Applicable scenario: New members join your team

Functions: IM, Docs, Wiki

New members usually encounter some problems when they join a team, including knowing little about the company and team functions, feeling unfamiliar with specific business situations, having difficulty in getting work started, etc. The following best practices can effectively integrate information and help new members have a smooth and productive transition.

Create onboarding guide with Docs

Integrate information

When new members join the team, they need to know many different aspects of work. If work information is too scattered to systematically find it, it is necessary to prepare an onboarding guide.

You can create a detailed onboarding guide with Docs to integrate information. New members can not only know all aspects of work through the guide but also quickly search for useful information when they need it. The guide should include three types of content:

•Company information

This part should introduce the company's vision, values, systems, norms, resources, etc., to help new members know the overall situation of the company and develop a preliminary understanding of the company culture.

•Team information

In a company, each team has different targets and tasks. New members need to fully understand their team's situation, including team OKRs, priorities, plans, etc.

•Newcomers' challenges

After reading the background materials, you can assign some specific tasks to help new members familiarize themselves with the workflow and tools, such as creating a meeting schedule for the team, co-editing a document with colleagues, etc. New members can learn by doing tasks step by step.

In addition to texts, you can also insert more content into the onboarding guide, including pictures, videos, maps, websites, group cards, etc., to help new members read and understand better.

Shared team Wiki

Comprehensive self-access to your team's knowledge

Categorize and save important and frequently used Docs in Wiki to build a team Wiki, where you can introduce your team's business and personnel structure in detail and enhance cross-department knowledge and communications. Additionally, team members can share ideas and create workspaces together, so new members can learn and self-access information in their own time. New members can also continue to access relevant information after they've started working officially, which can greatly enhance teamwork efficiency.

Create a framework for the team workspace

In the upper-right corner of Wiki, click New > New workspace. In the page tree to the left of the workspace, create a top-level page to complete the first level of the framework.

Consider what subpages are needed for each top-level page. On the right of each top-level page, click + to add an existing Doc as a subpage, or simply create a blank subpage.

•Collaborative edits

Send the page link to your team leaders or persons in charge and grant them edit permission so your teams can edit the workspace together. You can also set deadlines on the Doc page to promote productivity and efficiency.

•Real-time interactions

When members comment on the content, the person editing the content will be notified and can immediately respond, facilitating conversations and interactions.

•Follow Docs updates

Once the Doc you follow has been updated, you'll receive a notification so you can instantly view the update and stay in the loop with your team's direction.

Read group announcement

Focus on specific projects

New members will be added to the group chats related to their job responsibilities. You can create a specific work guide in group announcements, and remind new members to read carefully so that they can quickly absorb key information. You can refer to the following categories to write a group announcement:

•Background: e.g., team strategies, blueprints, OKRs, etc.

•Project planning and progress: e.g., project plans, progress reports, data, charts, etc.

•Workflow and specifications: e.g., collaborative process descriptions, writing specifications, etc.

•Important references: e.g., published articles, conference and meeting minutes, etc.

•Resources and tools: e.g., internal resources, common tools platforms, etc.

By reading the group announcement, new members can fully understand the requirements of specific projects or tasks and prepare their corresponding work.

View pinned items

Prioritize key information

In addition to the group announcement, the pinned items in group chats are also important. The pinned items will be constantly increased and updated with daily communication. You can remind new members to prioritize the pinned items so that they can quickly get to the point and keep up with the rest of the team. New members can view pinned items in a single group chat or in all group chats.

Browse group chat history

Familiar with communication patterns and contexts

After reading the important materials above, new members can browse the group chat history related to their job responsibilities. In this way, new members can not only review the recent messages but also have a preliminary understanding of the team's communication patterns and habits.