4 Responses

1. As much as is practical..
   Hi,
   As Induction is such a stressful and potentially confusing time for individuals, I think you cannot underestimate the power of Icebreakers. I always start mine with the a session where individuals introduce themselves to a colleague and get their colleague to introduce them to the group. If you add in the “2 truths and a lie” exercise, you have a good opportunity to inject some humour, relax the participants and start to find out some of their interests and hobbies. I also find a “what do you think you are going to be doing in your new job” question gives you an opportunity to build your description of the organisation and its teams around the knowledge they already have…

   hope this helps. Please Email me if you want to discuss – [email protected]

2. Interactive induction
   Katy
   Your instincts are good but I would start in a different place. I would first of all aim to get plenty of involvement and activity into the core design of the programme.
   I have worked with organisations that have a predominantly input based design and almost universally these are the least successful – setting the wrong tone, overwhelming people with info they cannot retain or immediately make sense of, and they are dull.
   I am a great believer in blended induction programmes spread over a period of time. If there is a course element, this can be highly participative by setting the group challenges (eg to find out the structure and mission of the organisation, to discover the top 5 HR issues, to explain what the H&S policy means in practice, etc.) Small groups can work together to address one challenge each and report back to the main group. You need to give them plenty of support and pointers, brief the HR manager to expect a visit from inductees, and make sure they know where to find the relevant materials on the intranet. This approach is more dynamic, interesting, aids memory and does more to truely induct and empower people than spoon feeding them.
   Adopt this type of approach and you don’t need energisers and icebreakers.
   (By the way, I do believe in icebreakers when designed and used well but I often find they are squeezed in to try and compensate for deficiencies elsewhere.)
   Hope this helps
   Graham

3. Lots of interaction!
   Katy,

   I believe that avtivity that involves students is key to any kind of retention.

   People learn through mental activity that allows them to construct knowledge.

   It would be useful if you read up a littl on Bloom’s Taxonomy and analyse your material in terms of Knowledge, Comprehension & Application. These three categories act much like a pyramid. Without Knowledge, there can be no comprehension, without comprehension there can be no application. Knowledge is the base of the pyramid, where lots of “bricks” are laid, Comprehension is the middle layer supported by knowledge & application is the pinnacle of the pyramid and is supported by comprehension.

   Also, I suggest you read up on collaborative learning as this also promotes activity aiding retention.

   Good luck

   Frank

4. Induction Exercise
   Katy,
   We have had a lot of success with the following exercise – it is not particularly ground-breaking but it works.
   Once the intros are all done, split the group into smaller ones and get them to write and present a 3 minute mock TV ad for a recruitment campaign for the company. As they are new they will quite basic. This really breaks the ice and gets them thinking about the induction.
   To close the induction, repeat the exercise – the difference is always amazing to see – where they struggled to fill the time on the first “go”, this time the struggle to keep it down to 3 minutes. I find it a great consolidation exercise for inductions. An added bonus is that some of he ads have had me cying with laughter!