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

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

Why Performance Support is So Important

Performance support has a central goal: learning is integrated into the work process. Learners consolidate their knowledge by applying it practically. When a question arises on a particular topic, the learner receives the information that helps them solve the problem independently. This way, the learner remains in their work rhythm. It is no coincidence 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 because this information needs to be learned – while simultaneously working. 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, Representation: 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, and when something changes. The first two points are part of formal learning. In the remaining three situations, learners need quick assistance or their work must be interrupted. However, this would disturb the workflow they are in.

Are you interested in informal learning? In the blog article, you will learn more: Informal Learning: Practical Tips for Educators

At this point, it becomes clear: performance support connects learning and applying. Especially during onboarding, a lot of new information is absorbed, which is certainly exhausting. Therefore, take the opportunity to integrate the learning and working process and thus support learning in 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 over- and under-challenge. This allows learners to continuously develop, which is what makes the method so successful! In the following section, you will learn how new employees learn in flow and become independent quickly!

How Can Performance Support Be Implemented in Onboarding?

Further training in the digital age often results in learners being overwhelmed with information. Those who want to stay up to date often cannot keep up because training methods change rapidly. Meanwhile, learners are expected to work or be introduced to new areas of work. Therefore, it makes sense to integrate support 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 specific assistance with questions exactly in the situation when they need it. In the moment of need, new employees can answer questions themselves and stay in the learning flow.

As an HR professional, you want new employees to be able to handle problem situations themselves and continuously develop? Then provide them with important information in one place - ideally on a learning platform. Learn more about blink.it now and test 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 offers learners easy access to information and practical application of knowledge. Online courses provide assistance for new employees at any time and in an uncomplicated manner. Your blink.it online courses can include the following:

1. Assistance in the form of checklists, guides, graphics

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

2. Explanation Videos

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

Do you want to create your own learning videos? Then check out our information page on video shooting and get started with your first selfie video for your e-learning: https://www.blink.it/de/videos-fuer-online-kurse

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 familiarize themselves with technical processes and learn to use completely new tools. Screencasts assist, for example, in the learning process when you need to learn a new computer program like Excel. New employees have the program in front of them and can follow your steps step by step and replicate your approach accordingly.

4. Content Structured Around Work Processes

Performance support provides assistance at the moment the learner needs it (help in the moment of need). Therefore, structure your onboarding content according to work processes in different chapters and maintain this structure within 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 provides clarity.

With blink.it, you can organize your onboarding content into chapters // blink.it Sample Course

Performance support requires that employees receive answers to urgent 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 receive answers to urgent questions. The organized structure of the courses and chapters allows information to be found quickly and thus problems to be solved.

Benefits of Performance Support in Onboarding

With the blink.it platform, you have many different options to optimize the learning process of new employees. Learn now what benefits arise from this!

1. Practical Transfer

What has been learned is forgotten over time (without practical application). This is also shown by various studies. Accordingly, knowledge must be applied so that it remains in memory over the long term. Performance support assists here precisely by closely linking theory and practice and allowing problem situations to be solved quickly.

If the knowledge acquired in training is not repeated and consolidated, the correct recall of what has been learned decreases to 35 percent within a day
Theory of the Memory Curve according to Ebbinghaus // eLearning Journal

2. Resource-Saving

Thanks to specific guides, new employees can work independently faster. This accelerates the onboarding process! It also reduces the time that experienced colleagues have invested in supporting new employees. This reduces costs and increases the productivity of the company.

3. Employee Motivation

Giving new employees their own areas of responsibility from the start greatly increases motivation! Because this way, new team members can focus on individual areas and develop their strengths accordingly. Performance support helps them take on their own areas of responsibility independently – starting right from the beginning.

Individualizing the onboarding process also brings further benefits! In the article, I share my personal experiences: blink.it Insight: That's why we focus on personalized onboarding

Especially during onboarding, new employees gather many different impressions and learn particularly intensively. Performance support facilitates this learning process by closely interlinking theory and practice. This way, new employees find their way around the company more quickly and become independent in no time. With the blink.it platform, you can easily package your support such as guides or explanation videos into online courses and collect them centrally in one place. With this support, new employees work independently faster and learn in flow!