Onboarding: A Virtual Path to Success!

Remember your first day at the new job? Who knew there were so many benefit options? Do I put a 0 or a 1 in the tax forms? The video from the CEO was interesting and lunch was nice, right? Nearly 50% of hourly workers leave within 4 months and the same is true for senior leaders brought in, they leave in 18 months.

A robust onboarding process impacts all employees especially those who are going to new roles within their current group or another part of the organization. Onboarding now involves blending content resources and using virtual tools to create connections with teammates, business partners, and includes learning scheduled in the workflow to meet the annual business lifecycle.

A key component is creating a structured networking experience with others in similar roles to support performance and growth and developing the connections the new hire needs to be successful in their role. This model focuses on providing clarification of new responsibilities and expectations to new team members won’t have experiences that leave them frustrated, confused, feeling alone and unsure of their ability to be successful in this new role.

A structured onboarding program is key to long term success and involves a strategic long-term plan. In this session I will share a process that combines tactical training targeted around the needs of the role using the 4 “C’s” +1 model that centers on constant communication, feedback, and performance measurement — all factors that impact employee retention and engagement. We’ll explore the employee lifecycle for mentoring and development and how connecting people together builds the internal network and supports collaboration.

Onboarding is more than a 1 and done session, it’s a process that prepares people to be successful for the long-term performance.

Who is it for:

Anyone responsible for onboarding workers into the organization

Key learnings:

At the completion of this session participants will be able to:

• Identify a process lifecycle that aligns worker needs with organization business needs to focus on long term retention
• Identify the 4C’s + 1 and describe how they can engage and support an employee in a new role to be successful
• Describe the areas where technology can be used in the onboarding process to benefit the employee in being successful in their role as they work in remote locations

Short bio

William J. Ryan, PhD is the Principal Consultant with Ryan Consulting, LLC using learning as a strategic business tool to develop and impact people to improve retention, engagement, and performance.

Bill has a demonstrated record of corporate and industrial management experience leading performance support and instructional design teams globally including government (Dept. of Energy), high technology (IBM & Westinghouse), and health-related industries including home health care and insurance (Humana).

Recent clients include Delta Faucet with a comprehensive talent staffing and development plan, Blue Circle Leadership developing a blended online program in leadership development, developing an implementation strategy for a Hiring for Competency model used by the National Retail Services, a state initiative focused on workforce development helping businesses retain and develop employees.

He is actively working with a clinical start-up focused on improved neonatal techniques for clinicians across the country and on a blended leadership and coaching program for a multi-state manufacturing concern. Bill holds a M.S. from Ithaca College focused on Instructional Design, and a Ph.D. in Computing Technology in Education from Nova Southeastern University.