Page 279 - Successful Onboarding

260 • Successful Onboarding

Consider whether new hire satisfaction is higher or whether specific pro-
gram elements can be improved to increase new hire satisfaction.
In Booz Allen’s case, the piloting phase offered important guidance.
Overall survey results surpassed expectations and yielded glowing
responses (e.g., “I normally hate this stuff, but I had fun and learned a
lot!”). Yet respondents also pointed to elements of the firm’s new program
that needed improvement, such as information on Booz Allen’s functional
teams, which was perceived to be too scarce. Program designers also
learned that they needed to update their messaging to clarify learning
objectives behind program components. Ratings from the second pilot
group surpassed those in the first group.
Pilots enable you to test not only content, but also those operational
processes that will support the program over the long term. Chris Holmes
observed that pilots were critical for successful implementation at Booz
Allen: “Once our content reached a certain point of maturity, we were
able to increase the aperture of the pilots to include technology and
process support. Increasingly more complex pilots broadened the scope of
our test-bed to include other functions such as technology, recruiting, and
help desk support.”
During the pilot stage’s second half, design teams should begin prepar-
ing to implement the program operationally across the broader organiza-
tion. Prior to the broader rollout, teams need to create an implementation
task force to help coordinate change management and training for process
owners (e.g., recruiters, hiring managers, mentors, etc.) and support per-
sonnel. The implementation task force should begin pre-implementation
activities during the pilot phase to ensure that no momentum is lost
between the pilot stage and implementation.
As pilots are concluding and the implementation team is rolling out
the program, it’s critical to again return to the task of change management.
For this purpose, the implementation task force includes a communica-
tions leader who can educate the organization about the program. This
person should maintain strong connections with senior management,
since ensuring the support of organizational leadership is vital to success.
Many communications leaders choose to adopt a top-down approach,
communicating the onboarding message to senior leaders in business units
or functions who then pass on information about onboarding to program
managers, role players, and other experienced employees.