Effective onboarding is crucial for setting up new employees for success. However, it's equally important to understand mistakes and traps that L&D can fall into during the onboarding process, potentially hindering new employee integration, productivity, and satisfaction. Here’s a guide on the missteps to avoid in the onboarding process.
Overloading Information
Almost without exception, new hires are faced with assimilating huge volumes of information: job skills, role requirements, org charts, culture, regulatory pieces, safety, etc. One of the most common mistakes during onboarding training is overwhelming new hires with too much information at once, ignoring the reality of Miller's Law, in the hopes the employee can somehow manage to retain the information at a later time.
Unfortunately, this approach can cause confusion, likely stress, and possibly even retention issues. Firms using this approach should consider what they are really communicating to their new hire and the potential risks involved. Training should be paced appropriately, with information delivered in manageable chunks to ensure comprehension and retention, an approach that essentially communicates value and understanding to their new hire.
Skipping Cultural Integration
Focusing solely on job-specific training and neglecting cultural integration are a potentially significant oversight. Understanding the company culture, values, and mission is essential for new hires to feel a sense of belonging and alignment with organizational goals. An onboarding learning plan should include sessions that emphasize the company’s ethos and social norms to help new employees integrate smoothly into the workplace. Under no circumstances should this be delegated to the hiring manager, as only local culture will be communicated, rather than company culture, mission and values. To be clear, this is not suggesting the hiring manager should not communicate local (i.e. team/branch/location/business line) culture. This is an important aspect, but should be done in supplementation of L&D's efforts to integrate new hires into the overall company culture.
Neglecting Practical Training
Regardless if a new employee is bringing years of experience or a recent graduate, neglecting practical, hands-on training can be detrimental to onboarding your new hire. A crucial aspect of getting your new hire up and running is their learning your firms "secret sauce" for how they do things. SLA's, processes, systems, etc., are different from company to company and need to properly understood. Proper job specific onboarding should include training involving interactive elements such as role-playing, simulations, augmented learning, communities of practice/social learning with experienced colleagues to build confidence and competence in their roles.
Outdated or Irrelevant Content
Too often, onboarding training incorporates outdated content or content which is locally unique, either of which potentially disengages new hires or hinder their learning experience. Content should be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current company practices, industry standards, and technological advancements. Equally important is that content should be scaled across the business, rather than something a team member made for just their team or location. Locally unique content poses risks to processes, procedures, ROI, compliance, or retention, and is a breeding ground for confusion amongst employees. Providing up-to-date, scaled and relevant content ensures that new employees receive accurate and useful information.
Overemphasis on Compliance
While compliance training is necessary at many firms, an overemphasis on it can make onboarding feel like a box-ticking exercise rather than a meaningful introduction to the company. Compliance training should be balanced with other elements that focus on skill development, cultural integration, and daily life at the company. A well-rounded approach helps new hires feel more engaged and invested in their roles, rather than being part of a linear onboarding process that is simply passing on to another milestone. Consider shifting compliance training to being in broken out containers, preliminary Q&A sessions prior to compliance training starting, or compliance debriefs after the training ends.
Lack of Mentorship and Peer Support
Onboarding training should not amount to being a solitary experience. New hires benefit greatly from mentorship and peer support, which provide valuable insights, guidance, and a sense of community. Importantly, it allows opportunities for new hires to fill in gaps about details not covered during the formal onboarding topics. Failing to incorporate mentorship programs or peer networking opportunities can leave new employees feeling isolated or unsure of things. Offering a new hire buddy system or a formal sponsorship program are potential solutions that can create a great experience for new hires as they are assimilated into daily life.
Conclusion
Effective onboarding training is essential for new hire success, but it’s critical to avoid common pitfalls that can undermine the process. By steering clear of information overload, lack of practical training, one-size-fits-all approaches, inadequate support, and outdated content, organizations can create a more engaging and effective onboarding experience. Focusing on a reasonable learning cadence, a formal and thoughtful onboarding plan, mentorship and the right resources at the right time, can ensure that new hires are well-prepared, confident, and aligned with company values, setting the stage for long-term success.
Michael Simon, Principal Consultant with BlackFin Group who runs BlackFin University leadership development program. Michael is nationally recognized as a senior training and learning executive. During Michael’s decades of learning and development he has been responsible for the development and delivery of strategic training and learning programs with Ellie Mae, Accenture World-Wide, TD Bank, UBS, PennyMac, AmeriHome, and University Bank in Michigan. For more information on how we can help contact info@blackfin-group.com
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