A Tale Of Two Onboardings
This went out two days ago as issue 15 of The Angelo Report, a weekly newsletter published every Sunday afternoon.
We’re hiring for several roles at the day job, which got me thinking about onboarding new folks onto your team / into your org.
I have two very different stories to tell about onboarding.
In March of 2017, I joined the Support Engineering team at Fog Creek. They flew me and my onboarding buddy, Daniel, out to spend my first week working out of their lower Manhattan office. My laptop was sitting there, waiting for me, as I'd already been asked what my preferrred email and Slack usernames would be, and I got a warm welcome when I got there.
A Trello board laid out what I should tackle on my first day, my first week, my first month, etc., each card linking out to the resources I needed, and my manager Nancy and the rest of the team made sure I had everything I needed to succeed. Towards the end of the week, two meetings locked in the experience: in my first 1:1 with Nancy, we talked about how things were going and what my career goals were. A second meeting with Jess, the operations manager, sorted out the gear for my home office —a Steelcase standing desk and an Aeron chair— since this was a remote job.
This was a well-oiled team that had put a tonne of thought and care into onboarding new people, such that they were set up for success. To this day, I can't think of any improvements to the process.
Contrast this with the remote onboarding a friend of mine recently went through.
They were brought on in a “trial” state that would last no more than about two weeks, where they'd be asked to complete certain tasks. After that, they'd move to an “official” probationary state with no benefits for the first three months.
The trial started, and one of their first tasks was to onboard themselves. They were given a poorly-formatted spreadsheet of tasks to figure out on their own, had no introduction in the company Slack, and was given unrelated tasks on an ad-hoc basis with little context or background. They were supposed to provide feedback on the onboarding process, and prepare to onboard another full-time employee in a couple of weeks' time.
How you're supposed to provide feedback on a process you haven't actually gone through, or work through that process for someone else, is an exercise left to the reader.
Needless to say, they were not set up for success. They had no idea what their working schedule should be, no understanding of their status at any point, and clearly had no incentive to stay in that role.
There’s ample evidence around the value of onboarding, both for employee retention and organizational success. Doing everything in your power to welcome someone into your team and getting them into a position where they can thrive is not just A Nice Thing To Do, but actually impacts your business’ success.
What’s the best and worst onboarding experience you’ve gone through? How did you end up doing in that role? Let me know!
Around The Web
Just one link for you today, a recording of Cabel Sasser's talk at XOXO 2024. Very much worth a watch.
Thought Of The Week
The new year fast approaches. If resolutions are your thing, it’s a good time to start setting yourself up for success.
Let me propose this tidbit that was shared by Andrew Huberman on a Prof G podcast episode:
Set standards, not goals.
A standard drives action when you deviate, and surfaces a clear choice when you have to make a decision. A goal sets a much narrower path toward success, and a lack of direction once you reach it.