Page 75 - Successful Onboarding

64 • Successful Onboarding

The Four Pillars of the Onboarding Margin
Starting from the new hire’s point of view might make onboarding man-
agement and design seem hopelessly complex. How do we begin to wrap
our heads around a new hire’s many experiences? Through our work with
leading corporations as well as smaller as well as public organizations,
we’ve identified four interrelated content areas that prove essential to help-
ing a new hire fit into an organization. These content areas comprise an
analytic framework for shaping the primary new hire experiences, draw-
ing from patterns we’ve seen in successful onboarding programs as well as
what is needed to fill consistent gaps or failings.
Beyond the common administrative tasks that today’s onboarding
programs typically perform, such as enrolling the new hire in benefits pro-
grams and giving the new hire tools like a phone or a computer, state-of-
the-art strategic programs should shape new hire experiences by providing
support in mastering organizational culture and performance values; help
in development of an interpersonal network; early career support; and
strategy immersion and direction. Let’s briefly consider these four areas in
turn.

Cultural mastery

The first area, cultural mastery, is clearly relevant to a new hire’s experi-
ence. Many organizations or entities that accept new entrants do something
to introduce the culture. To become a US citizen, you need to study the
nation’s history because existing citizens want you to know, appreciate, and
believe in the nation’s values. Likewise, colleges have orientations, religions
have coming-of-age rituals, and sports teams have training camps that build
team spirit even as they whip new players into shape. Initiation processes
have survived and thrived for one reason—they work.
It’s ironic that in the business environment, an environment that exists
purely for the purpose of performance, we have hardly invested in cultural
initiation. Formalized orientation programs present some high-level cul-
tural information, and most managers recognize that their organizations
do in fact possess unique cultures. But most companies do not equip man-
agers with tools they need to capture, distill, and ultimately help accul-
turate the new hire. Nor do they talk clearly and directly enough about its
performance values—the unspoken habits of thought and behavior built