Amanda Painter Of Joy of Pursuit: 5 Essential Elements for Creating a Successful Employee Onboarding Experience
An Interview With Rachel Kline
Initiate the onboarding procedure ahead of the new employee’s arrival. This involves arranging their workspace, confirming the availability of essential tools and equipment, and configuring their email and system access.
Onboarding is a crucial but often overlooked step in the employee lifecycle. A successful onboarding process will make the new hire feel part of the team, provide further clarity around the role and responsibilities, and get them up to speed and performing fast. In this series, we are talking to prominent HR and business leaders about how they seek to create exemplary onboarding experiences. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Painter.
Co-founder and CFO of Joy of Pursuit, Amanda J. Painter is an author and Human Resource consultant. She is a four-time published author with an entire series for small businesses. The Team Solution Series: HR Coaching to Grow Teams and Profit provides more than ideas — the books are full implementation plans to guide you and your team through the employee journey. The content blends Amanda’s unparalleled organizational skills with her knowledge of HR practices; highlighting her exceptional ability to improve efficiency and processes while building a culture of worth in organizations.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we drive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I began my career as a finance manager for a small consulting firm. Smaller businesses often can’t afford designated specialists for certain roles, so I also found myself taking on human resources responsibilities as well as managing their finances. I continued to focus my work on metrics and finances in the small business realm throughout my career. But I also continued to have HR responsibilities given to me as a part of my consulting work. This became a consistent trend and the pattern highlighted the significant opportunity to assist small businesses with setting up and optimizing their HR processes. I developed and strengthened my HR skills and discovered a passion for the people-side of business. The gap between Small Business and HR inspired my company, Joy of Pursuit, and an HR-focused book series, The Team Solution Series.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I transitioned from traditional in-person work to a remote career well before it became common or was necessitated by the pandemic. At that time, established guidelines on maintaining electronic boundaries were not widespread. The company I was working with exclusively interacted with clients via email. It was a small entrepreneurial business and my work was a significant overhaul of their finance and billing department and introduced improved structures, including HR processes.
However, a unique situation arose when a client complaint was escalated to me. After several email exchanges, I decided to address the matter with a phone call, which led to the client connecting with me on social media. Subsequently, she began reaching out to me frequently through my personal social media account. It became necessary for me to establish a clear boundary, redirecting all business-related inquiries, complaints, and discussions to the appropriate company channels, rather than via private messages on social media. This experience taught me a crucial lesson about maintaining professional boundaries, which I now emphasize and share with others.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I definitely owe a debt of gratitude to my business partner and co-author, Brenda Haire. As someone who has always been a numbers person, I never considered myself a writer. Nevertheless, with the unwavering support and encouragement of Brenda Haire, my business partner and co-author, I found the confidence to translate my expertise into written form. I made the leap and dedicated myself to crafting my first book, The Hiring Process. This pivotal decision would go on to lay the groundwork for our four-book series and the founding of my HR consulting company.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Motivation isn’t what gets things done. Self-discipline is.”
This principle applies to every aspect of life, whether it’s establishing a business, raising children, or pursuing a fitness routine. If we rely solely on motivation, we may fall short of achieving our necessary or desired goals. True success hinges on self-discipline, the ability to persevere and accomplish tasks even when motivation is lacking. This is the genuine key to achieving success.
Thinking back on your own career, what would you tell your younger self?
Wisdom comes from experience, not necessarily age. Don’t hesitate to voice your thoughts simply because you are the youngest or most recent addition to the group. Your insights and knowledge hold value.
Let’s now move to the central part of our interview. What does the onboarding process consist of at your organization?
As I wrote about in The Onboarding Process — there are four C’s to focus on during onboarding: communication, connection, culture, and compliance. Keeping these four components in mind, an onboarding process will be set a new hire up for success.
How have your onboarding practices evolved over time and why?
As my career has evolved, the importance of prioritizing company culture during onboarding has become increasingly clear. While we frequently emphasize teaching systems and processes, there should be a greater emphasis on conveying the company’s mission, vision, and core values.
Could you share a successful onboarding story and what made it successful?
When consulting with a company on how to incorporate the history of the business and culture more, I began with their onboarding. We revamped the process, including the founder of the business recording a video to share the origins of the company and the mission. I incorporated other changes to their onboarding process, but the overall most commented-on portion was this video. It allowed new hires to hear directly from the leadership and made a powerful impact in welcoming them.
Based on your experience and success, what are your top five tips for a successful onboarding process?
