The Orange Chair

When I came across a link to the The Human Capital Institute’s webcast and whitepaper on relational onboarding on Jennifer Okimoto’s internal IBM blog, I couldn’t help but stop and say: "So that’s what it’s called." Here’s the abstract:

Now more than ever, businesses are spending exorbitant amounts of time and money to acquire the best talent. But hiring great people means very little if they never fully realize their potential or they decide to walk out the door within a few months. So how can companies effectively transform new hires into productive talent –and beyond to quickly become star perfomers– engaged with the organization from day one? Successful organizations use relational onboarding to help newcomers establish a broad network of critical relationships. Through this network, newcomers can quickly locate the centers of knowledge, the key constituents, and the real issues they were hired to address.

Rather than abandon highly motivated new hires to orientations, hard to navigate intranets, and stacks of dusty manuals, successful organizations help new hires build a strong network of relationships with colleagues who can help transform them into star performers. Building strong relationships from day one makes new hires feel more connected to the workforce, resulting in decreased turnover, shortened time to contribution, greater engagement and job satisfaction. This webcast will examine how HR executives can make the shift from ‘administrative’ onboarding’ to ‘relational onboarding,’ and how Corporate Social Networking technology can help build the network of connections integral to a new hire’s and the company’s success.

This is true, and this is one of the reasons why I’m passionate about helping other enterprises understand and make the most of social computing. Let me tell you my story.

I joined IBM in October 2007 after completing my master’s degree. My onboarding experience was amazing. I was immediately plugged into the social network, contributing to and receiving help from people all over the world.

I was not a typical new hire. This was the first time I’d worked outside the academe, but I had spent a little over a year and a half doing my research at the IBM Toronto Center for Advanced Studies, and I had grown a large social network in the process of blogging about my research and interacting with other people in the company.

But even looking back at my first day on the IBM intranet as a graduate student doing research at the IBM Toronto Center for Advanced Studies, I remember feeling instantly engaged with the thriving early adopter community within IBM. (I remember this clearly because I have all my blog entries from that time!)

Why? Because the blogs helped me relate to people–not job titles, not placeholder positions, but real people doing real work. Social networking helped me get to know people, and it also helped people get to know me: my character, my competencies, my passions. And social networking was the reason why I couldn’t wait to finish my thesis and join IBM, because I’d been engaged and energized by the stories of other people throughout the organization.

Can your new hires tell stories like mine? Do you want them to be able to?