Tip #107 Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) Onboarding Systems: Why Are They Important...?

Supporting the Adult Population as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)

Tip #107 Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) Onboarding Systems: Why Are They Important...?  

Employers hire someone with a great resume, give them a quick rundown of their duties, and then expect them to "hit the ground running." That's like putting an inexperienced person on a bike and just saying, "Here are the pedals... now go!"

But there's a better way: a thoughtful, step-by-step introduction to the job. Good employers use systematic training to build competence, offering all the support and knowledge a new hire needs. Continuing with our bike analogy, this means providing training wheels, offering gentle pushes, checking in often, and only taking the wheels off when they're ready. Even after that, you're still nearby, ready to assist until they're confidently riding on their own.

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The Importance of Systems in Onboarding

Systems are a set of principles or procedures that work together to achieve a goal. They provide an organized framework for how something is done. A valuable piece of advice for new employees is to learn the job's priorities first, and then focus on other tasks. To achieve this, employers must ensure competency through well-defined systems and competency-based measurement tools.

Here are some recommendations for creating a systematic onboarding process:

• Structured Timelines: Outline what the first week, first two weeks, and subsequent periods should look like.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Develop clear SOPs for all critical tasks.
• Task Analysis: Break down every component of the job into a detailed task analysis, similar to how we teach learners.
• Competency Measurement: Implement measurement systems to identify job competency. This can include:
  • Permanent Products: Evaluating the quality of completed work.
  • Duration: Measuring the time taken to meet deadlines.
  • Frequency: Tracking how often a task is completed correctly.

The goal isn't to micromanage, but to teach the systems, closely monitor progress, provide support for effectiveness, and then gradually fade your direct involvement, allowing for independent work with ongoing, but less frequent, monitoring. Once an individual masters the established systems, encourage them to develop their own efficient ways of working.

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Key Components of Effective Onboarding

Training and Expectations

• Clear Expectations: Provide clear and concise expectations for the role.
• Shaping: Encourage and reinforce desired behaviors throughout the training period.

Organizational Values

• Identify and Educate: Clearly identify your organization's values and ensure all staff are aware of and educated on them.
• Operational Definitions: Operationally define each value so staff understand what it looks like in practice and how to apply it to their daily work. This minimizes individual interpretation and promotes a consistent culture. For example, if "creativity" is a value, define what creative problem-solving or innovation looks like within your organization.

Providing the Right Tools

Focus on providing the necessary tools for employees to do their job effectively. Once a system is mastered, encourage individuals to complete tasks in their own way, while closely monitoring to ensure they adhere to best practices and ethical, state, BACB, and organizational guidelines. 

Here are additional Recommendations: 

• Team and Resource Introduction: During the first two weeks of employment, prioritize introducing new hires to:

• Team Members: This fosters independence by encouraging new hires to seek out colleagues for problem-solving rather than always relying on a supervisor.
• Resources: Familiarize them with all available resources pertinent to their role.
• Systems: Teach them how to effectively use these resources.

Once competency is demonstrated, gradually build their caseload.

• Manageable Caseloads: A manageable caseload is defined by one or more of the following: Ability to complete all work deadlines in a timely manner during scheduled business hours. Demonstrates healthy well-being (e.g., smiles, positive demeanor). Signs of an unmanageable caseload include distress, overwhelm, or consistently working outside of business hours. Factors like geography and case intensity should also be considered.

• The goal is to help individuals maintain work-life balance. If an employee appears overwhelmed or is consistently working extended hours, it's a supervisor's immediate responsibility to check in and mitigate the situation. Supervisors should gain feedback from staff managing caseloads and make modifications as needed, collaborating with leadership and behavior analysts.
• It's recommended to start new hires with 1-3 clients, model how to accept a new case, and then gradually add more as they demonstrate increased competence and comfort in their role.

The primary goal is to foster competence and promote autonomy in new hires. We achieve this by providing ample resources, ensuring manageable caseloads, and setting clear training expectations.

If you read this, the seed has been planted... the question is how are you going to apply it...

From the one and only... Shanda J Your BCBA

(Full disclosure: ChatGPT was utilized to find the resources and to edit and modify the original version of this document )