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 exactly 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 the first weeks. It is important that the video diary should never be the only method used in onboarding but always integrated into regular onboarding measures.
Assign the following task to your new colleague:
Record a maximum 2-minute selfie video every evening during onboarding and answer three questions. Then upload the video to your onboarding course.
Suitable questions for the selfie video include 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 naturally work with our own platform, which is ideal for such onboarding purposes.
Reasons for using the Video Diary method in onboarding
Recording a selfie video takes some courage – especially as a new colleague – but it can greatly facilitate faster integration into the team. Ultimately, everyone involved benefits from the video diary method:
The "New"... | The existing team... | The supervisors... |
actively participates from the very beginning. | sees and hears the new colleague daily – even from home office. | easily and regularly finds out whether the onboarding is going well. |
gets quick support when they have questions. | can greet and exchange ideas via comments under the video. | benefit from the outside perspective to question existing structures. |
feels perceived and appreciated. | builds a connection with the new employee early on. | strengthen 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 the onboarding of the new employee, you should officially announce the video diary and invite everyone to watch and comment on the videos.
Additionally, 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 what that might look like!
2 Examples: The Video Diaries of Sebastian and Cosima from the blink.it Team
At blink.it, we have been using the video diary method for onboarding 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 follow how the onboarding process is progressing. A fun byproduct is that we can look back on old video diaries years later and smile reminiscing about the early days.
The video diary helped me summarize relevant things briefly. I could reflect on the days again.
Sebastian Bach, part of the blink.it team since July 2022
Watch the following video to understand how a video diary can look in the example of blink.it employee Sebastian:
Example of Video Diary method in onboarding: Overview of the course by blink.it employee Sebastian (July 2022).
Also, blink.it employee Cosima, whom you might already know as an author here in the blog, fondly remembers her time with the video diary:
I had a lot of fun with the video diary. And the comments under my videos motivated me to incorporate even more creative and fun ideas.
Cosima Bähr, part of the blink.it team since June 2022
Example of Video Diary method in onboarding: A selfie video by blink.it employee Cosima (June 2022).
Shh: Next week, my colleague Cosima will publish a complete report on her onboarding experience. It will not only cover the video diary, but also other measures during the onboarding period.
More 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!
