In many cases, the induction process for new employees goes a long way to that all important first impression of an organisation.
Having sat through a few inductions as part of researching a video based induction program we produced a few years back, it was staggering to witness the different levels of quality and inductee engagement.
If you are charged with delivering new employee inductions for your organisation, here are a few points that you may like to think about.
01. Your performance
“ You may have conducted hundreds of employee inductions, but it’s the first time I have heard it!”
In some of the inductions I attended, it was far too easy to detect the lack of enthusiasm from the presenter’s point of view. This can be quite natural if you are conducting induction after induction. Unfortunately however, in most cases, that lack of enthusiasm permeated through to the audience. Naturally this decreased the level of engagement and subsequently the level of learning from the session.
To overcome this, it might be handy to keep in mind that the induction process is a really important process from a health and safety point of view. Subsequently, your performance will go a long way towards making that a great experience for the audience.
02. Be organised
Planning and preparation is the key!
It is important to establish some clear objectives and just as important for this knowledge to be passed on to each participant.
Participants are usually most alert at the start of a meeting so if there are any problems that require a creative answer or any topics more important than others, plan to discuss these in the first fifteen minutes of your meeting.
If you plan on having a short refreshment break, have it in the middle of the meeting rather than at the end. This will renew concentration levels.
Audio visuals can make a presentation much more powerful and interesting. They are an effective way of reinforcing important points and can improve the groups’ decision making abilities.
If you plan to use any audio or visual equipment in the meeting, make sure you carefully check all the equipment before the attendees arrive.
The leader is also seen as more capable and professional when he or she uses well prepared audio visual aids during the meeting.
It is important that the group is completely orientated once your opening speech is concluded. Whilst preparing the speech can be time consuming, meeting leaders who do not make the effort run the risk of inflicting upon themselves and others, unproductive, misguided and over-long inductions.
03. Death by PowerPoint
Many of the new employee inductions attended featured a PowerPoint with copious information that was simply read out by the presenter.
If you are preparing a PowerPoint presentation for inductions, a far more engaging presentation would be to feature a simple picture that the depicts the topic to be discussed.
For example: rather than having a slide nominating each and every piece of PPE required on the worksite, a photo showing two or three items of PPE and having the presenter asking the audience what they feel would be the mandatory PPE items to be worn on the worksite would be far more engaging to the audience.
Naturally, the person conducting the induction could then fill in any items that have not been covered by the audience.
Furthermore, the presenter could also ask the audience why they feel a particular item of PPE is important to their workplace.
It’s a well recognised fact that consultation is by far the best means of approaching health and safety issues at work. Encouraging the inductees to put forward their ideas and thoughts is a great motivator. This certainly enhances the level of inductee engagement and learning outcomes.
04. Modern online technology
Finally, the most cost-effective and efficient way to conduct inductions in today’s world is to have the inductee complete the induction online.
With this type of induction, the inductee can work at his or her own pace whilst information is imparted in bite-size chunks followed by questions to confirm that learning has actually taken place.
Furthermore, you can include your organisation’s health and safety policy or other important policies. Then ask the inductee to confirm that they have read and understood each document to give you a great paper trail down the track.
This eliminates the need for the presenter to spend valuable time conducting inductions. Technology allows for a nominated person in your organisation to receive results from each inductee.
Here is a link to view some of the options for online inductions.