Blog post on the employee onboarding program 

 

Who is to say what we can or cannot do? For it is we who decide how useful a generation is through education, training on profitable skills and mindset renewal. Following her vision, EmpowerHer Tech Foundation organized and ran an intensive employee onboarding training program centred around mindset change, leadership training and communication skills. Knowing that these are key requirements to succeed in the business and corporate world, EmpowerHer Tech Foundation brought in some of the finest speakers on each topic. There were renowned external trainers as well as highly skilled in-house trainers to walk participants through the various sessions. These sessions were fun, interactive and full of new knowledge that by the end of the onboarding training, the reviews showed that it was well worth the time and resources.

 

This article discusses the reason for the onboarding training, summaries of what each speaker taught and the overall impact of the onboarding training.

 

Highlights of the speakers at the Conference 

Day 1 

The first day of the onboarding program was a massive success. A surprising number of people turned up from various regions of the country to attend the sessions. At the start, the Founder appreciated everyone present and gave a short prayer of thanks. Next, the phenomenal Executive Director, Dr. Linus Akepe took the stage to talk about the values of the EmpowerHer Tech Foundation. 

Then, he spoke about the modern factors of production which are data, technology and leverage.  He also encouraged everyone to work with modern technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality to achieve high-impact results. 

 

After this, the Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Tanyi Melvis, a genius in marketing, inspired everyone to be results-oriented. We ended the day knowing that statistics would show proof of effort at every turn. 

 

Since it was an introductory session, everyone introduced themselves and spoke to one or two new people. It was a fun and interactive session. 

 

The second session of the onboarding training was even more interesting than the first. The remarkable Coach Mbowe-Ra Michael took us on a journey of leadership. He used rifles, examples and physical expressions to teach about types of leaders and how to succeed as a leader. 

 

Most importantly, because of him, attendees realized that people treat others based on how they see them treating themselves. That’s why it’s important to identify one’s strengths and work on weaknesses. It is up to individuals to decide how they show up in the world. 

 

Day 2

Being a Sunday, there is some uncertainty as to the number of participants who would show up. To the delight of the team, the turnout was impressive. Participants shouted up in their numbers, eager to learn and looking forward to the opportunities. During the first session, Coach Michael headed an interactive session where he taught branding. From personal branding to business branding, having a well-defined brand is a major contributor to an individual or business’s success. For example, people judge other people’s clothes, shows and even their social media without even knowing them. It might not seem like anything at the time but these things add up. 

 

To have a successful brand, an organization needs 3 types of teams. The decision teams are the ones who make the hard decisions in the company. The task team is concerned about producing results. Finally, the self-directed team is made up of people with different skills and anybody can be the leader depending on how skilled they are on the topic of a particular project. 

 

Zou Bruno took up the second session to teach Social Engineering. He carefully explained the ways hackers use to gain access to social media accounts, locations and other private information. Using an example, he demonstrated how it is done. To defend oneself from such attacks, participants should only click links that they are sure of. Download an authentication app and then turn on two-factor authentication in every app. Although no measure can keep people 100% safe from attacks, it is better to have some level of security than none. 

 

To conclude the day, the Founder gave a talk on how mindset shapes people’s decisions. Finally, she asked participants to read about the different types of mindsets and elaborate on the instant gratification mindset and procrastination mindset. 

 

Day 3

“What is customer service?” Day 3 started with this question and Mrs. Jubsia Christabel had the answer. She took participants on an interesting journey of the dos and don’ts of customer service. From asking participants about their best or worst customer service experience to outlining what customers want, Mrs Jubsia brought out customer service key points. Everybody in an organization is supposed to take customer service seriously because it plays a key role in how many customers come back. Good customer service will improve sales, increase customer loyalty, and make for a good working environment. 

 

The second speaker was none other than Ms. Tanyi Melvis who chaired the session on technical skills. During the session, participants worked with her to build a business model framework for EmpowerHer Tech Foundation. For this to work, participants had to group customers into segments, and identify the value EmpowerHer Tech Foundation is adding to the world and the right marketing channels to use. Then, outline how to make the best of customer relationships and find out how the foundation can get money to run itself. Next, define what key resources the foundation needs to function, key activities that EmpowerHer Tech will carry out and her key partners. Finally, they drafted a cost structure that shows the areas the foundation will spend money. 

