The Importance of Onboarding and The 2023 New Member Guild Regattas

Onboarding is crucial to organizations yet so infreuently practiced well, we thought we should do a better job as a Guild

Our close-to-monthly meetings of the newbies — The Regatta

Perhaps it’s not surprising that more than half of new employees are already looking for a new job three months into their new role. They call it rage applying in new age parlance. It may be a function of a faster modern, me-first culture, but it’s also a function of companies doing a bad job at inviting the newest into their circle. Their biggest potential growth special sauce (we hate calling them assets or resources) — new employees, and in our Guild’s case, prospective new members.

The Grey Swan Guild plans to “double its circle” this year with no compromise on the talent and passion that had already come into our collective. One of the things that really means is getting more intentional with how we bring new faces and voices into our community. Below we have provided a preview of:

• A. Stats — why onboardings are so important
• B. Benefits — 11 reasons why good onboardings are key
• C. Improvements — how our Guild is doing it differently this year
• D. Coverage: our agenda for our 4X per quarter sessions
• E. Schedule — our 16 onboarding events for 2023
• Seven Steps to Guild Heaven — what we love members to climb
• Requests of Existing Members — an opportunity to step up

“We want to focus on creating a memorable experience for the new hire (member) in the first year rather than processing them in the first few weeks.” Cheryl Hughey, Director of Onboarding, supporter, cheerleader, and ambassador at Southwest Airlines

A. The Stats about Onboarding

Stats around onboarding tend to get blended with either having an excellent welcoming culture overall or not. Unsurprisingly, they can be one and the same. However, the weight of smoking gun evidence is universally clear — first impressions and immersions are so very important:

• Value of Memorable Onboarding — employees who say they had exceptional onboarding experiences are 2.6X more likely to be extremely satisfied with their workplace; 70% of those with exceptional onboarding experiences say they have “the best possible job.”
• Absence of Ritual — 36% of employers don’t have a thorough, structured onboarding process for new hires; organizations with a standardized onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity
• Absence of Importance — 76% of HR managers believe onboarding is under utilized; 57% of those surveyed stated that lack of manager bandwidth was a leading cause
• Absence of Balance —60% view integrating the employee into the company culture as the main focus of onboarding, but it only makes up 30% of successful onboarding
• Absence of Impact — 88% don’t believe their organizations do a great job of onboarding
• Absence of Participation in Online Communities — in online communities, 52% of members are generally inactive, 11% share, 25% provide validation, 6% explore and 7% perform actions & answer questions; 55% of community professionals identified difficulty in consistently engaging members as one of their biggest frustrations with running online communities, successful onboarding increases ongoing participation
• Importance of Long-term Contribution — 69% of employees who have a positive onboarding experience are more likely to remain with the employer for three years, successful onboarding retains 50% more talent
• Importance of Productivity — strong onboarding process leads to 70% more productivity
• Importance of Commitment — 25% of employers have an onboarding process that lasts a day or less, 26% have programs that last about a week. 21% have an onboarding process that lasts one month, and 11% extending it out over the course of at least three months
• Importance of Productivity Nudges —new hires averagely have a 25% productivity rate in their first month on the job, 50% in their second month,75% in their third month on the job and peak performance potential by the 12th month, onboarding managers should check in on new employees through days 1, 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90, at a minimum
• Importance of Connection & Online Community — 66% of community members say the main reason they love online communities is because they provide the ability to connect with others with similar interests; 94% of online community members said they have used communities to get more information about new topics

Stats by: Kronos Human Capital, Brandon Hall, Gallup, Community Roundtable, Urban Bound

B. Benefits to Onboarding

Onboarding is a one-time opportunity for employers (or Guilds in our case) to appeal to the ambitions, hearts, minds and spirits of new employees or members:

