Let’s face it… A company’s human resources or training department usually has too much on its plate. Rarely is there more budget than there are projects to complete; it’s almost always the other way around – you only have so much budget and so many projects that you don’t know where to begin.

I’d like to make the case to begin with onboarding as your next project for two reasons – one of which benefits the HR or Training professional, the other benefits the company’s employees.

The benefit to your company’s employees might seem obvious, a good onboarding program helps speed and increase productivity, employee satisfaction, reduces errors and generally makes everyone’s life – during what could be a very tumultuous time – a little easier.

But there’s more to it than that. Too many times, training departments are playing catch-up. You’re trying to take an employee who’s been at the company for 5-10 years and suddenly change the way you want them to do things. It’s an uphill climb.

Why not start at the top of the hill, or with a clean slate, if you will. It’s much easier to instill in new employees the desired behavior rather than trying to change the behavior of more tenured employees. Onboarding gives you that opportunity.

As for the benefit to the training or HR professional (besides the fact that you will look amazing with a smoothly-running, effective onboarding program), it’s a matter of prioritizing your projects.

Onboarding helps you uncover your organization’s true training needs. How? Because it touches all employees. Rather than fielding a training request that comes from one department in one location in one of your company’s divisions, onboarding allows you to tap right into the heartbeat of all your employees, and their needs will surface.

Not to mention the fact that onboarding is the new employees’ first impression of not only the company but of you and your department. If they feel the onboarding was well-done, the next time you hit them with some training, they’re much more apt to pay heed.

So next time you’re struggling with too many to-do’s and you’re not sure where to begin, start where your employees start – improve your onboarding program (or develop one if you don’t already have one) and build from there. It’s the foundation of employee performance.

Novita Training offer three solutions for improving your company’s onboarding, one for any size organization and budget. For more information, click here and also here.

Of all the functions of HR/Training, none is more like sales than onboarding (take that salespeople who say we don’t understand what you do!). If you think about it, your new employee onboarding program is the culmination of your recruiting efforts in which you sold the candidate on the idea of joining your organization.

Your onboarding efforts, then, are your way of avoiding buyer’s remorse. How to do this? Well, there’s an old advertising adage that says, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” Without getting too much into advertising psychology, this basically means that people buy the benefits of a product, not the features. For example, you don’t buy a car because it has 200 horsepower, you buy it because it can help you accelerate onto the highway safely.

Similarly, new employees join your company because of how it benefits them, not because of how great is your company. Yet, we see too many companies over-zealously patting themselves on the back. Certainly, new employees need to know and want to be proud of the many accomplishments of its new organization, but there should be a balance between “features” and “benefits”.

For example, if your organization is growing in revenue, talk about how that can translate into the potential for increased compensation for the new employee (you’re not guaranteeing anything but this is probably one reason why they chose you). If your company has won awards, talk about how they can contribute to the next award and how that will look on their resume (you’re not trying to help them get another job, but people want to list their accomplishments). If your company is growing in staff or has acquired another, talk about the increase opportunities for supervisory roles or cross-functional work (again, you’re not promising anything). If your company has brand recognition, cutting-edge technology or your managers are highly trained, talk about how all this makes the new employee’s job easier, better, and more productive. I can’t tell you how many of our clients forget to even include a list of employee discounts in their onboarding.

It’s not always easy because it requires you to think slightly differently. We address how to do this in our onboarding solutions, including our public Onboarding Bootcamp as well as our Navigator Onboarding Coaching service.

One great trick… Think of the reasons why an employee leaves a company (poorly trained managers, no development opportunities, lack of recognition, lack of challenging work, etc) and make sure you include in your onboarding how your company is the opposite (if it’s not, well that’s another story!).

We see the biggest culprit of the “look how great we are” attitude with companies who are growing considerably from very small to getting to be mid-sized. They – and you – need to remember that no matter how great you feel your company is (and it very well may be), that a new employee chooses to join you because of how that greatness will benefit them.

Want to make your onboarding sizzle? Contact us.

Quick quiz…

Who should own the process of new employee onboarding within an organization?

a) The Manager
b) Human Resources / Training
c) No one
d) Everyone

In our firm’s opinion, there really is only one right answer and that’s b) Human Resources / Training. The answers we get most often when working with clients is either a) The Manager; or d) Everyone; meaning a combination of people. In our opinion, both of these are wrong, though understandable.

