What I Learned Facilitating New-Hire-Orientations
We have all experienced the 'beginning of the shift' email scroll. This one was particularly noteworthy!
As my 17-year-old eyes halted at the subject line: become a training ambassador, I clicked to explore further. What is this email sent to me by accident? Regardless, I put my foot forward and took my shot. Soon, I will be meeting with the director of human resources to discuss the next steps.
When scrolling past the email, I had two choices. The first being to ignore the email and put an immediate answer of NO onto the possibility of a new role within the organization. This would mean conformity. Instead of progressing through my young career, I would say that I am fine where I am positioned.
Complacency doesn’t always help; this is something I have learned early on.
Mel Robbins, one of my favorite motivational speakers, shared that being fine is an enemy of progress. Here is a link to the exact moment where she shares this insight.
Additionally, Brandon Bouchard shares that there is an equation to motivation. Ambition, when added to expectancy, equals motivation. I recommend saving this equation to use whenever in powering a new group of people or whenever you need it yourself.
Ambition + Expectancy = Motivaition
The Meeting
A few days after coordinating with the human resource director‘s assistant came my appointment to meet with J’.
I admit I was a bit nervous to meet with her. This was a one-on-one meeting, for I had school commitments while she met with the other candidates to discuss the position. I’m grateful for her flexibility and this is a sign she is serious about my potential within the role.
She asks about my motives in seeking this responsibility. I share that improving my leadership, communication skills, and work experience or a few of the reasons. None of these are thought out to the minutia, but she agrees to pass me along to the next stage of interviews.
Obviously, my presentation skills needed sharpening!
The next round of interviews consisted of presenting to a group of board members. It was a presentation on the subject of our choosing, yet there was a time limit of five minutes. J' coached me, individually, and shared tips along with pointers on how to captivate an audience. Her advice was illuminating.
The countless years of experience she had presented to an array of people from different backgrounds, experience levels, and engagement gave her a competitive advantage. I was extremely lucky to be taken under her wing and revealed the secrets of her success.
Specifically, I took note of incorporating the five senses during a presentation, creating urgency, and creatively linking previously known topics to the audience. On the drive home, my brain developed a strategy for this mission, and I seen prepared a presentation to lending me the position!
During the presentation, as my name got called, I started to shake. I inched to the podium and began speaking about how time management is important to young professionals. Linking this potentially boring subject to the art of baking cookies enticed the five senses, linked to the audience's experience of eating, and create the urgency of a five-minute limit to learning. Luckily, my cookies were not burnt (metaphorically) in my presentation I was able to bake the successful cookie!
Preparation
The upcoming week was full of uneasiness. As I frantically refreshed my email page, daily, the subject line of training ambassador finally spread across the banner.
My excited fingers clicked open the email to discover that I had been offered the position! Now, a new sense of desperation kicked in. It is called imposter syndrome…
I trained like an athlete! Each day after school was revisiting the two-day workshop worth of notecards. I flipped them like flashcards and understood the material at a deep level. I did personal research on the sub-topics covered through the workshop with the worry that a question would surface. There was a need for me to be prepared, and I was serious about this responsibility.
Execution
As the members arrived during the first session of workshops, their nametags displayed the position within the organization: library pages, social media managers, branch managers.
As a 17-year-old, did I have enough ethos to represent the library?
In the eyes of the human resource manager, I did have that power.?
Material
These are a few of the subjects I was responsible for covering, diligently.
Legal, policy, and harassment training were a big responsibility!
There was tremendous pressure to ensure that all forms got signed by participants within the new hire orientation. Along with this serious topic, the focus was needed from the participants.
It is important for an organization to lay-out rules, expectations, and boundaries. This is especially the case when newly onboarded team members become educated about the work environment they are joining.
"Legal" covered their benefits, workplace protections, and compliance expectations. This includes how they represent the brand, how they act within buildings, and the consequences of their actions.
The policy includes more specifics of these legal procedures.
Harassment training is another component. Everyone deserves a safe work environment. Videos constructed professionally and played uniformly is how the library concluded best communicating the subject. My role was to answer questions that were not covered in the video and two confirm that the forms were properly filled!
I was the only leader in the room during the entire new hire orientation, so I had to rely on my confidence to succeed.
Another important topic that was covered: culture.
My passion for a clear vision, mission, and values stemmed from this workshop. The mission statement for the Las Vegas Clark County library district is to:
“nurture the social, economic, and educational well-being of people and communities. The district is committed to building communities of people who can come together to pursue their individual and group aspirations. “
As you can see, this is an organization focused on humanity and equality!
Some of the values include:
By sharing these common goals and values, I was able to generate enthusiasm for working within the group.
