What does an effective new starter induction and manager induction look like?

Posted by Teresa Chandler on August 16, 2019 at 12:40pm in Learning Tools & Technologies, Learning Delivery & Facilitation, and Demonstrating Value in L&D

Happy Friday everyone:)

We are currently relooking at how we are running inductions for new starters in general and new managers.

At the moment we are running the overall induction once a month. It is a one day course and it consists of one day where we take them around the site and give them an idea about what the organisation is all about. This means that at times new employees only receive an induction after a couple of weeks of joining in some cases even a couple of months because we haven't had sufficient numbers to run the induction.

The manager's induction is a one day course which is run whenever we have at least 5 new managers and we talk about Induction, the role of a manager PDRs, Capability, Disciplinary, Sickness Absence.

Do you have any advice on what has worked effectively for you in the past, any best practices you can share

Thank you,

Teresa

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Replies

Elena Vedinova August 28, 2019 at 1:24pm

Hi Teresa,

If there is a long wait before the induction , what about offering something such as a new manager/ employee survival guide? Something that could be introduced as a part of your onboarding process prior to the induction. If your company operates a learning managment system, then this could be a module that would include some interesting facts about the company , required behaviours and capabilites targeting that specific employee group. Or if LMS is not an option , maybe department facilitators could be trained up to deliver something of this kind.

As for the full induction , I would agree with what David is suggesting, incorporating mission, vision and values. We always try to make inductions more engaging by including topical quizes or games . On a personal note I belive that mixed corporate inductions work better than separate manager inductions. We run a separate workshop on the role of the manger that includes the basics that you mentioned but is not related to the induction.

Plus if you introduce best parctices at the begining, as a part of onboarding , then those practices can be reinforeced during the workshop when you have enough participants.

I hope it gives you some ideas
- Teresa Chandler > Elena Vedinova September 2, 2019 at 8:06pm
  
  Thank you very much Elena!
David Taylor August 28, 2019 at 10:36am
Teresa

Its always difficult to know what to include in an induction and as they are often only 1 day, as yours are, it can only really be a basic 'grounding' exercise. Along with the things that you include as mentioned above I have worked with companies to develop inductions which include some of the following:
- talk about the ethos of the company - what are the vision, goals and directions
- what is expected of people and how best to fit in
- what are some of the people skills and personal interaction skills that are important and that others display
- a section about 'being on the bus' in the organisation. Basically what the attitudes and behaviours expected of people
- talk about each individual making a difference
- discuss their comfort zones and what stepping out of them might look like and why its important
- also letting them know that its important that they share their thoughts and experiences from other places of work. I reckon it takes about 3 months until a new peson gets subsumed into the 'thats how we have always done it' way of thinking and up to that time there is a golden opportunity to tap into their experience. You never know they might just have some good ideas!
Clearly some of this needs a bit of preparation and some of it is subjective rather than measurable but it is much more important thet they get a proper feel for the organisation not just a tick box, factual exercise. If you need any further support or info, email me direct on david.taylor@axiodevelopment.co.uk
- Teresa Chandler > David Taylor September 2, 2019 at 8:07pm
  
  Thank you David! Much appreciated!
- Teresa Chandler > David Taylor September 2, 2019 at 8:07pm
  
  Thank you David! Much appreciated!