All Aboard!

Attended a local ASTD (Mid-NJ chapter) last night, which was on the topic of On-Boarding. Scott Mason of BlessingWhite gave a very interesting talk, which was peppered with all kinds of audience involvement – this was clearly a hot topic for folks in the audience.

Having worked deeply with one client on a revamp of the initial sales training process (touching also on Orientation/On-Boarding), I found the talk to be very on-target. Scott identified 4 elements to a good on-boarding process:

• The Basics – the organization, HR stuff, basic overview of functional matters
• The Affirmation – good first impressions, fun, meeting executives, network-building
• The Fit – mission/culture of the organization, where this role “fits” overall, job-specific info
• The Job – manager/employee relationship, alignment of goals/strategy, rapid learning curve to productivity

One of the major points was the dollars-and-sense importance of making those initial days as positive and constructive as possible, since a great start is an important factor in productivity and retention. Good stuff!

(for those of you in the NJ area, I should mention that I have now transitioned out of my former role as VP Communications with the Mid-NJ chapter, handing it off to a very dynamic replacement who will serve on the board and continue to move things forward. It’s been an honor to work with the Mid-NJ team over the past couple of years).