Onboarding: The Essential Rules for a Successful Onboarding Programme

You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

Defining Onboarding

To start, participants will explore what onboarding is (and is not) and how it differs from orientation. Participants will also identify some of the business benefits of a successful onboarding program. To conclude the session, participants will discuss some factors for success and some issues that can lead to failure.

Creating the Onboarding Steering Team

This session will look at who should make up the team that will steer the onboarding program and what their role should be.

Gathering Supporting Information

Next, participants will learn what key processes, programs and stakeholders should be included in the onboarding development process. Participants will also receive a list of questions that they can use to shape the program’s vision. Then, participants will practice creating a vision for a fictional company.

Setting Goals

In this session, participants will learn the six elements of a good goal, summarized by the SPIRIT acronym.

Developing the Program

The majority of the afternoon of Day One will be spent exploring the general components of the different phases of an onboarding program: pre-work and the first day, week, month, and year. At the end of the session, participants will classify different activities into each phase.

A Personal Onboarding Plan

To conclude the first day, participants will work on a personal onboarding plan for a fictional case study.

Customizing the Framework

To begin the second day, participants will create a full onboarding program outline for their fictional company.

Measuring Results

In this session, participants will brainstorm what results they can measure to evaluate the success of their onboarding program and how they can gather data.

Branding the Program

Next, participants will look at the elements of a well-designed brand and how to apply it to their onboarding program.

Onboarding Executives

This session will give a brief introduction on how onboarding programs for executives may differ from programs for the rest of the organization.

Understanding Employee Engagement

In this session participants will learn about the Gallup studies on engagement, and what they can do to make sure employees are checked in.

Ten Ways to Make Your Program Unique

A well-designed, unique program can be an ambassador for your company. This session will give participants some ideas for making their onboarding program stand out.

Fun and Games

Your onboarding program doesn’t have to be all work and no play, as long as employees are learning or building relationships while they are playing. In this session we’ll share some of our favorite onboarding and training games.

Case Study Analysis

To conclude the workshop, participants will review the case studies that they gathered for a pre-assignment and create a list of best practices.

Workshop Wrap-Up

At the end of the workshop, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.