5 tips for remote onboarding using Collaborative Learning

Audio Transcript Auto-generated

• 00:00 - 00:01

  Hi, everyone.

• 00:02 - 00:04

  So I'm going to be presenting tips for on boarding

• 00:05 - 00:07

  employees remotely with collaborative learning.

• 00:09 - 00:11

  So I'm Robin, managing editor at 3.

• 00:11 - 00:14

  60 Learning, which is a learning platform that combines collaborative

• 00:14 - 00:17

  tools with the power of an LMS or a learning

• 00:17 - 00:17

  management system.

• 00:20 - 00:22

  So, yeah, like a lot of employees this year, I

• 00:22 - 00:25

  on boarded 100% remotely when I joined 3 60.

• 00:26 - 00:27

  Learning about two months ago.

• 00:28 - 00:31

  Uh, so remote Onboarding can definitely be a challenge.

• 00:31 - 00:32

  You can feel disoriented.

• 00:33 - 00:35

  You don't know who's who if you're following along at

• 00:35 - 00:36

  the right pace.

• 00:37 - 00:40

  But luckily, 3 60 learning put together an onboarding experience

• 00:40 - 00:44

  based on their collaborative approach that I think made things

• 00:44 - 00:45

  a lot easier.

• 00:45 - 00:46

  Um, and I hope to share some tips.

• 00:47 - 00:48

  Uh, from that with you guys.

• 00:52 - 00:56

  So tip number one create a communal day one.

• 00:56 - 00:59

  So the first thing you want to do is really,

• 01:00 - 01:02

  um, you know, understand that Yes.

• 01:03 - 01:05

  You're on border is going to be physically alone behind

• 01:06 - 01:07

  a computer screen.

• 01:08 - 01:10

  Um, so you're going to want to create as many,

• 01:10 - 01:15

  um, digital connections or touch points as you possibly can,

• 01:15 - 01:17

  right from day one, so that they don't feel too

• 01:18 - 01:23

  isolated. So at 3 60 learning I was assigned an

• 01:23 - 01:25

  on border who was my coach and my manager.

• 01:26 - 01:30

  But I was also assigned an informal buddy, and that

• 01:30 - 01:33

  buddy was there just as a resource for more informal

• 01:33 - 01:37

  questions about company culture, Um, or just also to be

• 01:37 - 01:39

  there as a helpful listener right in the beginning.

• 01:40 - 01:41

  So that's something I think that any company can can

• 01:42 - 01:44

  implement, and it's a good it's a good tip to

• 01:44 - 01:45

  to use.

• 01:48 - 01:50

  And then, um, the great thing about the day one

• 01:51 - 01:51

  on boarding at 3.

• 01:51 - 01:54

  60 learning is that we use our own platform for

• 01:54 - 01:56

  our own onboarding so you can see right there on

• 01:56 - 01:57

  the screen.

• 01:57 - 02:00

  It's a screenshot of our first day on boarding program

• 02:01 - 02:01

  and what it looks like.

• 02:06 - 02:08

  So the courses that you go through there actually created

• 02:09 - 02:12

  by your team members just zoom in so you can

• 02:12 - 02:15

  see that, um, you know your team members who are

• 02:16 - 02:18

  themselves the subject matter experts in their field.

• 02:19 - 02:22

  So, in this instance, um, you know Jonas, head of

• 02:22 - 02:24

  learning. So who knows everything about the on boarding process?

• 02:25 - 02:27

  Um, in here you can even find a video from

• 02:27 - 02:31

  our founder explaining the company vision and things like this.

• 02:32 - 02:35

  So you really get a feel right from the beginning

• 02:35 - 02:38

  for the people in the company, your colleagues and your

• 02:38 - 02:39

  peers What they do, their expertise.

• 02:40 - 02:43

  Um, instead of just reading all that down a dry

• 02:44 - 02:51

  Google doc, for example, and so again, on day one,

• 02:51 - 02:54

  you really engaged and going through the foundation of the

• 02:54 - 02:55

  company culture and the vision.

• 02:56 - 02:59

  Um, you're going to also set up what we call

• 02:59 - 03:00

  discovery calls with keep ears.

• 03:01 - 03:04

  So that's another point of contact that's baked into the

• 03:04 - 03:05

  day one onboarding.