One of the most interesting aspects of the presentation included company history, market, and budgeting.
Surprisingly, the public library system has a large budget! This is funded by the tax dollars we pay, mostly (late fees help a bit, too). I found out and shared how this budget is allocated, very interesting. Knowing the history of the company is a good way to feel caught up on what has happened prior to joining an organization. Knowing the market in areas to further expand is a way to inspire consistent growth.
My favorite part of the new hire orientation extended beyond the classroom. During the tour of the facility, participants received the opportunity to see departments in action. I guided them through the building's back-end and public sector.
Meeting the people behind the distribution, processing material, greeting patrons, security, events, marketing, and human resources were a few of the stops along the way. Through this portion of the orientation, new hires felt a sense of community. They notice that their job was important to the organization's success. By realizing the complexity involved in creating a dazzling user experience, I believe they felt more motivated to show up and give their best selves to the role they were placed in.
Skills I Learned
During my time as a new hire orientation leader, I learned skills that I can bring along to future roles. These include time management, public speaking, creativity, confidence, and many, many others.
Time management was one of the largest pressures of the job!
The binder full of information was strategically divided among two days of training. Each day was divided into two sections. The material covered within each of the quadrants was specific. The time frame within the quadrants was also specific.
I had the responsibility of maintaining a constant presentation speed and attention to the clock while communicating. If I noticed that there may be a time constraint, I would act to fit the material within the slot.
A tactic I learned to do this included "parking questions". I created a metaphorical parking lot where questions that may not have the time to be answered were to be parked. At the end of the workshop, if we had time, those questions were answered. If not, I will follow up with an email. Either way, the participant would receive an answer.
Facilitating the new hire orientations for the public library‘s was my first-time public speaking. This was in a one-to-few setting. Lastly, I learn to "own my power".
My role within the organization was hierarchically lower than many of the participants. But, during this time, I had the attention and responsibility to guide them through the predetermined course. My supervisor empowered me to escalate disciplinary action if I felt harassed or demoralized.
Distracting on your own terms was a big takeaway.
When I first walked into the preset orientation room, I noticed candy, toys, coloring books, and markers littered on top of the table. After asking what they were for, the answer shocked me. Participants are not permitted to use their phones, but they are allowed to engage with the distractions at a subconscious level. Being fully present, mentally, for two long days of orientation may be exhausting. By providing these pre-determined distractions, their focus- actually- increased!
While teaching the information, I learned the importance of consensus. The worksheets they filled out as I explained policy, laws, and procedures gave them ownership. I believe that the participants felt included in the learning process and learn the material better.
I learned that it is OK to use notes. Remember the notecards I mentioned, I brought them along just in case. During the first few sessions, I relied on them. After a few classes, they stayed on top of the table. Notecards acted as a reminder that it is better to start than to be perfect.
This role taught me about creativity and rapport. The first few sessions were a bit awkward, but soon I discovered that the presenter should have a mix of competency and warmth. According to Vanessa Van Edwards, this leads to charisma. Charismatic presenter captivated the attention of a room.
After receiving more attention, I felt more confident with what I was sharing. This led to a loop of frictionless communication.
This position increased my confidence by aligning my expectations to the end goal. Through strong diversity, inclusion, and belonging initiative from the Las Vegas Clark County library district, I felt empowered to step into that role.
Additionally, my supervisor and the human resource manager acted as a support system and mentor group. They guided me along the way and encouraged my success. Without them, this would not be possible. Within an organization, having leadership that encourages growth is vital to company success. Luckily, I had both a supportive leader and overarching organizational values which encouraged growth.
I learned the importance of being vulnerable!
I shared when I messed up, stumbled on my words, and if I felt nervous. By sharing, I gain control of my emotions. It was no secret if I felt insecure at times, so there is no leverage in embarrassment.
New Role
Because of the skills I learned, I was able to transition into a new role!
The role of becoming a Mason Undergraduate Peer Research Coach for the UNLV Libraries has been an honor!
In this new role, I participate in New Student Orientations, conduct tours to library incomers, and co-facilitate English 102 sessions.
My presentation skills, public speaking, creativity, confidence, and all the other additional skills are put into use, daily!
One way both roles are different, however, is the audience. In the role of a peer coach, I compare the approach to being informal communication. In the new hire orientation role, I compare it to formal communication.
Understanding tone, audience, and environment are critical to presentation success!
Luckily, now I have experience within both sectors and look forward to expanding my presentation capabilities through more experience.
Conclusion
New hire orientations are the first impression opportunity organizations have with in-boarding team members! Determining a company tone, brand, and expectations adds to the pressure of a limited time frame of communication.?Transparency, adaptability, confidence, creativity, and time-management are some of the skills needed by new hire orientation facilitators.