How do new employees work independently and productively as quickly as possible? This is a question that HR managers ask during the onboarding process. Discover now how performance support helps you achieve a more effective onboarding!

The start of a new job means a fresh start for many. Employees must first get to know the new company. Other colleagues, a new work environment, and content changes - the learning process is particularly intense during onboarding. Performance support addresses this directly and helps learners apply their knowledge. Only in this way can theoretical knowledge be solidified and deepened.

Why Performance Support is So Important

Performance support has a central goal: learning is integrated into the work process. Learners solidify their knowledge by applying it practically. When a question arises on a specific topic, the learner receives the information that helps them solve the problem independently. This way, the learner does not break their work rhythm. It is not without reason that performance support is also referred to as "workflow learning."

Especially during onboarding, new employees are confronted with a lot of information in a very short time. The pressure is high, as this information is to be learned - while work continues simultaneously. And this is exactly where performance support comes in: when a problem arises, the learner receives information at the moment they need it. This moment is also referred to as the "moment of need":

5 Moments Of Need // Source: eLearning Journal, presentation: blink.it

The model was developed by researchers Dr. Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher and describes the five moments of need in learning: Learning something new, learning more about something, applying or recalling something when a problem occurs, when something changes. The first two points count as formal learning. In the remaining three situations, learners need quick assistance or their work must be interrupted. However, this would disrupt their workflow.

Are you interested in the topic of informal learning? You can learn more in the blog article: Informal Learning: Practical Tips for Educators

At this point, it becomes clear: performance support connects learning and applying. Particularly during onboarding, many new pieces of information are absorbed, which is naturally exhausting. Therefore, take the opportunity to integrate the learning and work processes and thus support learning in the flow! There is a simple concept behind it:

Theory and Practice in Harmony: The Flow Theory

Learners are constantly challenged - this is the basis of the Flow Theory. They find themselves in a balanced state between overload and underload. This allows learners to develop continuously, which makes the method so successful! In the following section, you will learn how new employees learn in the flow and become independent quickly!

How Can Performance Support Be Implemented in Onboarding?

Further education in the digital age often results in learners being overwhelmed with information. Those who want to stay up-to-date often cannot keep up, as training methods are changing rapidly. Meanwhile, learners should still work or be introduced to new areas of work. Therefore, it makes sense to integrate assistance into everyday work. The following tips will help you support the learning process in onboarding:

The All-Rounder: E-Learning
The prerequisite for successful performance support is a digital learning platform where all important information is collected. Learners thus receive concrete assistance for questions at the exact moment they need it. In the moment of need, new employees can answer questions themselves and remain in the learning flow.

As an HR manager, you want new employees to be able to handle problem situations independently and continuously develop? Then provide them with important information bundled in one place - ideally on a learning platform. Learn more about blink.it now and test for yourself which functions suit you best<img src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/4162675/13f4eab0-03f0-4597-95f4-d50f706a88da.png" alt="!Start for free now" />

The blink.it platform provides learners with the opportunity to easily retrieve information and apply knowledge practically. Online courses provide assistance for new employees anytime and effortlessly. Your blink.it online courses can include the following, for example:

1. Assistance in the Form of Checklists, Guides, Graphics

The goal of successful onboarding is for new employees to work independently and productively as quickly as possible. To promote this, checklists and guides are ideal! With the blink.it platform, learners can answer their questions based on the guide themselves, depending on the situation. Therefore, adapt the guides to the target group and the specific situation, as general instructions do not help the learner further.

2. Instructional Videos

Instructional videos give you the opportunity to personally explain complex topics and then upload them to your online course. The advantage: you do not need to repeat yourself, and employees can learn at their own pace.

Do you want to create your own learning videos? Then check out our info page on the topic of video shoots and get started with your first selfie video for your e-learning: https://www.blink.it/en/videos-for-online-courses

3. Recordings of Screencasts

Screencasts as simple screen recordings are a good way to explain processes and procedures directly in the situation. New employees not only have to settle into a new work environment, but they also need to become familiar with technical processes and learn to use completely new tools. Screencasts can support the learning process when you are expected to learn a new computer program like Excel. New employees have the program right in front of their eyes and can follow your steps step by step and adopt your approach exactly.

4. Content Organized Along the Work Process

Performance support provides assistance at the moment the learner needs it (assistance in the moment of need). Therefore, structure your onboarding content along the work process in different chapters and carry this structure into your online course. This way, new employees can first test if they can solve the problem without help. If they still need help, the respective chapter in the online course will bring clarity.

With blink.it, you can organize your onboarding content into chapters // blink.it example course

Performance support assumes that employees receive answers to acute questions directly in the work process. Without this knowledge, they would have to interrupt their work. Packaging information in online courses helps new employees quickly and easily get answers to urgent questions. With the ordered structure of the courses and chapters, information can be found quickly and thus problems can be solved.

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Are you curious about what other features the blink.it platform has in store for you? Then schedule your personal appointment for a free demo now!

Advantages of Performance Support in Onboarding

With the blink.it platform, you have many different options for optimizing the learning process of new employees. Learn now what advantages result from this!

1. Practical Transfer

What has been learned is forgotten over time (without practical application). Various studies show this. Accordingly, knowledge must be applied for it to be retained in memory in the long term. Performance support specifically supports this by closely linking theory and practice and solving problem situations immediately.

If the knowledge gained in training is not repeated and solidified, the correct recall of what has been learned drops to 35 percent within a day
Theory of the Forgetting Curve by Ebbinghaus // eLearning Journal

2. Resource-Saving

Thanks to concrete guides, new employees can work independently more quickly. This accelerates the onboarding process! It also reduces the time spent by experienced colleagues in supporting new employees. This reduces costs and increases the company's productivity.

3. Employee Motivation

Giving new employees their own areas of responsibility right from the start greatly increases motivation! This is because new team members can focus on individual areas and develop their strengths accordingly. Performance support helps them take on their own responsibilities independently - and this starts right from the beginning.

Individualizing the onboarding process brings additional advantages! In the article, I share my personal experiences: blink.it Insight: This is why we focus on personalized onboarding

Especially during onboarding, new employees gather many different impressions and learn particularly intensively. Performance support supports this learning process by closely intertwining theory and practice. This way, new employees can settle into the company faster and become independent in a timely manner. With the blink.it platform, you can easily package your assistance like guides or instructional videos into online courses and collect them centrally in one place. With this support, new employees work independently more quickly and learn in the flow!

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Blended Onboarding for Companies

Do you want to make the onboarding process in your company even more effective? Then download the free guide for blended onboarding now and benefit from valuable tips!

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