There’s nothing wrong with orientations as part of onboarding per se. There’s a lot wrong with orientations as an accommodation tool instead of an assimilation tool.
Let’s back up. Onboarding is about acquiring, accommodating, assimilation and accelerating new team members. Accommodating is about enabling new team members to do work. Assimilation is about enabling new team members to work with others.
The problem with accommodating orientations
The problem with a lot of orientations is that those conducting the orientations use the time to deal with new hire paperwork and explain how things work at the organization. These are tasks that enable new team members to do work, not work with others. These tasks can be accomplished through an online portal or one on one.
The opportunity for assimilating orientations
Instead, orientation time should be used to introduce new team members to other groups within the organization, including senior management. It’s a great chance to pull a larger group together, create an onboarding cohort and set people up to work with each other.
Net, make sure you’re using orientations in the most productive way possible – assimilating new team members.
George Bradt – PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding and Transition Acceleration