• Opportunity & Participation— it acclimates them to ways they can participate and roles they can play
• The Smell of the Place — it helps them understand culture, philosophies, interests of company or Guild
• Upcoming Attractions— it gives them a sense of what’s next and what they should expect in the short-, mid- and long-term
• Learning & Discovery — it provides a platform for interaction to ask questions and access the right knowledge, guides, how tos and links
• Individual DNA — it gives them a forum to discuss who they are and what makes them tick (and learn the same form others)
• Allure & Attraction — it provides that seminal moment to connect emotionally — asking the question “do I want to continue to engage or not?”, with the hopeful answer being yes, this sounds good
• Purpose & Raison d’etre — it allows new people to see the forest through the trees and not be buried under the weight of forms and materials
• Input & Two Way Exchange — it provides an opportunity to influence organization/Guild direction. and connect others to the company to Guild
• Affinity & Friendliness — it provides a welcoming face and ongoing contact to the organization
• Showcase & Excellence on Display — it shows off the caliber and range of purpose, strategy, work and impact happening inside the organization
• Context & Real World Benefits — links what organization/Guild does with the world outside our four walls

C. Improvements to How The Guild Does It in 2023

I’ll be honest we haven’t always practiced what we have preached here. Our onboarding work historically has been spotty at best. People have stepped up and filled some cracks but it always seems a bit patchwork.

This year, we are living up to our aspirations of a global-best Guild who give a big damn about our members, our craft, our world and our futures. Here’s what we are doing differently this year :

• Rhythm — an advance schedule laid out and promoted ahead of time over the 12 months of 2023 (see below)
• People — we have some of the most influential and nicest people you ever want to meet as onboarding gatekeepers, you might be interested in being our first faces too (see below)
• Globalness — we have added 4 events that allow for members in Asia-Pacfic, Oceania, Far East and potentially other people to join us off hours
• Interaction — it’s just not all about us, we have three very purposeful parts of our onboarding that lead to engagement back-and-forth
• Call to Actions — estbalishing a clear-seven step process to get members deeper into our world, with notice of the things they can do right away
• Theming — we have 50 shades of grey …thinkers and do-ers (pun fully intended) that join us — we thought we would ensure we cover all of them off over a 3–4 year sets of regattas
• Online Support — a page to send people towards for all the right details for our newbies

D. Coverage

We had talked about just serving up an onboarding video but that would eliminate any of the cool interaction we get at our Regattas. It’s disappointing when we aren’t able to fully cover off in our hour together, splicing in important need-to-knows with discussion:

• Intro & Good News — a brief overview of expectations over the hour, who your hosts are, and our guild ritual of presenting semi-relevant good news (because there can be so little of it in the world some times)
• Your Voice (interactive) — tell us three things about you that will have us at the edge of our seat, we like to ask it in a bit fo a different way
• The Seven Essentials — the Why (our mission), the How (our values), The What (the 6 parts of what we do), The Who (our 50 Shades of Grey), the When (our milestones of growth), the Where (goals for the year) and Special Sauce (why we are awesome)
• Your Vote (interactive) — two polls that get the discussion going and influence our Guild’s direction
• Upcoming — our 2023 plan of Content, the Events, the Intelligence, The Learning, the Networking, and The Ventures and what are the the top 6 things you can get involved with this coming month
• Things in The Guild Garage (interactive) — input to stuff we are working on
• Calls to Action — how to get involved and stay involved in the best Guild in the world

E. The 2023 Grey Swan Guild Schedule of 16 Regattas

There are many shades of grey members that join us. Each month, we’re interested in all new members plus we top off with some themed extras here they are below.

January’23 — Techies + Curious Others

January 25th, 2023 12pm ET/5pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattajan23

February’23 — Customer-Centric & Obsessed + Curious Others

February 22nd, 2023 12pm MT/2pm ET/7pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattafeb23

February’23 — Asia/Pacific/Oceania + Time Shifted Alternatives + Curious Others

Thursday February 23nd, 2023 12pm AEST/Wednesday February 22nd 8pm ET

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaAPfeb23

March’23 — Futurists, Foresighters + Curious Others

Wednesday March 29th, 2023 12pm RT/4pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattamar23

April’23 — Sensemakers, Compelexity Thinkers, System Thinkers + Curious Others

Weenesday, April 26th 12pm MT/2pm ET/6pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaapr23

May’23 — Strategists, Planners, Policy Shpapers+ Curious Others

Weedneday May 24th 12pm ET/4pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattamay23

May’23 — Asia/Pacific/Oceania + Time Shifted Alternatives + Curious Others

Thursday May 25th, 2023 12pm AEST/Wednesday May 25th 8pm ET

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaAPmay23

June’23 — Innovators, Intrapreneurs & Entrepreneurs + Curious Others

Wednesday June 28th, 2023 12pm MT/2pm ET/6pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgsregattajune23

