The Pursuit of an Exciting and Engaging New Hire Orientation

Once upon a time there was an organization that required new hires to attend its mandatory orientation. Of course, the new hires attended, but many arrived while internally kicking and screaming. However, some were excited because they planned to use this time to read a great book. Then there were those new employees who were technically savvy, equipped with mobiles phones and iPads to keep them entertained. Is this your organization and your new hires?

The truth of the matter is that many organizations don’t want to admit it, but they are struggling to provide an exciting and engaging orientation. At the end of the day, they provide PowerPoint presentations with a lecture style, teacher-centered approach. Then to add insult to injury, they require new hires to sign a form, proving they completed orientation and are aware of the mission, vision, values, policies, and procedures.

Don’t get me wrong. It is important to have proof, but it is just as important to know that new hires are positively welcomed into the organization and actually learn something in orientation that will result in excellent performance. Also, why not “put the icing on the cake” by ensuring new hires have great experiences while learning? The pursuit of an exciting and engaging new hire orientation is easy to achieve and doesn’t have to cost your organization additional money. However, it will require commitment from your leaders, SMEs (subject matter experts), educators, and curriculum designers.

IU Health’s Learning Solution revamped all of our orientation curriculums to be learner-centered. This created an exciting and engaging experience for our new hires that resulted in positive feedback, retention of content, and improved performance. Learning Solutions celebrates our transition, but it is imperative that we constantly review our orientation curriculums to ensure new hires have a great experience, are knowledgeable, self-efficient, resourceful, and able to successfully perform after orientation—once in their unit or department.

Below are three of the learner-center techniques Learning Solutions includes in all of our curriculums. In your pursuit of an exciting and engaging new hire orientation, you may find that it is “as easy as 1-2-3” to make an effective change to your current orientation curriculum. These three techniques encompass Sharon Bowman’s 4 C’s Instructional Design and Delivery Model (Connections, Concepts, Concrete Practice, and Conclusions) and Bob Pike’s structure of small groups and interactive training sessions.

1. Share stories Story-telling can be shared verbally or in written or video format. Stories enable learners to make a connection with what they already know about a topic and what they will learn. They make it easy for learners to take in new information and understand concepts by causing them to listen, reflect, and imagine. Stories can be used to deliver any orientation content including topics like corporate compliance, HIPAA, and hand hygiene.

   Facilitators can share stories related to the topic, gaining learners’ attention and focus. Facilitators can encourage learners to share their stories, increasing learners’ engagement because it requires employees to participate. Stories also can be combined with discussion to achieve the ultimate learner engagement experience. For instance, Learning Solutions’ facilitators tell stories in our clinical application classes to give learners visuals of clinical situations they will experience once in their unit or department. This is combined with learners’ discussions, resulting in our new hires connecting excellent patient care with accurate documentation.

2. Shorten direct instruction time Great facilitators talk less and listen more. Learning Solutions shortened our direct instruction time, but continued to provide the same required information. How was that possible? In theory, “our facilitators teach from the back of the room.” Instead of lecturing for hours, they present topics in 15 to 20 minute intervals. Then they stop for discussion or to allow learners to complete content-specific activities individually or in smaller groups. Although our facilitators talk less, they listen to our learners to evaluate what they already know. They give learners only information that is relevant to their roles and necessary during the orientation stage of employment. They recognize learners as adults and allow them to digest some new content in their small groups.

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3. Require learners to participate As mentioned, Learning Solutions requires learners to participate. When learners attend our orientation, they are focused and ready to contribute. They don’t have time to read a great book, but they have time to tell a great story. They don’t have time to entertain themselves with the newest technological device for personal entertainment, but they have opportunities to use their technology to complete a content-specific activity.

These techniques are just some of the ways we revamped our orientation. We learned to require more from our learners. Sharing stories, shortening our direct instruction time, and requiring participation provided learners with the engagement they desired and provided our organization with the results we celebrate today.
References

Bowman, Sharon, L. (2009).  Training from the Back of the Room! San Francisco: Pfeiffer, see page 5.

Pike, Bob (2013).  Bob Pike Talks About Creative Training Techniques.  Retrieved April 21, 2013, from www.bobpikegroup.com