Conducting a Successful Onboarding Plan and Onboarding Process
By: Naomi Kriger
Tags: Mentorship, Onboarding Process, Onboarding, Onboarding Software, Mentoring

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A few months ago I was asked to take charge of onboarding a new developer in my company.

I made a list of topics to be included in the training program, set them in a spreadsheet, gathered all the guides and knowledge-shares I worked on for the team & company since I started working in this position, and created an A-Z training plan for my new mentee.

Now that I can reflect on the process, and say it was quite smooth, I want to share with you some tips I find to be effective for onboarding.

1. Today’s Documentation Is Tomorrow’s Onboarding Material — Record Training Sessions & Document Low Hanging Fruits

A successful onboarding starts long before someone joins the team.

When I started working as a developer, COVID had just started and we all shifted to work from home. Onboarding right at the beginning of the lockdown wasn’t easy, but looking at the upside — this period was the rise and shine of Zoom, and I pushed to record as many of my training sessions as I could.

Also, every now and then I made a summary or a guide of the materials — both in order to gather my thoughts and to share knowledge with the team.

By the time my mentee onboarded — the materials were set and ready, just waiting to be used.

I’ll point out that not everything needs to be documented on a regular basis. Some technologies and working tools change over time, and such documentation can become irrelevant, as well as lead to exhaustion of team members. However, recording a training session only requires clicking the “record” button, and can be relevant for 1–2 years ahead. Also, creating a design/architecture diagram is many times useful to communicate with our colleagues, can be relevant for a long while, and come in handy for future onboardings.

2. Set Onboarding/Mentorship Goals

Before approaching the part of planning the onboarding process, we should keep in mind the vision of a successful onboarding / mentoring.

What would be the mentee’s needs? How do you expect the process to look like, and how can you measure its success?

In my case, I became the mentor of a developer who was in a similar position to the one I was in about a year ago, and I started by reflecting upon the upsides and the downsides of my own onboarding process before starting to work on my mentee’s.

I knew which coding tasks I expect my mentee to handle at different parts of the onboarding, which debugging tools he should be familiar with, which colleagues he should collaborate with, and what is the relevant technical background that the mentee should cover before approaching some of the tasks.

I took into account the fact this is the first time my mentee will be a software developer in the industry, so in addition to technical questions, and “soft-skills” questions (such as handling time estimations), many things will be seen for the first time, and an overall perspective will still need to be gained.

For me, a successful onboarding process was in part the ability to handle the position’s tasks relatively independently as well as collaborate effectively with the team, and in part — feeling confident to ask questions, raise flags when things don’t work, and take ownership of new tasks and knowledge domains.

3. Create a Detailed & Organized Onboarding Plan

Now that we have in mind our onboarding goals, it is time to break them down into pieces. Which topics should the mentee learn? What would we like the mentee to practice in order to gain relevant experience? Let’s make sure we know where we’re heading, and that we write down the relevant tasks and action items.

I want to mention that I am an avid fan of organized processes, and believe that a clear and detailed onboarding plan is easier to follow and keep track of, but also acknowledge that not everyone is like me in that matter.

However, I heard many people mentioning that the hardest part of their onboarding process was the lack of a clear guide or guidance, and that they had to make sense of the mess around them on their own.

Starting to work in a new position is a challenging process either way. Even when everything goes smoothly — there is so much to learn and so many things to remember and practice.

Without some clear guidelines, the process can become much harder.

So let’s look at an example of the onboarding spreadsheet I made, and then analyze it a bit.

What are some relevant rules of thumb I kept in mind when creating this spreadsheet?

A. List Topics By the Order They Should Be Approached

While some topics can be learned in parallel, others may have dependencies. Having a list that is not only detailed but also reasonably ordered, can make the mentee’s life easier as they go through the onboarding process.

B. Gather All Links in One Accessible Place

I decided to gather all links to recordings, documentations, diagrams, online references and more, in the onboarding spreadsheet. So next to each item that should be learned or practiced, there is also a link that is expected to be used.

C. Give Access to the Materials in Advance

Sometimes progress in a specific topic is “stuck” due to technical difficulties, unavailability of a team member or company’s employee who is in charge of the explanation, or any other reason. In this case, having access to references and materials in advance, will enable the mentee to move on to the next items in the meantime, instead of being blocked.

D. Use High-Level Time Estimations, and Give Buffers

Each topic/task has time estimation, both for the mentee and for the person who will take part in explaining/assisting with this topic. The goal of this column is not to micromanage the mentee’s progress, and the mentee should definitely not feel so.

The benefits I find in this column are:

To have the mentee a general estimation of how long the task should take, and raise a flag if they see they get stuck on something beyond the expected time.

To let the mentee know it’s ok the task “takes that long”. From my experience, both as a mentee and as a mentor, I saw the need to know if the pace of progress is good enough, and sometimes mistakenly think the pace should have been faster, while the mentor actually thinks otherwise.

To let the team leader assess the resources that will be devoted to the onboarding — how many team members will be less available due to this menting? And, roughly, for how long?

Make sure to buffer your time estimations. Learning something new takes time — the mentee will probably have questions for you, Google new things, re-read the material or hear the lecture again, and take breaks every now and then. So take all of these into account when estimating the expected time. And remember to let the mentee know the time estimations aren’t there as deadlines, but as general estimates to help them know what they should focus on.

E. Use a Status Column

This should make it easier for the mentee, mentor, and team leader to keep track of the overall progress.

F. Break the Process to Small Pieces and Mention Them

Taking into account not only teaching/learning and practicing of a topic, but also technical things such as installations, permissions, etc. will enable approaching them on time, and thus prevent (or diminish) the mentee from being blocked by a technical issue that could have been handled in advance.

Additionally, listing the list of topics that need to be covered means we know which meetings should be set and with who. So we can set the relevant meetings in advance, to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible.

Another advantage of this method is that a detailed onboarding plan helps to retrospect the process, and have the mentee, mentor and team leader discuss it to see what could be improved for the future.

4. Give Your Mentee Space to Make Mistakes and Ask Questions

An essential part of learning is making mistakes, and not understanding everything the first time a topic is being explained. An essential part of growth is feeling confident enough to make mistakes and move on, or try again.

I believe that one of the mentor’s goals is to give the mentee the confidence to do their job, without feeling they are being judged or criticized. So when your mentee does something “wrong”, or asks a question — even if you already explained this topic to them — make sure your attitude is supportive and welcoming. Even if this topic seems easy to you now, you probably struggled with it just as much when you first approached it. And if not, I’m sure you struggled with something else. So stay humble when others need your advice.

5. Be Accessible, Because You Care

Everybody needs a buddy, especially when it comes to new employees, let alone when it comes to juniors. Make sure your mentee knows you are there for them, and that you are there not because it’s your “task” but because you really care.

Take the extra mile to help, advise, listen, smile, and really be there for them.

Remember to applaud their progress when they are doing well.

Your mentee will appreciate and thank you for it.

I definitely appreciate and thank mine 🙂