• 03:05 - 03:08

  Um, to be sure you're you know, you start building

• 03:08 - 03:11

  those connections and meeting people virtually right away.

• 03:12 - 03:14

  So again, tip one is really make that first day

• 03:14 - 03:18

  communal Bring your new joiner into the community, put faces

• 03:18 - 03:19

  to names, get them talking to people.

• 03:21 - 03:22

  Um, you know, all that good stuff.

• 03:24 - 03:27

  Okay, so the next the next tip enable public feedback

• 03:28 - 03:31

  on onboarding materials, so it's sort of an extension of

• 03:31 - 03:31

  the first one.

• 03:32 - 03:35

  Basically, You know, if you were in a room physically

• 03:36 - 03:39

  with a few new joiners and you had a group

• 03:40 - 03:42

  onboarding presentation that left you a bit confused.

• 03:43 - 03:44

  You know, you could lean over to your neighbor and

• 03:44 - 03:46

  go, Hey, you know, just curious.

• 03:46 - 03:48

  Did you get that bit about X y z?

• 03:48 - 03:51

  Um, because I didn't Or, you know, you can even

• 03:51 - 03:53

  lean over and say, Oh, that presentation was great.

• 03:54 - 03:56

  Um, my name is so and so you know what's

• 03:56 - 04:01

  yours. Um, but, you know, obviously remotely that kind of

• 04:01 - 04:05

  informal group feedback is really difficult to recreate, but it's

• 04:05 - 04:10

  probably even more important, actually, when everyone's working remotely So

• 04:11 - 04:11

  at 3.

• 04:11 - 04:14

  60 learning we're lucky because we have that kind of

• 04:14 - 04:16

  functionality built into our platform.

• 04:17 - 04:19

  It's one of the core elements of the collaborative approach.

• 04:20 - 04:24

  So, um, for instance, here you can see these reactions

• 04:24 - 04:27

  buttons, um that are at the end of each each

• 04:28 - 04:30

  course and in particular, each onboarding course.

• 04:30 - 04:34

  So, you know, every new joiner can easily signal um,

• 04:35 - 04:37

  you know, on the one hand of some course or

• 04:37 - 04:38

  some material is really great.

• 04:39 - 04:42

  But also, if something looks a little bit outdated or

• 04:42 - 04:45

  even if they just didn't didn't get it, didn't understand.

• 04:45 - 04:48

  Um, And the nice thing there, too, is that you

• 04:49 - 04:50

  see everybody else that's also reacted.

• 04:51 - 04:52

  So you don't feel quite so alone if you're the

• 04:53 - 04:54

  only one to say this is outdated or so forth.

• 04:55 - 04:57

  So even if you don't happen to have 3 60

• 04:58 - 05:01

  learning, uh, in place you can recreate this kind of

• 05:01 - 05:04

  environment you know, on on slack with emoji reactions.

• 05:05 - 05:06

  Or maybe on a Google doc or in a group

• 05:06 - 05:09

  chat or depending what your what your tools are.

• 05:15 - 05:19

  Okay. So aside from just reacting with emojis, another tip,

• 05:19 - 05:23

  I would say, is to provide new joiners with an

• 05:23 - 05:27

  online space to actually troubleshoot amongst themselves if they have

• 05:27 - 05:30

  questions. So, um, again, this will help them meet even

• 05:30 - 05:31

  more people on day one.

• 05:32 - 05:34

  But it will also potentially save their on border a

• 05:34 - 05:34

  lot of time.

• 05:35 - 05:37

  Um, because they won't be answering the same question over

• 05:37 - 05:38

  and over again.

• 05:40 - 05:45

  So here this form on the right again, we're in

• 05:45 - 05:45

  3 60 learning.

• 05:46 - 05:48

  It's a built in chat where you can do just

• 05:49 - 05:50

  this. You can answer, ask questions about.

• 05:51 - 05:52

  Of course, you can share ideas.

• 05:53 - 05:53

  Give advice.

• 05:54 - 05:56

  Um, all that good stuff and again, you know, if

• 05:57 - 05:57

  you're already using 3.

• 05:58 - 05:59

  60 winning for your on boarding that's great.

• 05:59 - 06:02

  But if you're not, you can recreate this kind of

• 06:02 - 06:05

  thing. And again, Google dogs or slacker or hangouts or

• 06:05 - 06:06

  wherever, wherever it might be.

