Orientation

When a new person comes on board, you need to show them the ropes (or be shown the ropes). We used this downloadable matrix for years to guide that orientation. The point was not to drag it out, but to be thorough, which we thought was to everyone's benefit. The terms shown here may not be meaningful to you, but whatever you think it means will do nicely. However, I will define the column and row headings since they are the crux of the tool.

COLUMNS

• ADMINISTRATION - all the general office [GO] stuff
• PRODUCTION - you might call this ’Design’ or ’Operations’, it is what clients hire you to do
• MARKETING - ’Business Development’ would be a better label 
• FINANCE - money, getting it and spending it, and keeping records
  

ROWS

• FACILITY - building, furniture, parking
• COMPENSATION - what and when you get paid
• BENEFITS - time off, health care, retirement plan, etc. 
• RECORDS - what we collect and where it can be found 
• TIME - using and reporting your time
• PROJECTS - your work assignments
• COMMUNICATIONS - phone, mail, email use, and filing conventions
• SUPPLIES - what we provide and how to get some
• EQUIPMENT - what we provide and how to use it
• SOFTWARE - what we use
• POLICIES/PROCEDURES-STANDARDS - what we expect
• HISTORY - our past work and where to see it
• CULTURE - what we stand for / are known for
  

Each color represents a different orientation session led by the most appropriate person. The goal is to cover everything during the first two weeks. We found that if it takes much longer, it rarely is completed.

BLUE takes place the first day. Followed on subsequent days by YELLOW, DARK ORANGE, PINK (includes Design Budgets - LIGHT BROWN), LIGHT ORANGE, GREEN, LAVENDER.

It is fairly common to edit the matrix to suit the person being oriented - some things do not apply to everyone.

If you are a new-hire, you might find that your new firm doesn't do anything like this. In which case, take it upon yourself to ask, “I was wondering about...” until you run out of questions.

originally posted - OCT 2012