A high level look at considerations for training new employees. Compares new employee orientation for geographically dispersed employees to the starfish model of business design.

1. New Employee Orientation
for geographically dispersed teams
How to be a Starfish

2. What’s the purpose of
New Employee Orientation?
• Help employees understand
their job and what’s expected of
them as part of a team
• Introduce the new employee to
other team members
• Set the stage for continuing
development

3. What does any of that have to do with
a Starfish?
Seriously.

4. Starfish
Have you heard of the book
The Starfish and the Spider?
“If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies; if you cut off a starfish’s leg it grows a
new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-
down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are
changing the face of business and the world.
“What’s the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and
Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the
abolitionist and women’s rights movements? What fundamental choice put
General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths?
“Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom have discovered some unexpected
answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The
Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders
and reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit
to the U.S. government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish
principles to achieve success.”

5. The 10 Rules
of a Starfish Organization
1. Diseconomies of Scale-Small companies have power.
2. Network effect - every additional person makes the organization
stronger.
3. Power of chaos.
4. Knowledge at the edge - information about the organization is
open to everybody.
5. Everyone wants to contribute - self-motivated employees.
6. Beware the hydra response.
7. Catalysts rule.
8. *Values* are the heart of any organization or network.
9. Measure, monitor, and manage.
10. Flatten or be flattened.

6. New Employee Orientation for
Geographically Dispersed Teams
Like Starfish organizations, geographically
dispersed teams integrating a new employee
need to operate independently and as a whole.
They need come together to be successful and
continue toward the same goal while they are
apart.

7. New Employee Orientation for
Geographically Dispersed Teams
Even if all 10 rules don’t apply to a new employee’s
experience, I think everyone would agree an
introduction to a new workplace is best when everyone
works together, as needed.
Explore the book and consider how the philosophy
relates to new employees.
Peer
Home
Leader
Office
New
Employee
Specific
Subject
Mentor
Matter
Expert

8. New Employee Orientation
design

9. New Employee Orientation
• Help employees understand
their job and what’s expected of
them as part of a team
• Introduce the new employee to
other team members
• Set the stage for continuing
development

10. Checklist By Day
Starfish by Night
Before the employee’s first day:
 Make sure everyone they will interact with knows they’re
coming
 Obtain whatever tools they will need and prepare their
workspace
 Be prepared with passwords they will need
 Prepare a first day, week and month agenda with as much
detail as possible
Relax! With this checklist complete, now
you know you have what you need for
your new employee’s first day.

11. Checklist By Day
Starfish by Night
On the employee’s first day:
 Share the day, week and month’s agenda
 Discuss synchronous learning-the information that will need
to be learned from or with another person(s)
 Review asynchronous learning-the information that can
learned independent of others
Synchronous Learning Asynchronous Learning
The new employee needs to know what The employee needs to know how to
their role is in the learning experience as access the learning materials (especially
well as what the learning objectives of passwords), exactly what they are
the experience are. expected to do and the completion date.

12. Checklist By Day
Starfish by Night
After the employee’s first day:
 Don’t abandon them! Meet with them regularly (daily at first
and then weekly) for their first 90 days.
 Ask them specific questions about
 what they’ve learned,
To create an open relationship and
 what questions they have and a learning culture, use language
that let’s the new employee know
 what they are working on next. you expect questions…they are
encouraged for learning and
development.
“What questions do you have
about what I just shared with
you?”

13. Follow the Checklists
Follow the simple steps outlined to help new
employees feel like part of the team.
Your goal is to help the employee understand
the organization, their role in it and feel like they
are part of something bigger!
Can you do it alone…?

14. Mentors
Nope.
You need help.
• Mentors are a necessity for the new employee
experience
• Being a mentor is good for the mentor, too!

15. Mentors
How do you select a mentor?
1. The mentor should want to help new
employees and have the ability to connect
with people easily and make them feel
comfortable.
2. The mentor should be proficient in their job
and knowledgeable about the company.

16. Mentors
Mentors cannot have any reporting tie to the
new employee. A new employee is less likely to
ask questions of their new boss or employee.
Mentors are rarely compensated separately for
their role. Most enjoy the work and recognize it
as a developmental tool for themselves.

17. Technology
A learning management system (LMS) allows you
to:
• track new employee progress
• test their understanding
An LMS allows the employee to:
• work at their own pace
• easily review content

18. Technology
Do you need technology? Probably not.
(but it is typically considered a best practice to provide at least some training support
through technology)
Begin with the end in mind.
• What do you want to accomplish?
• What resources do you have available?
Use technology to meet your goals.
(as you need to!)

19. Assessment
Kirkpatrick’s Model of Training Evaluation includes:
• Reaction: What did you think of the training?
• Learning: What skills did you build? What do you
now know?
• Behavior Change: Can you apply what you’ve
learned to a real-world environment?
• Results: Did what you learn positively change the
organization?
• ROI: Was the training worth the
cost (time, materials, etc.)?

20. Assessment
It’s important to continually assess new employee learning as
they tackle new topics. New delivery platforms, concepts, the
application of information…these things and more will lead to
questions at each stage. This is the perfect opportunity to get
them off on the right foot!
ROI
Results
Behavior Change
Learning
Reaction