1 . Plan ahead:
Initiate the onboarding procedure ahead of the new employee’s arrival. This involves arranging their workspace, confirming the availability of essential tools and equipment, and configuring their email and system access.
Craft a comprehensive onboarding timetable that encompasses the initial weeks, outlining what topics will be covered and who will be involved in the training and orientation process.
2 . Ensure clear communication:
Effectively convey expectations and responsibilities by furnishing a comprehensive job description and engaging in discussions about performance metrics and objectives. Expectations for your new hire cannot be met if they are not clearly communicated.
3 . Make mentorship a part of onboarding:
Harness the skill sets and experiences of mentors to foster a culture of knowledge sharing and employee development. Committing to nurturing effective mentor-mentee relationships yields substantial returns in terms of employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity. This partnership plays a pivotal role in positioning new hires for success in their roles, ultimately contributing to the company’s long-term prosperity.
4 . Provide feedback and evaluation:
Set up consistent check-ins and feedback sessions to offer constructive input on the new employee’s performance and create spaces for them to express their thoughts and experiences. Perform formal evaluations at the end of the probationary period or a few months into the job to review achievements, establish future objectives, and address any concerns.
5 . Make adjustments and continue to improve:
Keep in mind that onboarding is not a one-size-fits-all process. Customize it to suit each employee’s unique needs and their role within the organization. Regularly solicit feedback from both new hires and their supervisors to refine the onboarding process as it evolves.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen businesses make during the onboarding processs? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
Thinking that onboarding is just paperwork.
New hire paperwork is just a portion of onboarding. The true goal is to give new employees the resources and support they need to do their best work and to successfully integrate into an organization’s culture, values, and processes. An effective onboarding strategy involves orientation, team introductions, training on tools and software, and team-building activities, as well as ensuring employees are equipped with the necessary materials and equipment to hit the ground running. By creating a positive onboarding experience, you can ensure employees feel appreciated and set the foundation for a productive and successful team in the long run.
Assuming onboarding and orientation are the same.
Orientation is an important component of onboarding and focuses on providing new hires with information about your company policies and immersing them in the culture. Through orientation, new hires learn your mission and values. Orientation should be consistent for all new hires and not train them on their job specifics. Onboarding is a much broader concept than orientation and should be customized to the role.
Thinking onboarding is a one-time event.
Onboarding is a continual process that extends far beyond day one. Ideally, the onboarding phase should continue for the first 90 days of employment. Continuing to provide resources and guidance, implementing performance evaluations, and offering constructive feedback and coaching will help ensure employees remain engaged and empowered in their roles.
Assuming HR is the only department responsible for onboarding.
Onboarding success relies on more than just HR; managers must be actively involved in the process, ensuring their new employees are equipped with the right information and resources to help them succeed. Crafting a collaborative onboarding experience between HR and the managers who work with the employees daily, is the key to setting up new employees for success.
How does or how would your approach to onboarding remote hires differ from those who will work onsite?
The approach isn’t really different. The same priorities are there. The difference is only in how it is delivered, which does require effort when it comes to building personal connections.
How do you measure the success of your onboarding program?
First, goals must be set during onboarding. What specific tasks, items, and projects will the new hire accomplish by a certain date? Goal setting provides clear expectations, creates a sense of purpose, encourages engagement, and allows for progress to be measured. At the end of the onboarding timeframe, you can measure success by looking at the original goals set.
In addition to this, I recommend asking your new hires for feedback. Ask them for their perspective on what went well or could be improved in the onboarding process.
Which tools do you use or recommend for your onboarding?
Successful onboarding requires multiple tools, but all of these need to be included in an overall comprehensive onboarding process. This process needs to be well-implemented and followed consistently in order to be successful. My biggest recommendation is The Onboarding Process, book two in The Team Solution Series.
We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.
Robin Arzon — author, Peloton instructor, and entrepreneur. As a Peloton enthusiast, Robin is my go-to instructor but it is about much more than riding a bike. Her enthusiasm for life is infectious and her passion for self-improvement inspiring. She’s an advocate for how self-care is necessary in order to serve our families and communities better.
How can our readers further follow your work?
For those interested in my books, The Team Solution Series is available on Amazon and other book retailers: https://amzn.to/3yYp0jb
I actively share content for business builders on LinkedIn, including a bi-weekly blog: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajpainter
For more information on how I work with Business Builders: https://www.thejoyofpursuit.com/business-builders-page
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
