From Orange to Teal: Rethinking Onboarding for the Future of Work

According to research “…strong onboarding processes increase new hire retention by 82% and improve productivity by 70%.”  In practice, however, 88% of new hires don’t deem their onboarding process sufficient or a good experience. As part of the teal series, this post focuses on what teal onboarding might look like.

Onboarding is probably the most important part of building a culture that supports longterm success. It sets the stage for what to expect going forward and the foundation of relationships. It is also an opportunity to improve with fresh eyes on existing systems and processes. Done right, it is a strong foundation for a long lasting relationship. Done halfheartedly, it's a recipe for disaster.

In this post, I’ll first outline the typical ‘orange’ characteristics of onboarding as is most common in the average traditional organization, then what a more ‘teal’ approach might look like in more future ready companies. Finally, I'll provide a rough roadmap to transition from an ‘orange’ to ‘teal’ paradigm in relation to new hires.

What a typical orange onboarding experience entails

In a more traditional ‘orange’ organization onboarding is mostly administration-heavy in an all-at-once approach. According to Zippia, each new hire completes an average of 41 administrative tasks as part of onboarding. That's a lot of paperwork! And if you're really honest, most of those tasks will add very little value and will most probably be forgotten by an already overwhelmed new employee.

While admininstration and onboarding tasks might be a progression from a chaotic startup where there is no order and a sign of maturity, there are both benefits and pitfalls to onboarding the traditional way and this list is intended to point out differences between the two paradigms rather than evaluate the effectiveness of the processes as such.

The key characteristics of typical ‘orange’ onboarding include:

• 1. The focus is on administration

  A new employee typically receives a handbook with all the policies and procedures to go through before they start productive work.  They are also typically invited to attend several onboarding training sessions dependent on their role.

  The focus of onboarding is administrative, providing all the procedural resources up-front. Onboarding is seen as a necessary stepping stone that must be completed before any productive work can start. It's viewed as a checklist item to protect the company and in many cases, a replacement from the required face-to-face sessions to alleviate time consuming repetitive sessions.

• 2. Onboarding is owned by Human Resources

  The policies and procedures related to training and hiring in the typical organization is owned by the Human Resources department. Originally designed to take the burden off having to repeat the same information to every new hire, which can become overwhelming at high growth times or when turnover is high, it serves as a repository of the written down rules of the organization. These rules are often only updated when something goes wrong and in an attempt to prevent these bad experiences from occurring again, often punishing people for one outlier making a mistake in the past.

  The handbook ensures no important information is forgotten.  It provides each new employee with a complete reference regarding the general procedures like applying for leave or submitting time sheets.  It is an important asset that remains important in ‘teal’ organizations. However, information is seldom removed from these documents and over time it can become a long and hard read with the majority of the information not directly related to the new hire, only interested in what they must do right now to succeed in their new role. Understanding how most people process information, it is cognitive overload with most of the information forgotten soon after it's been read, rendering it a waste of valuable time. Typically, the information contained in the handbooks will only become relevant months later.

• 3. Focused on specific roles

  Additional to the more general procedures like applying for leave, onboarding typically focuses on role-specific requirements and needs. A marketing hire will, for example, only have access to marketing resources. A new developer is shown the technical resources to familiarize themselves with the technology. A new accountant is introduced to the accounting software and procedures.

  There is little to no overlap between different roles or departments other than the general support processes. Or, the information is so detailed to a specific role that Unintionally, silo's are created and encouraged from the first day at work.

What a typical teal onboarding experience entails

An organization operating from a mainly teal paradigm primarily focus on culture during the new employee onboarding process. Typically, onboarding aims to immerse the new hire into the culture and help the new employee experience a sense of support, belonging and inclusion.  Onboarding also aims to give a more complete understanding of the entire organization and value chain, with a systems thinking focus in contrast to the silo thinking of a typical orange organization. The Donnela Meadows Project explains systems thinkingas a way of seeing the whole picture instead of isolated fragments. It encourages us to look beneath visible events and behaviour to understand the deeper structures and patterns that shape outcomes, such as feedback loops, relationships between parts of a system, and the mental models that influence how people act.

Probably the biggest difference when looking at onboarding in the future of work is that it focuses mainly on human-to-human relationships and ensuring full system understanding rather than the traditional admininstrative heavy processes of an orange organization. With the rise of AI and chatbots, a lot of the admininstration can be automated or provided through a chat interface on demand, leaving the onboarding experience to focus on getting to know the system and why they exist, the shared values, and the strengths and weaknesses of the people they're working with.

Below are the key characteristics and differences between ‘orange’ and ‘teal’ onboarding.  Although each organization might uniquely handle onboarding, these are the more general trends of how the most successful companies approach onboarding.

• 1. Just-in-time or on-demand information

  A key difference between ‘orange’ onboarding and onboarding within a more ‘teal’ way of working is that information is rolled out over time rather than everything up-front. People receive information as they need it, not before, similar to how a game progressively increases the difficulty as the player masters the easier levels. Artificial Intelligence and automations take care of a lot of the administrative burdon and the general information such as how to apply for leave is only made available on request from the new employee. Rather than expect them to remember months into the future how to apply for leave, they can ask a chatbot at any time when or how to apply for leave.

  For example, a new employee will only ask about or look up a leave procedure when they need to apply for leave. This approach reduces cognitive overload and with that, the risk of mistakes early on.

