Let me tell you a story…

Performance Management Relaunch

The Setup

A company of 15,000 is redefining their approach to performance management. In addition to all employees, a subset audience of 1,200 managers will need a targeted campaign to learn the new way of working. The company is moving from annual goals to OKRs, so the goal setting process is impacted. The rating scale, once 1-5, will now be a sliding system with more nuance and detail. The yearly cycle of performance reviews moves to quarterly. A heightened focus is added to manager-employee conversations and feedback. And a new technology is launched to track goals and encourage recognition.

The Approach

One and done training will not work, nor will training alone. The beginning of this project was the coming together of Talent Management, Training and Development, and Internal Communications and the story that unfolds from here was a collaboration between these three groups. As the training lead, my focus centered on several key points:

  • Meeting our audience wherever they are - This means offering an array of training touchpoints in a variety of modalities. Especially considering the manager audience, you’re going to have a subset that are desiring as much information as possible, those who want nothing to change, and a large middle who are curious but maybe not very proactive. Finding a way to each audience subset requires creativity, flexibility, and high frequency.

  • Usability - That creativity and flexibility results in thinking outside the traditional training boxes. Gone are the days of throwing content into a linear eLearning and hoping for the best. Long gone are the days of throwing people in a room for 7 hours and assuming everything will stick. With an audience of that size, maintaining productivity while ushering in a new era of manager responsibility becomes dire. We’re not going to be able to pull people offline for large chunks of time, so how do you make resources, partnered with communication tactics, that truly help, that teach, and that guide outside of simply a transfer of information?

The Outcome

We knew it needed to be a coordinated effort across the team, varying the timing, duration, and type of contact. The early phase included targeted communications through multiple channels (email, SharePoint, and manager newsletter) and all-employee webinars covering the basics, with visuals built to showcase the overview.

As we get deeper into the weeds, we launched manager how-to job aids on feedback, goal setting, and conversation guides, and interactive goal-setting eLearning a video demonstration of the new technology, why it will be good for employees, and how to navigate the system. The final phase consisted of general Q & A two ways (office hours and documented on SharePoint), plus live coaching workshops for managers. 

The program redesign and change management strategy that we enacted were both considered a success based on pre and post-launch surveys and manager testimonials.

While much of the materials were developed together, different people adding their own content, edits, and feedback, I designed and developed the majority of the training-specific deliverables, many of which you can find on my “Work Samples” tab.

New Hire Orientation Redesign

The Setup

A company of 900 needs to bring New Hire Orientation back to in-person after the pandemic. The instinct was to stay aligned with our remote program while minimally impacting office resources. Keep it simple. After almost a year of running that program, it was time for an upgrade. With the help of members of the Talent Acquisition & Organizational Development teams, I needed to determine where we could make improvements to the new hire experience to take it to the next level while still considering how long we can keep them from joining their teams, employee resource demand, and compliance requirements.

The Approach

To create an experience that wows a new hire, we had to leave the safe and conventional approach behind and think a little more like the hospitality industry. We met with our CHRO and other HR leaders to determine the strategic vision. The four guideposts we used throughout the redesign were productivity, connectedness, culture, and managers. So where to focus?

  • Manager Prep - Conduct mandatory manager training prior to orientation.

  • Duration - Expand the time we had together to allow for more material and time in between, which meant starting earlier on a Monday morning.

  • Perks - Improve the quality of amenities (snacks, beverages), provide an office and building tour, and buy them all lunch.

  • Content - Provide more company context and industry overview while making presentations more interactive.

  • Connection - Create space for interaction between new hires, managers, and targeted employees.

  • Facilitation - Increase OD team responsibility by being present all day.

  • Post-Orientation - Launched a series of four live courses to be taken in their first six months.

  • Feedback - Institute surveys at the end of orientation and six months.

The Outcome

Manager Prep - With the increase in manager responsibilities, we increased in the engagement between managers and new hires on day one and beyond and improved the experience once new hires officially joined their teams.

Duration - The extra half day meant a little more exhaustion by the end of Monday, but most new hires have enjoyed the time we spent together and the amount of information we were able to share.

Perks - It went a long way, having higher quality snacks and providing lunch. Taking the time to walk around the office and the building made new hires feel more comfortable in their surroundings and take advantage of building tips and tricks. 

Content - I worked with several stakeholders to revise their content to better align to the new vision and create a more immersive experience beyond just lecture-style presentations.

Connection - I added networking breaks for managers, DEI representatives, and their teams, throughout the 1.5 days.

Facilitation - I or someone on my team was there first thing in the morning to welcome them, presented multiple times throughout the day on Monday and Tuesday, and ensured they knew where they were going and what was coming next.

Onboarding - Focused the curriculum on key new hire topics (Goal Setting, Career Development, Company Deep Dive, and an exploration of a key company initiative) but allowed them to choose an offering that best fit their schedule (each offered monthly)

Feedback - Took the overall orientation experience from 4.25 to 4.75 (out of 5), increased manager touchpoints, made new hires feel more welcomed, and better prepared them to start contributing to their teams.