Orientation is so important and often handled wrong

Orientation should be to orient you with a new environment.

Often over looked or inappropriately done. It can be too much, too soon; or too short with no real depth.

Today we took my youngest to Kindergarten orientation. A 45 minute awareness to get him and his classmates oriented with the building.

We got to see important faces, learn the basics of what we need to know for the first week and information on when and how we will truly learn more.

This is orientation. And it made me wonder why so many companies fail at getting new employees ready. It’s either an overload email in day one, a self paced checklist with no content or a painfully long in-person session talking about things no one understands in the first 5 mins….

To truly build a successful environment for engagement, growth and innovation; employees need to feel comfortable with how to do their job, aware of how the company fully works and able to gain their hierarchy of needs (easily!).

Yet, I rarely hear someone say I was onboarded correctly. Onboarding is the overarching program that should have introductions, orientation, defined onboarding actions and assimilation plans. Icing on the cake if you have buddies and mentors to get there.

So our local elementary school got it right, that means it doesn’t need to be over engineered… it has to be thoughtful. That’s really what’s often missing though, isn’t it?

Companies over-engineer alignment, processing and timelines and miss the point: being thoughtful.

So for today, step one was basic needs: comfort in knowing where to go on the first day, seeing your teacher and key support staffs face before you need them, and just not being afraid because we saw behind the curtain today.

Here is hoping the next new place you go is thoughtful and helps you orient before over boarding onboarding without help.