Your induction programme for new hires is going well and new inductees are learning all about your organization and your ways of doing things. Congratulations! Now that they are part of your organization, how are you going to make them productive in a short period of time – how are you going to accelerate their learning?
The traditional methods of training and learning on-the-job are fine, but can you help them learn quickly about your industry – such as, who are the main players, what are the main business drivers, what is your competition doing, how are you positioned etc.
“Knowledge Nuggets” is one of the ways to educate them quickly about your industry and how your company fits into that landscape. What we are saying here is simple - Create industry and company specific nuggets (modules) that new hires can learn from in a self-help mode. These nuggets can be created, updated and maintained by a group of senior professionals in the organization and can be made available to new recruits electronically.
These “Knowledge Nuggets” could include technical information, industry analysis or could be comprehensive in nature. It is really up to you. You need to decide what is it that these new hires need to know in their first 90 days to 6 months (you decide that time-frame as well) and how can you make use of that time more productively!
This does not mean that there are no critics to this approach! Many of the critics believe that creating, updating and maintaining these nuggets is time consuming and sometimes these nuggets get old. Sure! There is some merit to this argument, but data suggests that long term benefits outweigh short term costs. The costs are in the form of time spent on creating new designs by senior professionals. The initial time spent on creating these nuggets is well worth it, as updating these modules is not time consuming.
Finally, the idea of nuggets is not new, but so is the idea of Innovation! The question is how we can make it happen in our own organizations to bring in accelerated learning.