Design Document
YID Portfolio Challenge #15

Peace and Quiet Professional Organizers - Onboarding

Executive Summary

Due to an increased demand for virtual organizing services, Peace and Quiet Professional Organizers is bringing on 50+ contractors to conduct these consultations. As a result, the business requires an onboarding solution to prepare these contractors for basic procedures, client consultations and brand awareness. As hiring is underway, the training needs to be delivered as soon as possible.

Project Success Statement

Within the first three months of starting at PAQ, consultants will have independently completed their onboarding tasks and will be confident to consult with clients without supervision.

Through the measure of client surveys and Google reviews, PAQ maintain its reputation as the #1 organizing service in the Seattle region.

Findings & Recommendations

Training Goals

  • Prepare new contractors to conduct virtual organising consultations with minimal supervision
  • Ensure contractors are excellent brand ambassadors by providing excellence service to clients
  • Create a seamless onboarding experience for contractors to complete virtually and asynchronously
  • Take pressure off existing full time staff by reducing their involvement in the onboarding process

Organization Goals

  • Maintain its reputation as the #1 organizing service in the Seattle region
  • Retain client satisfaction of the business and its services
  • Service the 3 month long waiting list of virtual organizing consultations
  • Promote consultant retention with excellent onboarding and support

Learner Goals

  • Consistently follow PAQ’s basic procedures for technology, administration, client interaction and organizing
  • Carry out and communicate PAQ's brand standards and expectations
  • Competently use technology to complete consultations
  • Confidently conduct virtual organizing consultations with clients

Learner Population

  • 50+ Contractors/Professional Organizers (POs)

Pedagogical Strategies

  • Asynchronous training (via onboarding Trello board, additional resources)
  • Social learning (via Slack channel)
  • Mentoring (via shadow sessions)

Medium

To be used:

  • Trello Board: onboarding task list
  • Slack Channel: online discussions, feedback, questions and automated coffee chats
  • Zoom: for virtual consultation sessions
  • CMS: to access and log client details from consultations

Wishlist:

  • Notion: knowledge base
  • Calendly: for meeting scheduling
  • Donut Integration for Slack: to allow automated coffee chats to be setup
  • Email Platform: for sending automated emails

Considerations

  • Time frame: 2 weeks
  • Budget: $10,000
  • Utilising existing systems: Zoom, Slack, Trello, CMS
  • Needs to reach a remote, contract workforce with different skills and abilities
  • One of PAQ’s brand values is polish - needs to be reflected in the training
  • Consultants to have opportunities to talk to one another during onboarding to build a sense of community

Recommended Solution

Onboarding Solution Journey

1

Welcome Email & Video

To start their onboarding journey, new consultants will be sent a welcome email. This will provide them details on how to login to their Trello board with a welcome video from the owner, Lizzie.

2

Trello Board to do list

Once they've created a login, their Trello board will give them a list of what to work through before starting, week 1 and before their first consultation.

3

One on one chat with owner, Lizzie

To make each consultant feel welcome and part of the team, they can schedule a quick chat with Lizzie using Calendly to find a time that suits them.

4

Shadow session with experienced consultant

With the permission of the client, allow a new consultant to attend a session with an experienced consultant to see how they conduct the session and interact with the client.

5

Slack Platform Community

The platform is a form of support and a way to feel connected to others virtually. Once they create a login -

  • Introduce themselves in the intro channel
  • Get paired by automation with other consultants at times that suit them for a chat (Donut Integration)
  • Ask questions or get feedback in channels from others
  • Access resources in the Knowledge Library via links
6

Notion Knowledge Library

They can access this library at anytime. There are Trello tasks set up to access specific sections at certain times.

The main areas include:

  • Working at PAQ
  • Software Programs
  • Session Resources
  • Client Resources

Analytics Tracking

Welcome email

  • Email opens
  • Number of video plays
  • Number of click throughs to Trello login

Trello Board

  • Number of completed tasks
  • Time taken to complete tasks
  • Link click throughs

Slack Platform

  • Frequency of interaction
  • Most asked questions
  • Link click throughs

Knowledge Library

  • Number of page click throughs - highest viewed pages

Welcome Email & Video

Solution Rationale

Since there are 50+ contractors starting, having an automated email with a personalised name, allows for a consistent and seamless first interaction. The clean layout also adds an element of polish, which is one of the asks from the client.

Including a friendly video from Lizzie makes consultants feel welcome. Giving instructions to access a link to the Trello board gives them their first task to complete. They can also email if they require more support.

embed.elai.io

Elai.io Embed Video Player

I created an AI video of Lizzie (unfortunately her resting face doesn't look very happy)



Trello Board to do list

Solution Rationale

Since the consultants are working virtually and potentially starting at different times, they will need to be able to complete tasks and learn asynchronously. Leveraging the existing program, Trello was convenient to create a series of cards with timings so that they could be slowly worked through. It also allows for behind the scenes tracking of what has been completed so that consultant progress can be monitored.

There are several time based channels so consultants can work through the cards in a logical order and each will have more details and links.

Slack Platform Community

Solution Rationale

To foster a sense of community and leverage a pre exisiting program, I've chosen Slack. New consultants will be able to introduce themselves, access links to external resources, ask customer questions and get admin help.

It will also use an automated coffee catchup integration, Donut. This will randomly match 2 consultants based off their time availability to connect for a coffee catch up.

Notion Knowledge Library

Solution Rationale

Due to the time and budget constraints, the platform allows you to create provides a clean, organized and polished layout (one of the clients wants) in a quick and easy way. Updates can also be easily made.

Description of each section:

Software Programs

  • Software login details
  • Overview on what each is used for
  • Instructions on use and setup

Session Resources

Session checklist

  • Checklist to ensuring they set up their workspace and technology correctly before a session

Client worksheet

  • A handout consultants can fill in to provide to customers with tips on how to maintain the space

Customer email templates

  • To ensure consistency in client communication. This would include a post session email with a customer satisfaction survey.

Client Resources

Virtual Consultation Process

  • How the process should be run
  • How find assigned clients and add notes in the CMS
  • Video examples
  • How to use the resources to help you with sessions

Speaking to clients

  • The tone, how to listen, how to reassure customers - they may feel stressed, overwhelmed, embarrassed

Issue troubleshooting

  • A list of FAQs and how to solve them

Further Recommendations

Due to the short time period and budget, this would be a recommendation ensure that new consultants were successful conducting sessions independently and in the PAQ way.

Before they can run a consultation session by themselves, going through:

Mock consulting sessions
Give new consultants the opportunity to conduct a mock session with an experienced consultant that they can give feedback on.

Support sessions
An experienced consultant will attend their sessions and provide support and guidance to ensure they are confident in running the sessions on their own and that they are following the PAQ way of consulting.

Note: These sessions would be dependant on schedules of current employees and if dedicated resources could be made available.

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