How to… Create your new starter induction – part 1

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April 21, 2017

In this series of blog posts we will be helping you plan, design and prepare to deliver your own new starter company induction as part of the onboarding journey all new employees should experience. Or if you already have one, this information can be used to check your induction is covering everything your new starters need.

So whether you have no induction for your new starters and want to create one, or have something in place that you want to improve upon, you want your new starters to get the best possible experience when joining your company and we want to help you with that.

The assumption here is that you have people in your business capable of managing the project to completion and able to take this project on, and trainer/s who can design and deliver training material. You will also need buy-in from the senior leadership team who want to see changes within the business that support an induction programme to improve the onboarding experience. This support will enable you to make decisions, allocate additional budget and move your project towards completion.

When considering a formalised induction for new starters who join your company, three elements will support the successful implementation:

A clear purpose – understand what you want and need, to achieve a great induction experience.

Preparation – get everything you need in place from tools, skills and experience.

A great team – identify the people & resources that can help you deliver your goal.

Spending time researching & preparing will serve you well throughout the project.

First things first:

Time for some research…Who will be required to attend the induction?

So who gets to attend the induction?

Our view is that everyone, whatever their role or position in the company, when they join they attend the induction (yes whether it’s a new M.D. administrator, telesales person or department head). This sets a precedent that says the induction is important and not just a nice to have i.e. your induction serves the purpose it is designed for: to prepare people to join your business and learn about its culture, values and mission before they start their role. So having buy-in from the senior leadership team means there are no exceptions.

What’s the recruitment experience, what are the numbers and what’s missing?

Spend some time working with the people who manage your recruitment and onboarding processes, either your HR department or Heads of Department. Look at recruitment numbers over the last six to twelve months, which departments need additional people or replacements in that time and which departments have high attrition. How many leave within the first 3-6 months and if you have access to the information, why people leave?

Useful tip: put the feedback & ideas you get into sections of importance for your induction.

Section 1

Info that helps all new starters

Section 2

Info that is nice to have, not need to have

Section 3

Job specific info that may need to be covered by managers

Section 4

If money was not an issue

Discuss with department managers their experiences over the first 3-6 months for their new starters. What do they spend time having to do to get them up to speed? What content would they expect in an induction that would benefit all new starters?

Then discuss with a cross section of employees about their new starter experiences: what went well, what would be even better and why, what information would have helped them prepare for their role and what experiences can they share from other companies that they found useful. You can do this with an anonymous survey, 1:1 meetings, online forums or group discussions, whatever ensures you get the quality feedback you need.

You should now have some great information to start building your new induction which then allows you to identify the budget & timescales of the project. We will look at budgets in more detail later. While doing this research you may also uncover additional feedback that can be used to improve job descriptions, job adverts, recruitment processes and improvements to communication within the business that help other departments and the on-boarding experience.

In blog two we will look at what we do with the feedback gathered and decide what is a ‘need to have’ and what is ‘nice to have’ included in our induction.

If you’re thinking about putting a new starter induction together, and need support and resources to get it done, why not get in touch today and talk to us about your ideas.

GET IN TOUCH

We initially brought Brenell Training in to support our Retail Roadshow – a 6-week project to deliver product updates and refresh knowledge on Sky+HD, Sky content and Broadband & Talk to all our Sky salespeople. They really knew their stuff and had researched our business to really be able to relate to our salespeople. Since then we use Brenell on a monthly basis to design, create and deliver some of our core training. Using Brenell over the last 2 years has enabled us to expand Sky’s training to all our partners and retailers and ensured salespeople across the UK understand all of Sky’s products and how to sell them effectively. Brenell have been integral to our growth over the last 2 years and we will continue to call upon them to support our business and training programmes. We highly recommend their services to anyone – they deliver on time and are flexible in their approach, no job has been too small or too big for Brenell and we thank them for making our job easier.

Damon White

Training Controller
Sky Marketing Operations Team

Before Brenell Training did their work, our sales team was hesitant about the need for an external trainer. However, the way Brenell led the training and tailored their approach to our specific needs and characteristics has led to identifiable benefits and changes in the way we work. The teams are all now keen for more from Brenell and I have no doubt that the investment in this enjoyable training was worthwhile.

Giles Giffin

Finance Director
Naturally Morocco

Running a small business on your own means very little time to think about training, both individual and staff development. Brenell helped me enormously with one-to-one coaching sessions, building on my strengths and helping me improve my weaknesses. Brenell also implemented training for all of our 17 members of staff, the office is closely-knit and their bespoke training options worked very well. They have helped improved everyone’s confidence, including building in a much more efficient management structure. This, very quickly, made for a much more productive office with staff feeling much happier and keen to improve in every way. I will continue to seek Brenell’s help in the future and would highly-recommend their consultancy. They have always been very approachable, creative in their outlook and supportive, without being patronising.

Tracy Robertson

Director
Property Concept

Gareth and his team really took the time to understand what we were looking for, our culture, values and expectations. Brenell designed and created our new sales Induction so it aligns with our company perfectly and delivers a great customer experience. They have continued to adapt the training as we have grown our retail business across the UK. I trust them with our new teams, they deliver a quality professional approach and flexible ways of working. More recently, Brenell have supported our retail managers by producing some very specific development workshops for our retail management team, which is already showing some great results, I look forward to working with Brenell again.

Neil Woolley

Head of Retail
OVO Energy

Brenell and their team have a wealth of knowledge and experience and they have always delivered training solutions which have had a direct impact on sales – as well as motivation and skills development – increasing revenue and giving us a return on our investment. We have recommended their services to our own customers and partners – if your business is looking to develop its people then you should definitely consider Brenell Training. They always deliver more than what we expect and make training fun and enjoyable.

Debbie Young

Network Director
GK Telecom