Many Human Resources professionals we work with complain that managers don’t take enough ownership. We agree. Too many managers take a hands-off approach when it comes to employee development. And while it’s a very real problem, in the case of onboarding, you don’t want the manager to own the process. Notice I said “the process.” Absolutely managers play a critical role in onboarding a new employee, as do many people. But it should be HR/T&D who manages the process itself.

That doesn’t mean they are solely responsible for onboarding a new employee, nor does it mean they control all the content, but it does mean they should create with input from others and manage the process (there are many ways to create an effective onboarding program).

But if others are responsible and have input, why shouldn’t a combination of people own it? Because too many owners means no one is accountable. In our experience, the companies with the most successful onboarding programs have one person or department who is accountable. That means the owner of the onboarding process:

- Is accountable for the process and the results/ROI.
- Directs others.
- Centrally maintains/updates the documents

So while (many) others will be heavily involved, contribute greatly and be responsible for parts of new employee’s onboarding, there should only be one central owner of the process.

Many employers have lofty visions for their employees… they craft vision statements and values; they long for their employees to be “engaged” and “2.0″, and spend hours deliberating the company “culture” that each employee should display.

So then why are so many employees not engaged, 1.0, go against the culture, and fail to behave in accordance with the values?

Because too many employers play “catch up” with their employees – meaning they wait to communicate such guidelines (or simply never communicate them) until it’s too late and the employee has been there long enough that their bad behavior is set, and will take twice as long to change.

Imagine saying to an employee who has been at your company for three years, “You are not acting according to our values.” In many cases, the employee’s response? “What values?” or “I’ve been doing it this way all along.” It’s like trying to introduce wedding vows at a 3-yr anniversary. Chances are you’ll be unsuccessful (if the marriage even lasts that long!).

What’s an employer to do? It’s simple actually. Instead of trying to correct undesirable behavior after-the-fact, start the new employee out with the ideal behavior in the first place.

The reality is that all the buzzwords companies talk about today work better if they are instilled the first day the employee walks through the door, in what is known as the onboarding period. “Culture” begins at onboarding; “Engagement” begins at onboarding; “2.0″ only happens if your onboarding is 2.0.

Yet so many companies do a poor job of onboarding a new employee and – worse yet – set a precedence that projects the exact opposite image than what they are trying to. How can you expect an employee to behave “collaboratively” if you throw your new employee into his or her job with no collaboration.

We’ve worked with companies, improving the way they onboard new employees and invariably what we develop ends up benefiting existing employees as well, because no one took the time when they were new.

A study done in 2008* suggests that new employees of companies with highly-rated onboarding programs are:

- 52% more likely to understand the desired conduct of an employee.
- 95% more likely to feel part of a team.
- 48% more likely to feel a strong sense of commitment to the organization.
- 23% more likely to remain at the company after six months.

Next time you are considering an initiative whose goal is to change employees’ attitude or behavior, start fresh rather than playing catch-up! By first improving your onboarding, your employees will more consistently live your ideals because they’ve never known anything else. First impressions and precedence do mean that much.

For information on ways to improve your onboarding, shoot us a note at info@novitaunique.com.

* 2008 national study. Copyright Novita. All rights reserved.

For the many service providers whose revenue is based on the success of the companies they serve, 2009 might not be a textbook example of ‘trickle down’ economics, and has compelled some to rethink their approach – even those who have not fared so poorly.

“We had a pretty decent year,” says Robert Bilotti – Managing Director of NovitaTM, an employee development firm that helps organizations more effectively onboard new hires and improve the performance of all employees through training “As for our clients, some remain strong. Others have suffered setbacks. All are spending more prudently.”

In an effort to save money, many companies are attempting to do more for themselves, rather than relying on outsiders. In a survey Novita conducted, 73% of employers responded they are taking this approach. Why? 81% said they were working with less budget dollars.

Bilotti explains, “Doing it yourself – or D.I.Y. – is big right now. Just ask stores like Home Depot. More people are buying paint and donning their overalls instead of hiring a professional painter. The same can be said for organizations.”

Even with smaller budgets, however, employees of those organizations still want and need to learn, develop and grow. Billotti says, “Regardless of the economy, those needs haven’t changed. So we did.”

This past summer, Novita introduced SpringboardTM, what Bilotti calls the first ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Onboarding Bootcamp. He says, “Not every homeowner knows how to properly paint, just like not every employer knows how to properly orient a new employee. Springboard teaches them how.”

