You can recognize successful onboarding by the fact that new employees feel valued from the very beginning and can actively contribute to the new work environment. With the method 'video diary', you can achieve just that: a good mix of challenge, appreciation, and integration into the new team.
This is how the video diary method works in onboarding
A video diary is a collection of short video messages that new employees record in their first weeks. It is important that the video diary should never be the only method in onboarding, but always embedded in regular onboarding activities.
Assign the following task to your new colleague:
Record a maximum 2-minute selfie video every evening during the onboarding process and answer three questions. Then upload the video to your onboarding course.
Possible questions for the selfie video are, for example, the following:
What did you like best today?
What is your most important learning today?
What would you have wished for?
Tip: A video diary in onboarding is only meaningful if you have a suitable platform in place where employees can upload the videos. We at blink.it of course work with our own platform, which is ideal for such onboarding purposes.
Reasons for the video diary method in onboarding
Recording a selfie video may require some courage – especially as a new colleague – but it can contribute to faster integration into the team. In the end, all parties benefit from the video diary method:
| The "New"… | The existing team… | The supervisors… || ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- || actively contributes from the start. | sees and hears the new colleague daily – even from home office. | learns easily and regularly whether the onboarding is going well. || receives quick support for questions. | can greet and interact with each other through comments under the video. | benefit from the external perspective to question existing structures. || feels noticed and valued. | builds a bond with the new employee early on. | strengthens the sense of belonging to the company from the very beginning. |
In all points, it is important that there is interaction between the new employee and the existing team and/or supervisors. No one wants to painstakingly record and upload videos if they remain unseen! If you are responsible for onboarding the new employee, you should therefore officially announce the video diary and encourage everyone to watch the videos and comment on them.
Furthermore, the direct supervisor should also record a selfie video in advance to lead by example and briefly explain the video diary method. This video should then be uploaded exactly where the new employee's selfie videos will follow. I will show you in the next section how this can look!
2 examples: The video diaries of Sebastian and Cosima from the blink.it team
At blink.it, we have been using the onboarding method video diary from the very beginning. Simply because we deal daily with a product developed for the use of videos. But also for the reasons mentioned above: In the video diary, all 'Blinkies' (that’s what we call the blink.it team) can track how the onboarding process is proceeding. A fun by-product is that years later, we can look back at old video diaries and smile at the early days.
The video diary helped me summarize relevant things briefly. This way, I could review the days again.
Sebastian Bach, part of the blink.it team since July 2022
Watch the following video to understand what a video diary can look like using blink.it employee Sebastian as an example:
Example of the video diary method in onboarding: Overview of the course from blink.it employee Sebastian (July 2022).
Also, blink.it employee Cosima, whom you may already know as an author here in the blog, fondly remembers her time with the video diary:
The video diary was a lot of fun for me. And the comments under my videos motivated me to incorporate even more creative and funny ideas.
Cosima Bähr, part of the blink.it team since June 2022
Example of the video diary method in onboarding: A selfie video from blink.it employee Cosima (June 2022).
Psst: Next week, my colleague Cosima will publish a complete experience report on her onboarding. It will cover not only the video diary but also other measures during the onboarding process.
Further ideas for successful onboarding
The video diary is just one of many methods for successful onboarding. In our blog, you will find many more articles on the topic of onboarding, for example:
Tips for purely digital onboarding
The storytelling method in onboarding
What do you think of the idea of using a video diary as a method in onboarding? And which other methods do you consider meaningful? Feel free to leave us a comment!
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Blended onboarding for companies
You can find more methods for successful onboarding in our guide: Create a blended onboarding in 3 weeks and combine traditional onboarding with online methods!
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