All Onboard the DigiTrain!

All Onboard the DigiTrain!

April Fool’s Day – that was the day I joined MPS Interactive. I chose that particular day on a lark, thinking it would make my joining day fun and easy to remember. However, the joke was on me because I had to join from home. I was really looking forward to meeting the different teams face to face and getting a sense of the place through the onboarding process, so I was quite disappointed at first. However, the disappointment abated as soon as my onboarding began. The training plan was well-rounded and had a balanced mix of self-paced and (virtual) face-to-face sessions.

This experience got me thinking about the criticality of designing an onboarding program that is “mobile,” in that it is space agnostic and can easily switch between in-person and remote modes if required. While this won’t be easy to achieve immediately, we can plan a strategy comprising short-term and long-term solutions.

A Win-Venn Strategy

The short-term solutions will help address the immediate need for onboarding new employees during the current lockdown, and the long-term solutions will help to prepare for the future.

It goes without saying that the first and most important step is to review the existing onboarding process and identify training sessions and processes that require face-to-face meetings and those that can be converted to self-paced eLearning modules. Once this is done, we can create a comprehensive plan for both short-term and long-term solutions.

Short-Term Solution

• Sessions and processes that require face-to-face meetings can be converted into vILT sessions or webinars using the plethora of available software.
• Sessions and processes that can be converted to self-paced eLearning modules are easy to conceptualize, design, develop, and deploy with quick turnaround time.
  • Use cloud-based, animated video creation platforms, or PowerPoint to quickly design and develop short and snappy videos.
  • Develop interactive courseware, gamified quizzes, and scenario-based assessment activities using rapid-learning tools like Articulate Storyline and Rise 360.
  • Some content can be delivered as podcasts (recorded by employees of the company or by professional voiceover artists).
• A well-organized and easy-to-search digital repository, including standard documentation, HR and finance forms, and other miscellaneous information, can be developed using existing resources.
• Social media or online meeting platforms can be used to facilitate after-work social events; whether it’s a baking party or virtual happy hour, any event that makes people feel part of the team will help.

Long-Term Solution

• The existing training plan for onboarding should be critically evaluated.
  • Do the existing training sessions/modules address all job roles and requirements?
  • Do the existing training sessions/modules cover too much information?
  • Are there any redundancies in the process?
  • Is the critical information covered?
  • Does the process provide touchpoints across all important teams or functions?

Based on the answers to these questions, the existing training plan can be restructured and expanded or condensed.

• Once the training plan is complete, we can begin conceptualizing and designing a comprehensive remote orientation app or platform that is accessible to employees on any device and can be accessed in office, on the daily commute, or at home.
• This app should provide employees an opportunity to access their onboarding plan and training sessions, access important documentation, attend knowledge-sharing sessions relevant to their job profile, connect with team members through the onboarding process, and network with managers and co-workers professionally and personally.

These apps, platforms, online meeting software are only tools that facilitate knowledge sharing. It is how we use them to share information and (most importantly) create a community that will matter most in such unique circumstances.

– By Rohini Gupta, Director – Instructional Design at MPS Interactive Systems