Whoa! What a title, huh? I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I’d like to ask if you have an onboarding program. How do you introduce new people to your organization?

A few well-known onboarding methods:

• Is it by tossing them a manual with instructions to “read through and ask questions?”
• Do you make them watch a video or slideshow detailing the long (AKA boring) history of your organization?
• Or do you surround them with people who are willing and able to help, guide, and provide the support necessary to prepare them as a representative of your brand and an employee of your company?

In case it wasn’t totally clear, the last one was supposed to be the “right” answer, if there even is one. I was reading this really old book a few days back, and I ran across this great explanation. Onboarding isn’t new, and people have been doing it the right way (and the wrong way) for many years. Check it out:

See that? I’ll repeat it for you.

This company undertakes to form an intimate and personal contact with its new employees… This personal touch is regarded as all important.

Why do I care?

My organization is of medium size, but our employees are scattered to the far corners of the state. Creating and sharing a new onboarding program is something I’ve been increasingly interested in recently. A few other resources I’ve found:

• Effective onboarding audio
• Onboarding group on LinkedIn
• Onboarding-a manager’s responsibilities

Have anything more you’d like to add? I’d love to hear your ideas for what makes an onboarding program succeed (or fail).