The new kid on the block—most of us have had that experience at least once.

Change can be invigorating, but there’s no denying it’s stressful as well. Particularly the first days and weeks in a new job. You want to fit in, get along, and do well. You want to be noticed. You want to confirm to the person who hired you that you were the right choice. And you want to confirm to yourself that you made the right move.

Everything’s new—procedures, performance expectations, and personalities. Emotions are heightened because even if you were hired for your expertise, you’re not an expert here—not yet. There’s a corporate culture. There are departmental goals and objectives. There are teams and work groups to get to know. It’s not clear where to focus your attention.

Your first job is to find and absorb as much information as you can.

A well-designed orientation program will anticipate and answer not only the obvious: who, what, where and when questions. It will also answer the why question. That’s harder. The why is usually about the people, the politics, the attitudes, and the power relationships. If you’ve come from a competitor there may be loyalty issues. Those things aren’t usually covered in an employee benefits booklet. But they can be the most important things—the inherently human things in a business.

We love doing orientation projects because we come to our clients from the outside—much like a new employee. Everything’s fresh for us. Crafting the best orientation solution is like working a huge, living puzzle. We pick up and examine the various obvious pieces—the corporate history, the product lines, the competitors, the strategic goals and objectives, the geographic and cultural challenges. But then we get down to those more tricky bits—the people and the personalities who fuel the business. We talk to them to help us understand how a new employee could best support them and be a contributor. We ask for, and get, both their best advice and their warmest welcome to new employees.

In the end, that’s what everyone wants—as much information as they can get and a heartfelt invitation.

To see a sample of our work click below.

• Ameritech / Welcome to Ameritech

• Ameripride