 

Day 4 

The fourth day of the onboarding program started on an exciting foot.  

 

Miss Tanyi Melvis taught effective communication using clear examples. She emphasized the difference between assertiveness and manipulation. Assertive people express themselves clearly and concisely while considering the feelings of others. Manipulative people use tricks to make others do their wish. 

 

That session motivated participants to not only learn new skills to improve themselves but also to help others who are coming up. She also spoke about the Law of Flexibility which simply means that whoever finds it easy to adapt to situations will always be the leader. This was a crucial point EmpowerHer Tech Foundation is dedicated to training people and turning them into the best leaders.  

 

Finally, Dr. Eunice used the Pygmalion effect to show the relationship between high expectations and excellent results. 

 

To end the day, there was a fun mindset session that demonstrated the power of a growth mindset.

 

Day 5 

Day 5 came with a whole new vibe! The sessions were refreshing, timely and exciting. We had Mr. Ekoi Edwin and Ms. Tanyi Melvis as speakers for the first and second sessions respectively.  

 

Mr. Ekoi taught project management in the most basic terms. He explained key concepts, gave examples, and let participants ask as many questions as they needed to so they could fully understand project management. Based on the definition, project management is bringing together resources while following certain steps to achieve a particular goal. There’s a project management cycle which is the steps that a team takes before achieving their goal. Now, for a project to be successful, there must be a team that is committed, skilful and willing to work together to make things work. 

 

Then Ms. Tanyi Melvis taught about negotiation. This particular session had everyone on their toes. There was drama, suspense and lots of laughter during this session. She used drama to teach emotional intelligence, and how to mirror competitors and influence their psychology. Participants learned they can have the upper hand in negotiations if they listen carefully, talk only when necessary and are confident. Also, complimenting people and asking open-ended questions makes the other person talk much more than they planned to. The most surprising part was when Ms. Tanyi demonstrated how being shy is an effective tool in negotiation when used properly. Why? Well, because a shy person’s competitors will underestimate how intelligent they are and that’s to the shy person’s advantage. 

 

Overall, day 5 was a good day. The sessions built confidence, gave direction and made participants willing to step into the world of project management. 

 

Day 6

From nervous little laughs to last minute preparations, Saturday was a mix of tension and hope. It was the official close of the onboarding program and the day for interviews. The more experienced participants shared interview tips with the newbies and walked them through regular interview questions. Then there was a general photography session for participants to take professional photos for their LinkedIn, website and wherever else they can use it. This was so much fun and it was also a learning process. After this session, participants were interviewed. 

 

To end the day, the participants were handed certificates and encouraged to seek more learning opportunities and gain profitable skills. Two participants, Miss Steffi Verna Mbi and Mr. Norris Keba Cheka presented a speech on behalf of the other participants. Then, the founder, executive director and chief operating officer thanked the participants for their presence and ended the program on a joyful note. 

 

Reasons for the onboarding program 

• Improving the mindset of attendees

At EmpowerHer Tech Foundation, mindset is the core of every activity. People can only experience true transformation in other areas of life when their minds have been transformed. The onboarding program was to teach them about the types of mindsets and how each of them manifests in leadership styles. Also, the program was to urge them to keep learning and improving in every aspect.  

• Building networks

Networking is a proven life hack to meet the right people and enter rooms of power.  Seeing that it makes life so much easier, EmpowerHer Tech Foundation organized this onboarding program to allow participants to network with others. One never knows who they might meet at such functions and that’s why participants were encouraged to get to know each other. 

• Motivating women to get into technology

The gap between the number of women and the number of men in technology is nearly unbelievable, especially in Africa. This onboarding program was to open the eyes of more women to the sea of opportunities in technology. Thankfully, during the program, more women decided to take up careers in technology to either complement their current positions or to switch totally to a new field in technology. 

• Creating opportunities

The desire to empower people with new skills, challenge them to take up assignments they thought were beyond their reach, and work with new teams is the most fulfilling part of this journey. The onboarding training created room for growth spurred ideas and provided sustainable solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.

 

Conclusion 

The employee onboarding program was a huge success. Not just in terms of the number of participants but also relating to the subtle changes that were noticeable in some participants by the end of the program. They had improved their view of themselves, were building their confidence and networking with other people. It was such a joy to witness the transformation from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.