• 06:09 - 06:12

  And again, it's just another example of, um, some of

• 06:12 - 06:15

  the material we get in our, um, day one or

• 06:15 - 06:18

  day two on boarding and people really interacting and, um,

• 06:18 - 06:20

  getting into the material with that chat.

• 06:21 - 06:22

  Disagree. Useful.

• 06:26 - 06:30

  Okay, so the next tip crowdsource your onboarding materials.

• 06:30 - 06:33

  So as you might know, creating a full on boarding

• 06:34 - 06:35

  program can take a lot of time and effort.

• 06:36 - 06:37

  Um, and at 3.

• 06:37 - 06:40

  60 learning each team is responsible for creating material for

• 06:40 - 06:41

  the for on boarding.

• 06:41 - 06:44

  It's not just the responsibility of the L and D

• 06:44 - 06:46

  team or the manager of the team where the new

• 06:46 - 06:47

  person is joining.

• 06:47 - 06:48

  Everybody participates.

• 06:51 - 06:53

  So the advantages there that, you know, you reduce bottlenecks,

• 06:54 - 06:56

  you speed up the on boarding content creation.

• 06:56 - 06:59

  But you also ensure that content is really, um, contextual.

• 07:00 - 07:03

  And based on that institutional knowledge provided by the subject

• 07:03 - 07:04

  matter experts themselves.

• 07:04 - 07:08

  So, in this case, um, yeah, just bring that up.

• 07:09 - 07:12

  The person who created this course, um you know, it's

• 07:12 - 07:13

  not part of the L and D team.

• 07:13 - 07:15

  He's part of the operations team, but he really knows

• 07:15 - 07:17

  the material better than anyone.

• 07:17 - 07:20

  So it's him that, you know, put this course in

• 07:20 - 07:27

  action. And then the last tip for today is to

• 07:27 - 07:29

  use an employee experience tool.

• 07:29 - 07:30

  Um, even for new employees.

• 07:33 - 07:34

  So we use pecan.

• 07:35 - 07:38

  Um, and, you know, from the very first day, you're

• 07:38 - 07:42

  asked to rate your experience, um, share any concerns or

• 07:42 - 07:46

  questions, and then these are all, um, gone over during

• 07:46 - 07:48

  a weekly or bi weekly all hands meeting.

• 07:49 - 07:52

  So, um, not only does this give a new joiner

• 07:52 - 07:55

  a real sense of the company culture, um, it also

• 07:55 - 07:59

  provides an outlet to share any concerns or questions that,

• 07:59 - 08:03

  um, you know that really, You know, you might not

• 08:03 - 08:03

  have this outlet.

• 08:03 - 08:07

  Um, uh, you know, in a remote setting otherwise so,

• 08:08 - 08:11

  again, this bottom up approach, this productivity and soliciting employee

• 08:11 - 08:14

  feedback, um, it's all central to the collaborative learning environment.

• 08:19 - 08:24

  Okay, So, to sum everything up, you know, as I'm

• 08:24 - 08:26

  sure you guys know the difficult thing about Onboarding remotely

• 08:27 - 08:31

  is that you lack those spontaneous Excuse me in person

• 08:32 - 08:36

  human connections, you get when you're physically together with your

• 08:36 - 08:39

  new team and by involving peers as much as possible

• 08:40 - 08:40

  during the onboarding.

• 08:41 - 08:45

  So in creating and distributing and iterating on that on

• 08:45 - 08:48

  boarding content, you can help recreate that missing human component.

• 08:49 - 08:52

  So that will help on Borders again feel more welcome,

• 08:53 - 08:56

  but also get them up to speed even more quickly

• 08:56 - 08:57

  and efficiently.

• 08:57 - 09:00

  So that's really what collaborative learning is all about.

• 09:01 - 09:02

  You can see that on the right here.

• 09:02 - 09:07

  You know, it's bottom up, decentralized, relevant, fast, iterative and

• 09:07 - 09:08

  and impact driven.

• 09:08 - 09:11

  So that's what we're really looking for.

• 09:11 - 09:15

  So I hope that you enjoyed these five tips for

• 09:16 - 09:16

  remote onboarding.

• 09:17 - 09:19

  Um, and if you have any particular questions, of course,

• 09:20 - 09:21

  um, feel free to reach out.