The Mosaic Institute is a “think and do tank” headquartered in Toronto. We are small but mighty: our team expands and contracts with each semester, depending on how many students we have with us. Every 2-3 months, I onboard and offboard team members.

Like many of you, 10 weeks ago we rapidly pivoted to online remote work due to COVID-19. While Mosaic always maintains a somewhat flexible work structure, we did not have any remote team members, nor did we have many policies in place to support our transition. In order to support our team, I applied the same strategies for onboarding brand new team members to introduce my existing team to remote work. 

Onboard vs Orientation

Firstly, it is important to understand the difference between onboarding and orientation.

Orientation is the introductory session that you may have with new team members, to get them acquainted with the organization’s mission, policies, and their role.

Onboarding is the subsequent series of meetings, sessions, seminars, and resources that are provided to new team members to socialize them within the organization and set them up for success.

Top onboarding tips

  • Apply an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion lens
    • Evaluate your practices through an EDI lens. Depending on your organization’s mission, vision, and values, you may decide that an anti-racist/gender-based/[iv]ability-based lens is better suited to your goals and team.
    • Consider a “Universal Design” approach to your materials and sessions: what is supportive for one is beneficial for all. For example, providing items in writing or in advance as much as possible accommodates different learning styles and ensures that each team member is prepared for your meetings.
  • Incorporate feedback from your team
    • Feedback is essential for team growth, personal development, and is a general best practice regardless of the task/project. Inviting reflection on your organization’s processes will: 1) increase a sense of ownership and belonging; 2) highlight biases or blindspots; and 3) ensure that your materials are up-to-date and responsive.
    • Seek feedback from your team members – find out what they responded to and what they found challenging during their onboarding process. Not all feedback can be incorporated, which is important to communicate when seeking feedback.
    • Remember that feedback is a two-way exercise: if a team member takes the time to provide feedback, you should take the time to meaningfully respond.
  • Invest the time
  • Whenever possible, share the onboarding time commitment with the rest of your team. For example:
    • Have a buddy system: if your team member is joining a larger team, assign a “buddy” who will be responsible for acclimatizing them to the organization; allowing your time with the new team member to focus on your role (as HR; hiring manager; organizational lead, etc.).
    • If you have team members who have different roles and responsibilities, allow each one to present themselves instead of you providing the overviews
    • Coordinate a group event within the first week/month to promote teambuilding and allow organic connections to flourish.
  • Communication
    • Your onboarding plan should ideally begin from recruitment, through the way in which you post the job, interact with interviewees, make a job offer, negotiate the final role, and prepare for their first day. It should continue through their first few weeks; ideally until the end of the probationary period/their first review (whichever comes first).
    • Have a plan that includes pre- and post-orientation steps.
    • Whenever possible, share or reiterate content in writing.
    • Be available for, and expect many, questions, and/or assign someone else to be the new team member’s “buddy” to assist with familiarization and socialization.

In our experience, the general onboarding best practices listed above are easily adaptable to a virtual setting, requiring a few small changes. CLICK HERE to download our Virtual Onboarding Guide.

Conclusion: Case Studies

At Mosaic, we experienced virtual onboarding across all of our activities. In closing, some of our team leads shared the following feedback of what went well, challenges they experienced, and propose some solutions.

Case #1: Next Generation Program Facilitators

With thanks to Erica Altomare, Next Generation Program Coordinator, for providing this feedback:

“The Next Gen team was hired just before COVID-19. Therefore, they had never met in person or had any contact with the Mosaic team aside from their interviews. This unique situation meant that we never really “transitioned” online but instead got started as a team online. This led to a re-thinking and imagining of what “on-boarding” looks like and what it means to join a team or organization. What should replace the originally planned facilitation training week, welcome lunch and orientation packages?

Successes include the flexibility of the team; available resources; collaboratively re-thinking “work” and information sharing; and organizational structure and policies.

Challenges include ‘reading the room’ without access to body language and other non-verbal communication; facilitating from the bottom-up (feeling less collaborative when leading online training sessions); building rapport; accessibility and equity (including accommodating different learning styles and gaps in technology literacy.

What is most important to me during this time has been the leadership skills of my supervisor and the Mosaic Institute’s policies. Working in an environment where I have autonomy and space to organize my own time really helps me feel ownership over the projects I am working on and feel valued by the organization I work for, despite all other uncertainties. When your employees feel as though they are trusted, I believe they feel more responsibility in their role.”

Case #2: UofMosaic Fellowship Program

With thanks to Olga Osmushina, UofMosaic Program Coordinator, for providing this feedback:

“The UofMosaic program brings together Fellows from across Canada. For us, because the program is already remote, the main question that we needed to answer was not how to manage the program remotely, but how to manage it during the pandemic.

Successes include restructuring the program and managing to still hold some of the original deliverables online.

Challenges include different reactions to COVID-19, and the impact on scheduling.

Different people deal with stress differently. We usually know what our team can handle or not under normal circumstances. However, unexpected stressful circumstances can change the way one deals with stress and the level of one’s productivity. Communication is key, so it helped to have an environment where everyone feels like they can share their ideas and concerns freely. It is easier to support others, when you yourself feel supported. Knowing that you have the support of your supervisor during the pandemic – that asking for help is encouraged and that they will understand when plans change –  makes it easier for you to help and provide support to others. Knowing your program well is also very important; understanding what will be feasible helps you to stay calm and make informed decisions regarding appropriate changes to the program.”

Resources

About the Author

Rachel Mansell is Vice President, Operations, at The Mosaic Institute, a “think and do tank” dedicated to bringing people, communities, and nations together to advance pluralism and reduce conflict. Rachel is a detail oriented, people-focused strategist with a passion for helping others achieve their personal and professional development goals. Her interest in conflict resolution practised through the lenses of human rights, diversity, and inclusion has led her to a career working with diverse communities in the not-for-profit, public, and private sectors in both Canada and the UK. Connect with Rachel at rm@mosaicinstitute.ca or find out more at www.mosaicinstitute.ca.