Technical article
Mentoring in Times of Crisis: How Digitalization Is Making Its Way into the Break Room
A warm welcome
The “welcome process”—our onboarding—is a central part of starting at KBC and is particularly important to us. We want to not only make it as “easy” as possible for our new colleagues to start their day-to-day work as advisors, but also to establish a strong personal connection between the mentor and the new employee. The mentor is the employee’s most important point of contact throughout their entire career at KBC. That is why building a relationship of trust is the foundation for effective support.
Onboarding During the COVID-19 Pandemic
But how does this work during the pandemic, when social distancing is the top priority? No face-to-face introductions, no handshakes, and no half-day spent sitting together in a room—where can a new employee ask all the burning questions they have?
Mentoring in Times of Crisis
Nevertheless, we want the onboarding process for new team members at KBC to go as smoothly as possible. During this time, the mentors of new employees have a particularly important role to play.
As a prospective mentor to a new employee, I’ve been thinking about how I can make my new colleague’s first day and first few weeks as pleasant as possible, despite the current circumstances. The three key elements that seemed important to me in the onboarding process are thorough preparation, careful planning, and the willingness to try out new approaches.
The first day
On the first day, I made a point of taking plenty of time to welcome my new colleague and get to know him personally—starting with a virtual coffee. At KBC, we use the Microsoft Teams platform for virtual communication. So we both actually grabbed a cup of coffee and a cookie or a slice of cake to bring to our desks. The camera feature in the chat is, of course, turned on so that it feels at least a little bit like a face-to-face meeting.
Virtual 6-Eyes Meetups
After our initial meeting, my mentee and I worked our way through the key aspects of onboarding step by step. It was important to me to give him a good overview of KBC, its structures and processes, and, of course, the team. But naturally, I didn’t want my mentee to just see his new colleagues in photos—I wanted him to get to know them as personally as possible. We thereforearranged“virtual two-way meetups” together with colleagues from central functions. This gives my mentee the chance to get to know his new colleagues in a simple and straightforward way. As a mentor, I accompany my mentee during these short, approximately 15-minute conversations, introducing him to his new colleagues. This has the advantage of preventing any awkward silences in the virtual space, and it also allows me, as a mentor, to learn a little more about my new mentee. Of course, the virtual format cannot replace the personal interaction that will hopefully be possible again soon.
Virtual Self-Pitch
Since it’s nearly impossible to meet every single new colleague over a virtual coffee, I came up with the idea of a “virtual self-pitch” for my mentee. For this, he’s preparing a short presentation with three slides, each featuring a single image, which he’ll use to introduce himself at the next KBC Jour Fixe. Of course, I’m helping him with this. The three images are meant to address the following questions: Who am I (e.g., background, hobbies, passions)? What do I bring to the table (e.g., degree, training, special skills)? What am I particularly looking forward to at KBC (e.g., the team, projects)?
Getting Started with Day-to-Day Project Work
To ensure a smooth start, it’s also essential that the new employee can dive right into day-to-day project work. That’s why, even before the new colleague started, I worked with my fellow project managers to identify where my mentee could be assigned directly to a project. I’ll work with him to plan how and when he can get involved in the project during his first two weeks on the job, alongside his onboarding activities.
Planning is everything
Overall, as a mentor, I believe it’s especially important to plan the first day and the first week carefully and to assign my mentee specific tasks as part of their onboarding process—tasks that they can also complete while working from home. To ensure they don’t feel left on their own, I schedule regular virtual meetings with them so they can discuss things with me and, when necessary, receive the support they need.
The foundation is a well-functioning IT system
The prerequisite for everything is that all the necessary tools are available. That’s why I introduced him to the entire IT landscape and systems right on the first day.
A warm welcome to the team (virtually, for now), reliable IT infrastructure, and a smooth transition into an ongoing client project will hopefully ensure a successful start at KBC, even during the pandemic.
