What makes a training effective versus ineffective?
The process of onboarding can seem very daunting at first. Since you are getting familiarized with the organization, there is a lot to learn. In the “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard
Them Properly” article, the importance of onboarding is emphasized. You need to onboard new hires properly so that they can get accustomed to the work culture being built. This lends itself to socialization where an individual learns the proper behaviors to become a member of the organization.
From my own experiences, I have had onboarding experiences where I felt like I was not at all ready for what was to come and some where I felt perfectly adapted. The difference between the two was the introduction.
In the experience where I felt like the onboarding was ineffective was during an onboarding where I was lectured about the job for 4 hours a day for 3 days. While I felt like I learned a lot of new information, I did not get to connect to my peers at all, and I couldn’t absorb everything. It was a stressful process, and I felt overwhelmed.
However, my most effective training was one where the periods of learning were broken up a lot more. We had onboarding the included talking to coworkers, teambuilders, the basic information about the job, and what to expect. Though there was a lot less information being communicated, it made it a lot easier to remember what I needed. In addition, it made me learn a lot of information on the job which was more beneficial to me personally as I remembered it better.
References:
Ellis, A., Nifadkar, S., Bauer, T., and Erdogan, B. (2017). Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/06/your-new-hires-wont-succeed-unless-you-onboard-them-properly