July’23 — Researchers, Analysts, Explorers + Curious Others

Wednesday July 26th 2023 12pm ET/4pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgsregattajune23

Aug’23 — Designers, Creatives, Makerds + Curious Others

Wednesday August 30th, 2023 12pm MT/2pm ET/6pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaaug23

September’23 — Academic, Teachers, Trainers + Curious Others

Wednesday September 27th, 2023 12pm ET//4pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattasept23

September’23 — Asia/Pacific/Oceania + Time Shifted Alternatives + Curious Others

Thursday September 28th, 2023 12pm AEST/Wednesday September 27th, 8pm ET

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaAPsept23

October’23 — Podcasters, YouTubers + Curious Others

Wednesday October 25th, 2023 12pm MT//2pm ET/6pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaoct23

November’23 — CEOs, CXOs + Curious Others

Wednesday November 29th, 2023 12pm ET/5pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattasnov23

Nov’23 — Asia/Pacific/Oceania + Time Shifted Alternatives + Curious Others

Thursday November 30th, 2023 12pm AEST/Wednesday November 29th, 8pm ET

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattaApnov23

Dec’23 — Change Agents, Transformationists + Curious Others

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023 12pm MT/2pm ET/7pm UTC

Pre-register link: https://bit.ly/gsgregattadec23

F. Seven Steps to Guild Heaven

The ladder to our Guild immersions has seven runs to it:

#1 Get to know us:

Visit our website or some of our social media (LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Clubhouse).

#2 Go below the Surface:

Read some of our more substantial long form content on Medium.

#3 Attend and Event/Onboard LIve:

Take the first step in onboarding live to the Guild in the events mentioned above or peruse our calendar for the 60+ events we host each year.

#4 Contribute Your Perspective/Respond to a Weathervane:

We feast on intelligence from around the world, here’s is our most recent one on Post-Pandemica.

#5 Go Deeper, Submit Your Member Profile:

Help us match you with your interests as new stuff comes into our Guild, take 10 minutes and tell us who you are and what makes you tick here on our Guild Member Profile Form.

#6 Come on a Sensemaking and Future Adventure:

About five percent of our Guild aren’t just happy with the general way of things, they like to explore, go beyond the superficial and dig deep into our world’s biggest challenges and next Grey Swans, become a Global Sensemaker.

7. Don’t just be in the beige, Lead in the Grey:

Your opportunity to step up, we are looking for leaders, performers and thinking and doing rock stars of the Guild, we have over 1,000 opportunities to :

• spearhead any one of 60 events
• lead or belong in any one of ten of our ventures
• take on behind the scenes roles — six really important ones we have on the slate this year

Get in touch was here, and let your interest be known.

G. Request of Current Guild Members

If any currently serving Guild members, would like to perform the role of onboarding co-hosts or local city captains, please get in touch with us here. We are currently building out our roster of hosts:

• Alternate Americas Hosts
• Asia/Pacific/Oceanic Onboarding Hosts
• European/Africa/Middle East Hosts
• Local City Captains for: Auckland, Amsterdam, Austin, Barcelona/Madrid, Berlin/Munich, Boston, Calgary/Edmonton, Chicago, Denver/Bounder, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, Mexico/Guadalajara, Montreal, New York, Oslo/Bergen, Paris, Rome/Milan, Toronto, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo/Osaka, Vancouver, Washington, Others.

Authored by Sean Moffitt, Grey Swan Guild Founder on behalf of our onboarding team.

Grey Swan Guild — Improving Our Craft Together

We are the Guild whose mission it to make sense of the world and next Grey Swans. In 2023, we don’t just want to think about the unimaginable but we want to make the unimaginable happen.

In the interim, here’s what you can do in the Guild:

Learn: https://www.greyswanguild.org/
Read: https://greyswanguild.medium.com/
Attend: https://www.greyswanguild.org/calendar
Become an Official Guild Member: https://bit.ly/gsgsmemberform
Go Deeper: https://bit.ly/lofsenseform
Join a Venture: https://bit.ly/gsgventures

Participate in 2023 Guild events & projects: https://bit.ly/gsgparticipationregister2023
— —

Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.

The Guild Hub: https://www.greyswanguild.org/