The Problem

Manually onboarding new stakeholders takes up too much time and often leads to inconsistent information sharing. While presentations and webinars used to be effective, people are busier and less attentive now, and rarely commit all of their attention to your program during the time slot selected.

How We Start Matters

Many stakeholders start a program without a clear understanding of what they need to do. To prevent confusion, we always create a Welcome Guide that answers:

• What is the purpose of this program? (goals & objectives)
• What is my role, and what is expected of me?
• What outcomes should I be working toward?
• Where can I find the information I need?

Providing this in a guide format where they can access it when it's convenient for them accomplishes your goal while sending several important messages:

• I value your time, access it when you're ready
• They're more likely to be "present" and goal / task oriented (I have time to do this now)
• They've learned that this is the primary way to interact with this program - not by video chat / email / phone call - which means less future support from your team

That doesn't mean the guide needs to be boring. Here's an example of a program onboarding video that you can embed directly in your guide:

The important thing is to help members start the program when they're ready, with the information they need to start contributing.

💡 Example - BC Hydro:

BC Hydro runs multiple energy efficiency and upgradeprograms annually and relies on a large network to service their clients. They created a self-service portal for their network where partners can access everything they need to participate in the program, that is always up to date. Each partner starts with the welcome guide, where essential information is presented in a way they can easily access and understand. Now, instead of scheduling webinars, partners can get the information they need, when they need it.