New Hire Orientation Program Development
The team orientation occupies a short but arguably the most important time in our new hires’ tenure. As someone who has “grown-up” with Chatterkick, my orientation can be summed up as trial by fire, jump in the deep end, grab the bull by the horns and really any other tough work cliche you can think of. That’s the start-up life, and I loved it.
As our company began to grow the need for process, structure, and a solid introduction to the DNA of Chatterkick became increasingly important. I had already put together different training programs for our more strategic roles into place, but they weren’t very structured. After participating in the Effective Leadership Development program with Revela, I had an aha moment about orientation. Setting the compass for each team member, no matter the role could be a significant catalyst for their success at Chatterkick. I decided to dive in and create an orientation program that would encapsulate what Chatterkick was all about but also make it fun and engaging. No one wants to do a week of boring orientation. They're excited about a new role and are going to be entirely overwhelmed by the variety and speed of an agency setting. It was my goal to instill confidence and comfort right away.
The orientation program includes insightful sessions, tools, personalized challenges, and quizzes to make the most significant impact. Here’s a look into the pieces of the program.
The Process
I love processes. This is one of the skills I’m most proud of but what I love most is that even though I lean towards processing things out for urgency and efficiency, I can still find new methods to improve the process halfway. It’s kind of a running joke in the office that I rarely approach a problem the same way twice. What can I say, I like to keep agile.
After outlining the process on a whiteboard, notes, working through it in class. I finally built it out in a step by step task system using Teamwork Projects. There are 62 tasks, but it really helps our team member walk through the orientation program and have a good idea of what’s coming up next!
The Resources
Developing all of the resources was the most intense part of the project. Not only was I designing and creating all of the assets but in a lot of ways, I was writing the Chatterkick manifesto and how we were going to convey the culture. That was probably the part I had the most fun with. We’re a creative agency. Conveying professionalism was essential to me. But our internal culture is fun, humorous, casual, expertise, and hard-working all at the same time. Here’s how I incorporated that into the program.
It All Starts With Fun, Personalized Goodies When Onboarding
Using Fun Gifs In The Agendas
Highlighting The Team In Presentations
Fun Quizzes To Help Retain The Goods
Homework Assignments Allow Team Members To Dive Deep Into What They Learn And Practice Presenting Learnings In Front Of A Small Group
A Team Trivia Game To Put The New Team’s Skills To The Test And Have Existing Team Revisit Fundamentals
The Orientation Tech Stack:
Teamwork Projects: Task Management
Teamwork Chat: Daily Communication
Google Docs: Agenda & Presentation (I don’t usually like to use Google Drive because we’re a Dropbox agency but to have the live gifs and ability to easily update anywhere was too big of a plus to overlook)
RingCentral: Communication Tool For Remote Meetings
Typeform: Session Quizzes
Kahoot: Team Trivia