Create Onboarding "Moments"
Can you recall one standout moment from the last time you were onboarded as a new hire? Whether it was 2 weeks or 15 years ago, was there a key moment—a genuine handshake, a meaningful conversation over lunch, a terribly boring PowerPoint, getting lost on the way to the bathroom—that comes to mind?
Our clients hire us to design training, but we prefer to think of our work as designing experiences. At the center of every meaningful experience is a montage of quality, memorable moments. This is especially true of the onboarding programs we aim to create.
Crafting a meaningful onboarding experience doesn’t have to be daunting or expensive. Instead, it simply requires some creativity and intention to weave in what Chip and Dan Heath call “high point" or "peak" moments. These are memorable moments a new hire will want to share with their best friend at the end of their first day or will joyfully recount years later. The Heath brothers’ The Power of Moments provides insight into designing peak moments. And we think it applies to onboarding in some seriously fun ways.
Memorable moments include four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection.
Reflect on how these elements apply to your company’s current onboarding experience.
Elevation: Do you overtly and enthusiastically celebrate the new hire?
Insight: Do you craft experiences of inquiry, reflection, and discovery?
Pride: Do you instill new hires with confidence and pride in their role in the company and the company itself?
Connection: Do you create time and space for building rapport between the new hire and coworkers and supervisors?
In a recent onboarding program, we worked with our client—a global supply chain manufacturer—to create specific moments of recognition throughout day one of onboarding. Toolkit distribution—initially a casual handing over of new hire toolboxes—became a moment of celebration, a mini rite of passage designed to recognize new hires as official team members.
Peak moments don’t need be elaborate, but they do need to be intentional.
How do you weave in moments of offering genuine recognition of a new hire during the onboarding experience? Tell us how you create high point moments in your onboarding and beyond. In Part 2, we’ll share more of our moments...