Although induction is recognized as a critical activity for new starters, my experience has been that few organizations do it well. There is probably no excuse for poor induction when your staff is in one location and new starters can report to
training department for face-to-face induction. It becomes more difficult to run a slick induction operation, however, when you have offices geographically dispersed.This issue I discuss an induction program on which I am currently working for an organization with 30 offices spread across continental Australia. The organization has a high turnover of staff within its remote offices requiring frequent, ongoing induction.
I recommend a two-phase process for most organisations. Phase One is local, in-house induction commencing on day one and running for up to a week.
Phase One induction follows a checklist in which topics are entered eg, ‘computer login procedures’, name of a responsible person who will show newcomer how to login to corporate computer system, and a date column to show when activity has been completed. Topics included in Phase One are ‘survival topics’. That is, topics that need to be covered if new starters are to be effective immediately.
Phase Two is ongoing for weeks or months depending on organisational needs. I’ve decided on a one week local induction and two to three months for ongoing induction, at least in trial stage.
Scoping Content
Determining content coverage is always difficult in that it is necessary to cover what is important and essential. It is easy to pile too much into an induction program to extent that newcomers are overwhelmed with information, much of which becomes meaningless.
Legislative requirements relating to harassment, secrecy and security, occupational health and safety etc should be covered as soon as possible as should topics like conditions of service, attendance policies and so on.
As different occupational groups have different priorities for information, it’s useful to identify needs using subject matter experts. By using SMEs you increase buy-in from new-starters’ team members and reduce resistance to time off routine duties inductees need for induction.
You could use a decision-matrix chart to help you with identification process. It looks something like this:
TopicVery ImportantModerately ImportantSomewhat ImportantFor Future Reference Office securityPhase One Purchasing StationeryPhase Two Organisational StructurePhase Two Topic nProvide Reading List
The idea is to work through a process of elimination until you have identified what MUST be incorporated in Phase One checklist, Phase Two activities, and those topics that are nice to know, but can be read about later. Using this process helps you ensure you don’t miss critical topics.
Delivery Method
Classroom attendance for my client is not an option. If it is an option for you, then it’s largely a matter of finding someone to deliver topic content in an interesting way using a variety of methods.
I’m a great believer in multiple media whether used in a classroom or with distributed learning. (Not multimedia!) Multiple media encourages interaction from inductees, better accommodates different learning styles and is more interesting for learners and trainers.
I’ve decided to design a program that includes:
•Internet/intranet activities and online quizzes at end of each topic •Video-conferencing •Moderated, threaded discussion lists •Self-paced discovery learning activities •Email autoresponses to queries
