Decades ago, I started working at a big corporation. The first half day on the job was spent in HR filling out paperwork. After I signed my name for the hundredth time, I was whisked to my new office, which was a tiny interior office-closet divided into three empty cube work areas. There I was given a stack of papers to enter into a spreadsheet. By the third day, stuck in the back of the freezing room all by myself plodding through a pile of mind-numbing work, I wondered what kind of mistake I made. Eventually, I met more people and settled in, but it took me months to warm up to my new employer.
Most organizations are terrible at new employee onboarding. The process is centers around paperwork and protocols, the administrative stuff. Only unicorn organizations focus on the new staff member’s experience.
Some new member onboarding programs are oriented this way as well. The process is entirely administrative. A new member joins, and they get an invoice or receipt and login credentials.
If your association’s onboarding process is administratively focused, it is time for a change. What do your new members need to know today? What problems are they struggling with that you have the solution to? How can you show them that they have just entered a large community of like-minded peers? How can you set a positive tone with a big, hearty welcome?
Successful new member onboarding programs are built around what members need rather than what the association needs.
We are more than halfway there! Responses are coming in for the 2020 New Member Engagement Study Survey, and we need your help. How are you engaging your new members? Let us know, and you’ll get the report the minute we put the finishing touches on it!
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