Onboarding (to a new role), it's a bit like your first day at school, so let's make it good

Hi there, I'm still here. But if you are new, my name is Poss and I'm a Chief Operating Officer (COO) who likes to share topical reflections on being a leader in technology driven organisations. 

In my last confession, I wrote about my fear going into a new role (and embracing that challenge!) Well, I’m happy to say it’s paying dividends. I’m learning loads and enjoying that mental stimulus. I’m also developing new relationships from scratch, which is a refreshing and wholesome experience. 

Looking at this strategically - as a COO should - onboarding is such a critical part for any organisation. Fundamentally it’s an investment of time and money, which most organisations are lacking at the moment, so it should come under scrutiny. 

Onboarding begins before any contract is signed. 

As COO I want my teams to acknowledge that

New staff, no matter their level of expertise will have their fears and concerns.

And specifically, I want my hiring managers to be aware of this in the recruitment process. 

An interview is a great place to showcase our work and culture to prospective hires. If you are on a panel interviewing a candidate, allow sufficient time for them to ask questions and answer them with sincerity. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know, we’ll come back to you”, better that than a fudge of a reply. Make your candidates feel like they are special and not just another face on the third zoom call of the day.

One of them is likely to be your next colleague and a positive interview experience will make their onboarding so much better. 

We’re all humans after all

I had a number of face to face meetings with my Climate Policy Radar colleagues before I officially started. This was a time investment on both sides and won’t always be possible. But I got to learn about them as humans, which, in my opinion, makes a big difference when I'm making executive decisions about their work in the future.

It’s the little things too 

Thinking back to my time at dxw, incoming new starters had email addresses and equipment sorted before their first day. Standard right? But we also had a fun “how I take my hot drink” list, (“coffee, milk and one sugar” etc) which meant we were often making drinks for new starters which was a great ice breaker in the office. In a remote world, a “user manual for me” is another lightweight way to help people settle, and I’ve always loved the more creative iterations of this - such as the The Visual Facilitator guide here. 

Spot opportunities to promote connections

Like most things, I've learnt some lessons along the way. If you’re hiring in bursts, be mindful that the overhead will take its toll on your existing teams. You can go some way to mitigating this burden by bringing in groups of new starters at once (on the same day). A cohort of people being onboarded saves time. But crucially, that cohort inevitably develops their own bond. At dxw, I heard people, 6 months after they joined, talk fondly about their first week with others, and how they met up to celebrate anniversaries together. As a leader, I like to nurture organic, self-started opportunities, and this is a great example of exactly that. 

Any onboarding tips or horror stories? Please share! Whether remote, office-based, or hybrid, we all have our own preferences to work and I’d love to hear yours. 

First written on 5 May 2024