All Aboard!

Onboarding is the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating, and accelerating new team members, whether they come from outside or inside the organization ("Onboarding", Bradt andVonnegut).

There's actually another "a" word that is a perquisite: align. Here's how the authors of "Onboarding" define the key processes listed above.

• Align - make sure your organization agrees on the need for a new team member and the delineating of the role you seek to fill
• Acquire - identify, recruit, select, and get people to join the team
• Accommodate - give new team members the tools they need to do the work
• Assimilate - help them join with others so they can do the work together
• Accelerate - help them and their team deliver better results faster

Now that's a list of "straight As" I will take anytime!

Though this list comes from a business book, and I'm currently making this application in my department at work, I think there are great correlations for ChurchWorld as well.

For example, if your church values your volunteer team members, then they would make sure something like the process above is a part of your volunteer leader development program. The role of bringing new volunteer leaders onboard shouldn't be an afterthought.

My church considers my role (as a leader on the guest services team at one of our campus locations) to be a volunteer staff position. I may not receive a paycheck, but the importance of my role in the total scheme of what we do is not diminished one bit.

What's it like at your church?