Commencing in a new position can be daunting. You may be expected to know certain things and yet you may not feel comfortable asking.
I am interested in the help you would have appreciated to assist you settle into a new position.
I will be using that information to form an induction e package for my own work area.
Most of the big Occupation Health Safety issues are often well covered. However, the "taken for granted" things may cause embarrassment or worse if you are unaware of "local customs"
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Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I've had in some places I've started at has been a mentor assigned to me who has been someone who was available to 'show me the ropes' and get me settled. Where this has happened, those mentors have grown into valuable and trusted colleagues (although I know this doesn't happen for everyone.) The one thing that doesn't work for me in any induction program is to be given a mountain of policies and procedures and expected to digest them straight away!
PG
I agree with the amount policies being a nightmare, I feel this just puts additional pressure on as you feel you need to know them as soon as you have looked at them. I found having a little note book with everyday work instructions written by someone was very helpful, simple things like "if the query is about ??? contact ????" "If you need help with enrolments contact ???" Just a thought
ReplyDeleteSharon
Hi Peter
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I can't be of much help my induction was throw me in at the deep end and sink or swim it took 4 years to finally do a formal induction, the upside is by then you already know what to do. My tip is just talk to others its amazing how helpful they will be that's how I coped, Most of them probably had a similar experiance to me!!!!
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteI have experienced various forms of induction during my working years from being 'thrown into the deep end', having a few days of orientation/induction to learn the ropes or with 'a buddy' to mentor me, to completing a three week induction which included study, presentations (PP and face to face)and verbal assessments to ensure that I had the required knowledge.
With each induction, I felt at that specific time, was appropriate to my work role. In hindsight I now know that many of my inductions had severe shortfalls, and I don't know if it was 'good luck' or 'just by chance' that 'I' survived as did my work colleauges.
I have found that using the method that Sharon commented on (a little note book)a very effective way of remembering important points especially if they are not documented some where.
Perhaps a revisit after a week or two to ask if the new employee has encountered any issues that they were unsure of the process/procedure to follow, and as Alan stated asking other workers for help usually opens a 'treasure chest' of information.