I read about a 3rd grade teacher, I’ll call her Ms. Smarts, who took an unusual approach. At the start of each school year she put aside the lesson plans. She ignored the usual curriculum. Instead, for the first three months she worked at nurturing her students.
Ms. Smarts cared about their self-esteem, teamwork, and potential. She wanted to give each of the students an opportunity to explore and experiment without grades or tests. She wanted learning to be fun, not intimidating.
Finally, once they were ready, she began the required lessons. They soaked them up!
This story has always stuck with me. I wonder what would happen if we treated new employees, volunteers, and board members the same way. What if we started with exploration and teamwork? What if we allowed them to discover and share the vision of the organization?
Marshall Ganz, of Harvard Kennedy School, worked with the young campaigners for Obama in his first run for the presidency. He explored with them three stories: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now. This exercise prepared the recruits to go out and campaign, fully prepared to share compelling stories.
Like the 3rd grade students, the Obama recruits had the opportunity for self-discovery and teamwork before they went to work.
Ms. Smarts students came out ahead at the end of the school year. They achieved higher scores on the standardized tests and they were fully prepared to move onto 4th grade. And, you know the result of the Marshall Ganz story, Obama won the election.
You can adapt these approaches to fit your organization, here’s an Onboarding Action Plan to get you started (btw, this works for forming teams of existing employees and volunteers too):
- Share the big picture. Give employees and volunteers a broad view so they see where they fit today and also where they may go in the future. Encourage possibility. This is especially important for workers who may not be in the office or may be siloed in a department.
- Encourage gathering. Make teamwork part of the onboarding process, allowing time to get to know each other and encouraging sharing throughout the organization. Allow new recruits to solve real problems and be part of exploratory conversations. Great ideas and tools are available at Liberating Structures (download the app).
- Create your story library. Know and share the founder’s story and other essential tales of your organization’s founding and growth. These shared stories are the basis for a common knowledge, understanding, and commitment to the founder’s dream and the vision of the organization. They might be in writing or on video to share at events and social media.
- Collect stories. Create a way for your employees and volunteers to share their successes. I call them Minor Miracles, the little things that happen but might be overlooked. A mental health organization gives everyone an opportunity to share their miracle of the month. These add to the library, ready to be shared.
- Listen. Every person brings something unique and special to your organization. Make sure you hear what they say and honor their stories. Discover the unique qualities of everyone so you can identify how they fit in and enhance the organization.
- Facilitate connection. As you get to know your new employee, board member, or teammate, you will find lots of opportunity to make connections. As each person is enabled to build a network, the organization as a whole is strengthened. Network Weaver is a great sorce for resources and tools.
Every employee and volunteer has potential to contribute to your organization’s growth. It’s up to you to show them the possibilities. Creating a culture of sharing, storytelling, teambuilding, and connecting will build an organization ready for the future.
Merle Benny writes and speaks to inspire Nonprofit Champions. She believes that every nonprofit is created with love and deserves to thrive. Her marketing communications expertise and years of study led her to write Leader @ the Center. Everyone has the potential to be a leader and a Nonprofit Champion.