Page 267 - Successful Onboarding

248 • Successful Onboarding

needed to have more meaningful conversations with new hires during the
first year, covering issues and topics that the diagnostic work revealed as
being important.
In addition to objectives, the blueprint should also reflect agreement
about the new program’s scope. Given the nature and extent of an orga-
nization’s diagnostic findings and available resources, it may not be
possible to tackle a full Year One program redesign for new hires across
all areas and levels of the business. Being overly ambitious in a redesign
effort can dilute the impact of proposed enhancements or cause them to
fail outright in meeting overall program objectives. Companies can also
benefit from identifying what they consider the gold standard and make
incremental improvements against achieving something similar; both the
finished product and interim steps and gains along the way should appear
in the blueprint. Numerous ways to segment redesign efforts exist; Booz
Allen’s work on this front was largely focused on prioritization based on
impact as determined by the detailed diagnostic process. Organizations
can choose to focus on certain categories of new hires (e.g., campus hires,
field employees, corporate, etc.), certain new hire levels or functions, cer-
tain business units, certain geographies, or certain phases of the Year One
program.
Once teams have a strong understanding of program objectives and
scope, they can go on to create the high-level program blueprint. Booz
Allen’s team started with the four-phase framework outlined in Chapter 2
and defined objectives for each stage, incorporating the principles outlined
in Chapters 3 through 6. Booz Allen’s high level blueprint (Figure 9.1)
broke down early orientation into two phases (firm-wide versus local). Note
the clear distinction between the firm’s existing program and the new
onboarding program.
Program designers should take care to modify and update timing and
objectives to fit an organization’s core business cycles and other specific
operational needs. Next steps can then focus on cataloguing the full range
of design options that will meet objectives in each phase. Booz Allen’s
experience also illustrated the importance of early efforts around fostering
creativity and putting forth as many ideas as possible; teams can prioritize
and vet later. Inspiration can come from best-in-class and peer company
programs, suggestions from recent new hires, pure creativity on the part
of design teams, or consultation with outside advisors.