Over the three-day workshop, attendees are guided through the process of building a comprehensive program that addresses their new employees’ needs, as well as those of the management and staff. Templates and worksheets are included so that employers can do it themselves – with a little help. “We let them cheat a bit,” explains Bilotti with a smile. “We’ve been doing this for years, so there’s no need for them to start from scratch.” Creating an effective program can be overwhelming, evidenced by the fact that a typical new employee completes as many as 300-500 tasks. Says Bilotti, “With the tools we give them, they can simply add-in their own content.”

The D.I.Y. approach can also be used for employees who are not new, yet still want to improve their performance. Instead of a workshop, Novita helps the organization train its employees itself, rather than bringing in an expensive outside trainer.

Says Bilotti, “There’s a great deal of knowledge that exists within any company in the form of best practices. We help them find it, extract it and develop training around it, thus raising the performance of all employees up to that of their star performers.” According to Bilotti, such an approach can be used for any topic, including management and leadership development.

The response to Novita’s D.I.Y. methods has been very positive. Dates for the Springboard Bootcamp are set for next year, and the firm is currently working with several companies on D.I.Y. training efforts, including those who are prospering. “It’s not just clients who may be struggling that are interested,” says Bilotti. “D.I.Y. means any size organization with any size budget can have world-class onboarding and training for their employees.”

For more information on Springboard or D.I.Y. Training, visit www.novitaunique.com

I was reading an article in the Chicago Tribune this morning about Ford and its hope that the new Taurus model will resonate with the American consumer. The goal was to do a better job of understanding what the American consumer wants and needs in a car? A better job? How – after 100+ plus years of making cars – does a company of this size and who spends hundreds of millions on R&D, NOT know their audience yet??

Forget tariffs, forget out-of-control union wages, Ford, GM & Chrysler all have the biggest home-court advantage of any industry and that is that people WANT to buy their products over the foreign competition. Made in America still means something and, often, people begrudgingly purchase products made abroad – simply because they are better. My father drove American for 30 years before he bought his first Nissan, and do you know what he said? Why didn’t I do this sooner? The car met his needs and wants.

My first reaction to the article was amazement. How could the carmakers be so out of touch? And then, as I often do, I tried to draw a comparison to my industry – training, and you know what? It’s the same thing. I can’t tell you how many times my firm gets hired to develop training for a company’s employees and the story the people in corporate HR tell me is vastly different than the story the actual employees tell me. How well do corporate training departments know their audience? Or what’s more, if they don’t know, how many of them are recognizing it and taking steps to correct the problem?

Believe it or not our clients are sometimes surprised when we say that – before we develop anything – we’ll want to speak to the people for whom the training will address. To me it seems an obvious part of any analysis – it’s something we do with every project. And more often than not, the scope of the project changes after we do.

I don’t feel qualified to fix Ford’s woes, but I do know that your training initiatives will be infinitely more successful if you spend the time figuring out what your employees need. Do it in surveys… do it in interviews… do it by allowing employees to contribute random ideas through some knowledge-sharing mechanism or social network, but do it. You have a home-court advantage with your employees. Don’t make them begrudgingly take part in your training.

I’ve talked before about how powerful knowledge sharing is and how cost-effective it can be to begin your efforts in this area. One simple way is something we all have used and benefited from… FAQs or Frequently Asked Questions. I’m sure you’ve seen them in product manuals, technical support sites, even sales literature and company web sites.

Why are they so powerful and why should you incorporate FAQs into your organization and learning? From the user standpoint, it’s a fast and easy way to get answers to commonly asked questions. It’s also “self service”, which means no wasted time waiting for someone to respond. From your standpoint, it’s an effective time-saver. Why answer the same question from 30 different people, when you can answer it once?

It’s also powerful in its reach – beyond the 30 people. If 30 people are asking the same question, there’s a good chance 300 people are thinking it, because we all know only a small fraction will take the time and effort to actually ask.

So how can you begin to harness the power of FAQs? First, you need the questions. That can be as simple as beginning to document questions as you receive them; giving priority to the number of times you get questions of a similar nature. Once you have your list, you need to post it (with the correct answers, of course!) somewhere for the masses to access. Bulletins that are sent out are fine. Intranets, web pages and learning ports (LMS) are even better. Finally, allow users to submit questions (and answers) of their own. Before you know it, you’ll have a robust user-driven knowledge exchange!