Why Onboarding New Employees is the Perfect Time to Innovate

Chances are you’re reading this from a computer, like a desktop or laptop. Maybe you’re using a computer small enough to fit in your pocket. If you’ve grown up with this technology, it’s mind-boggling to imagine a time when successful thought leaders rejected the idea of a personal computer as science fiction.

One of the most common innovations in a company is the introduction of new employees to your workforce.

Obviously, it’s now impossible to argue against the ways in which these devices revolutionized entertainment, communication, or education. Because of that, companies face a fear of ‘missing out’ on the next big thing. With so many online training tools to choose from, L&D professionals are constantly thinking, “What training innovation am I ignoring that could help us?”

Onboarding Technology

Does that question lead you to only consider technology and strategies that require massive upheaval? If so, how often do you see your new employees as changes in your company worth investing in just as much as new gadgets or software?

As an e-learning company, AllenComm provides proven training tools to ensure that onboarding new employees is easy and innovative.

External Motivation

Imagine being told you need to learn how to play a new instrument. You’re not given a clear reason why other than this instrument needs to become a part of your identity. How excited would you be to take up that new hobby? For most people it would be a struggle to find the time and motivation.

External innovations that force your company to shift workflows, goals, or technology can be just as uncomfortable.

Let’s take a look at the onboarding training AllenComm built with the LEGO Group when software changes necessitated a move away from Adobe Flash to HTML5. Instead of creating a one-to-one conversion, AllenComm retooled the previous courseware to promote engagement through gamification, interactivity, and attention-catching media.

Though the reason for the change was necessary, the LEGO Group saw the redesign as an opportunity to embrace the unknown, and their approach became an award-winning training success for their employees. The use of new tools made the training easier on the company and leadership, but it also created a more memorable experience for employees to retain through their time at work.

Internal Motivation

Now, imagine that you find your own motivation to learn a new instrument. Maybe you want to play a favorite song. Or maybe you need something to do on the weekend besides binge Netflix. Whatever it is, you’ve found a reason to motivate you. At the risk of sounding like a wise mentor in a kung-fu movie, the change is coming from within.

So, rather than waiting for the landscape of your company to dictate changes, you should be asking, “What revolution in employee training should I seek out?”

Because Domino’s Pizza is franchised, they saw a need to internally motivate change in employees. AllenComm created a learning portal designed to provide franchisees with custom control on their team members, empowered employees to master skillsets, and managers and admins could optimize the training of employees.

The user-friendly platform compiled an extensive curriculum tailored to needs of each location. It increased speed, decreased costs, and improved customer satisfaction. And it was all feasible because Domino’s Pizza embraced new tools and strategies like microlearning, gamification, and interactivity.

Sometimes it’s necessary to react to innovation, but when the motivation to innovate is internal we actively pursue a goal. There’s no more important time in an employee’s career to catch that motivating bug than when they’re a new hire.

Embracing the New

Think back to the last time you started a new job. You were excited. Everyone loves to feel wanted, and this company wanted you over the other applicants. You researched the company, maybe you even knew people who already worked there, but all of your ideas about this job were still theoretical.

Their excitement or nervousness will be the same whether you train them in an old, inefficient routine or a new, innovative one.

You felt nervous, but you wanted to impress your boss and coworkers, so you jumped headfirst into a new culture, new training, and new experiences.

Embracing change is hard. The new employees at your company feel the same way. But, they have no preconceived notions about your company. No bad habits or dragging feet over a preference for the “old way.” No fear of changing their routine. They want to be there and are expecting change.

Why? Because everything is new to an onboarding employee. Their excitement or nervousness will be the same whether you train them in an old, inefficient routine or a new, innovative one.

In short: what better opportunity to innovate than when onboarding new employees?

New Employees Are Innovations

We think of innovation as seismic shifts, because we remember when email was created or the iPhone hit the market or Augmented Reality became a…well, reality. But it’s easy to forget that one of the most common innovations in a company is the introduction of new employees to your workforce. It happens weekly (if not daily) at most companies, but if you’re not training them in a way that utilizes their excitement for the new, you’re missing a chance to innovate.

AllenComm understands the crucial need to train your employees in engaging, efficient ways using innovative tools. As you use these resources, you can easily train your onboarding employees to be disruptive forces for good in your company.