Using onboarding journals helps introduce culture and has many benefits to both the new employee and the company.

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USE JOURNALS TO INTRODUCE CULTURE + ACCELERATE ONBOARDING

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Healthy Company Culture
COMPANY CULTURE
Maintaining our healthy company culture is a deeply held
commitment for us at XPLANE, and we see onboarding as a
critical part of that effort. Onboarding is more than ensuring
people have the physical tools they need to do their work.
They also need the social and emotional tools to feel
empowered, supported and excited for their new chapter.
In support of this commitment, we are trying a new-to-us tool
for welcoming new team members– an onboarding journal.
The journal is effectively a diary, kept by new team member’s
for their first 60 days, that uses a simple but effective Plus /
Delta framework.
• Pluses are positive things which should be kept or
continued in the future
• Deltas are things that should be reconsidered or done
differently in the future
“Things” here can be anything new team members observe
or experience: behaviors, tools, practices, processes, and so
on. Here are some examples from a recent hire’s journal
(shared with his permission).
ONBOARDING JOURNAL

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New-Hire Journal
COMPANY CULTURE
PLUSES: DELTAS:
• Warm welcome, everyone
willing to be helpful
• The “Designer
Confessionals” video was
good to watch for
perspective on the
designer /consultant
relationship
• Description of company
service offering history
(1.0 to 2.0)
• General background on
how xTeams work on
projects together and the
overall process
• Designer overview with
tips/tricks for live drawing
in client workshop
sessions
• Need a glossary of company
jargon & acronyms
• Wish I could do more self-
onboarding by reading or
watching videos while I’m
still not busy
• I get why we use Skype but
recommend Hipchat
• Wish there was a shared
collection of brushes/core
assets that other designers
use
• More client-work shadowing
opportunities
• Better roadmap of
when/which client projects I
will work on and a way to
ramp up on them
ONBOARDING JOURNAL

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Benefits
COMPANY CULTURE
You can see the list ranges from small to bigger things; some are
well known, others are eye-opening. But the point is information is
flowing and engagement is happening. Based on results so far our
hope is the onboarding journals will bring short- and long-term
benefits for both the company and new team members.
Benefits to the Company
• Fresh perspective on our company with each new hire
• An ongoing record and helps us identify trends and outliers in
people’s experiences
• Surfacing best practices from previous employers for us to
consider
• Rapid insights into new team members; how they think and how
they are doing in their first 60 days
Benefits to the new team member
• A general mindfulness during their onboarding experience
• An opportunity to contribute to the company from day one and
see and feel that their opinions are valued
• An outlet for the negative or confusing experiences that can be
common in joining a new company
• Orientation to our plus / delta culture, which is solutions- vs.
complaint-oriented – and sets an expectation and practice of
positive contribution to company culture
ONBOARDING JOURNAL

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FEEDBACK
Have you tried or experienced anything like it? What onboarding
practices have you found effective?
Let us know at http://xblog.xplane.com