We’re in the midst of the final copy-edits on our new book, Onboarding – How To Get Your New Employees Up To Speed In Half The Time (Wiley, 2009) and want to make sure we get the definition as right as we can. Here is what we are currently planning to print:
Onboarding is the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating, and accelerating new team members, whether they come from outside or inside the organization. The prerequisite to successful onboarding is getting your organization aligned around the need and the role.
Align: Make sure your organization agrees on the need for a new team member and the delineation of the role you seek to fill.
Acquire: Identify, recruit, select, and get people to join the team.
Accommodate: Give new team members the tools they need to do the work.
Assimilate: Help them join with others so they can do the work together.
Accelerate: Help them and their team deliver better results faster.
Choices:
We are using a broad, comprehensive definition of onboarding that encompasses all aspects of recruiting, hiring, and accelerating new employees.
- We are NOT limiting the definition to accommodation and things that the organization does to or for the new employee as soon as he or she accepts the job.
- We are NOT limiting the definition to assimilation or enculturation or the like.
- We are NOT including getting the organization aligned around the need and role as part of the definition of onboarding, though we are calling it out as a prerequisite to successful onboarding.
There’s more on what we’re currently thinking in the current working summary of the Onboarding book, downloadable from our website: www.www.www.primegenesis.com.
George Bradt
PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding
www.www.www.primegenesis.com