  Rather than give a new hire a few days or week to go through all the written down procedures on their own, they are immersed in the organizational activities in a guided tour-like manner.  Like a buffet table filled with various dishes, onboarding aims to show the new hire all the different aspects and functions.  They can ask questions as they need the information or as uncertainty arises.

• 2. Rotational programs

  As wholeness is such a big focus for ‘teal’ organizations, new hires are included and immersed in all the different functions to gain a complete understanding of the entire business or value chain. They spend a few weeks or months in one department as "intern" before moving onto the next. Intern meaning that the employee has no decision making power but is included to offer ideas and ask as many questions as they would like during this transitional time. They will typically be a productive resource on the team, however, as a lot of the functions don't probably fit the skills of the new hire, they will often be in a supportive or shadowing role during their first months on the job.

  This supports a more systems thinking approach and understanding of the impact of any change or project as well as cultivate a culture of respect and humility. An added benefit is that this rotation allows new hires to design a personal progression path based on their individual goals and dreams. When, for example in future, they want more exposure to a specific function they can volunteer to a project in this capacity. Human Resources doesn't design the career progression paths, rather they facilitate an employee's journey as guide and coach with the journey itself designed by the employee.

  Another important consequence of a rotational onboarding program is that it supports cross-functional team formation. When a new project or task starts, it is easy to identify who has experience in which function and can best contribute to the success of the project.

  A key, but often overlooked benefit that emerges from rotation is that the new hire is introduced to the shared vocabulary specific to the organization. One of the most confusing parts of working in a large ‘orange’ organization is the use of acronyms and different people having different understandings of the same words used based on their experience. In a ‘teal’ organization, this shared vocabulary can intentionally be introduced with the rotational program in a show-don’t-tell way as they move through each function.

• 3. Buddies and mentors

  As culture is so important in a ‘teal’ organization a buddy or mentor is usually assigned to each new hire. This buddy or mentor is there to answer any questions the new hire might have while they are getting acquainted with the new ways of working.

  The buddy can also serve as an accountability partner or peer coach. Each week they can check in with each other to see how things are going and what challenges or opportunities have arisen. This relationship can be formalized with regular check-ins or formalized goals or more informal and adhoc. For example, perhaps they meet for coffee once a week to chat and reflect on how things are going. Or, they might have a more structured approach with specific goals to achieve during the onboarding period, such as developing a specific skill or mastering a system or process.

  Once onboarding is completed the relationship might continue, or a new mentor or buddy can be selected. Ideally, everyone has an opportunity to spend time in a peer coaching or mentoring role with each other over time in a supportive co-learning relationship.

  The goal of these one-to-one relationships is to learn from each other and actively get to know each team member’s strengths and weaknesses to better support each other.  It also aims to increase resilience.  In a peer-coaching culture, people’s development is ingrained within the culture.

Getting from orange to teal: A roadmap

Below is a possible roadmap to transition to a more teal way to onboard new hires. As onboarding is always dealing with someone new to the organization with no prior expectations, changing the process is relatively easy and invited. Use each new hire as an opportunity to improve the system and processes by asking them for feedback. 

• 1. Identify a suitable buddy or mentor

  The first and most important thing to focus on is to identify a suitable buddy or mentor who will be available to answer questions.  This would typically be someone in the same function or a complementary function who can answer most questions the new hire might have on a practical level. However, personality match also plays a key role. Naturally, some people are better communicators and more social than others. Typically, you want someone who will be good at communication and pre-empt questions rather than only react to questions. The best buddy is someone who is pro-active, social, and a general all rounder in the company familiar with most of the tools, processes, and people.

• 2. Cultivate curiosity and invite changes to the existing procedures

  There’s an old saying that says “New brooms sweep clean.”   New people see the reality of things as they are without the filters and conditioning of the people who are used to how things are done in a group or system.  This makes the newest person in the team the most valuable asset to identify possible gaps and areas of confusion. When the new hire is confused, most probably it is because it was a workaround introduced for a specific reason that every just gotten used to.

  Invite new hires to suggest changes and additions to the procedures to improve the quality and ease, and to maintain the accuracy and usefulness of the company handbook.

  Similarly, when in meetings or decisions about services or products need to be made, ensure that you always ask the opinion of the newest person in the room first, before anyone else adds their opinions. This will tell you much more about how the person thinks and what they know than any evaluation or interview. It will also provide a fresh perspective that might have a positive impact. Don't miss this opportunity of new eyes!

• 3. Plan for rotation

  Finally, plan for rotation.  This is possibly the most challenging part as it requires coordination between different functions and balancing workload.

  The goal of the rotation is to give everyone hands-on experience within each part of the system. At the end of the rotational program the new employee will be confident as to how the company works, who is responsible for what, and where to get the necessary answers when needed. They will also have a good understanding of the culture of the company and how they fit into this culture.

  To keep this productive, identify low-risk, relatively easy tasks that will give someone a good idea of what type of work gets done and how it gets done in each function.  These tasks will typically not require specialized skills and ensure a more senior mentor or guardian is always available to oversee the work.

  The intent behind this program is to immerse new people into all areas of the business so that they know what gets done where, and how.  A key outcome is to have a better understanding of the impact of any project in the organization which will improve their decision making.

Conclusion

Teal organizations and the future of work place less emphasis on procedures and more emphasis on relationships and the culture when onboarding a new hire.

The goal of onboarding is to give them the support they need, make them feel welcome, and create space for them to ask for what they need, understanding that each person might need something different to become proficient in their role.

Are you ready to transition to a more teal way of working?

If you need help transitioning to a more teal operating paradigm at your company, book a free discovery call with me at funficient.com.