the company and believe in what it stands for. You appreciate the value of measuring and evaluating. Onboarding is ongoing.

Questions to Explore • How do you plan to use what you learned from your program’s evaluation to sustain the program? • How will you handle any organizational changes that may have an impact on the onboarding

program? • Do you have a pool of potential facilitators ready if any current facilitators go elsewhere? • What is the biggest enabler to onboarding in your company? How will you leverage company

resources to optimize them? • What are the biggest barriers to onboarding in your company? How do you plan to overcome them? • What elements of online onboarding would be useful to your company? Where would you start? • What can you do to make a case for the potential benefits of automating some components of your

onboarding program? • Are you ready for the challenge of sustaining the program?

Tools for Support

Onboarding Program Roadblocks Checklist Use this checklist for the general onboarding program and role-specific onboarding programs by department.

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Additional Resources Ellis, R. 2016. “How to Craft Onboarding That Has Staying Power.” ATD Insights, March 7. www.td.org/insights/how-to-craft

.-onboarding-that-has-staying-power

Ferrazzi, K. 2015. “Technology Can Save Onboarding From Itself.” March 25. Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2015/03 ./technology-can-save-onboarding-from-itself

Hirsch, A.S. 2017. “Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Good Onboarding.” Society for Human Resources Management, August 10. .www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/dont-underestimate-the-importance-of-effective-onboarding.aspx

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PwC. 2016. PWC Financial Services, December. The Future of Onboarding. www.pwc.com/il/he/bankim/assets/pwc-the-future-of .-onboarding.pdf

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