According to research by Nonprofit HR, the employee turnover rate for nonprofit organizations is 19%, significantly higher than the all-industry average of 12%. This is especially challenging for agriculturally related associations due to the seasonal nature of the agricultural industry. Turnover in key state and local-level positions can have detrimental effects on the mission and duties of agricultural-related non-profit organizations and associations.

It takes time for new leaders to understand their roles and responsibilities. This not only has an impact on those they serve, but collectively, this onboarding challenge can create a drag on the larger organization as well.  Here are a few examples of how this affects national organizations:

• National association programming goes underutilized as new leaders are unaware of the resources at their disposal
• Cross-state collaboration diminishes as new leaders may not be connected to their peers in other states
• A loss of institutional knowledge makes it hard to build momentum upon shared learning
• Board seats remain unfilled or rely upon repeat members as new leaders are too overwhelmed to serve on these boards
• Coalescing around national-level initiatives becomes more difficult as new leaders struggle to catch up to strategic planning conversations from prior years

Complaining about turnover won’t solve the problem. Ten years ago, one might assume those in association leadership positions might remain for 5 to 10 years or more; however, that no longer seems to be the case. There will be no “wishing” this problem away. National organizations need to take a larger role in the onboarding efforts of state- and local-level leaders.

Vivayic has had to opportunity to work with several national agricultural associations that have taken this challenge head-on. Some have focused on onboarding local-level leaders while others have focused on state and national-level staff. Through these experiences, Vivayic has developed a five-phase solution for building effective onboarding programs for national organizations.

To explain this approach, let’s look at a recent Vivayic client: After seeing the turnover in state-level staff positions impacting their members, a national agricultural association partnered with Vivayic to design a comprehensive and focused onboarding program for state-level staff. The client believed that this approach would not only increase how effective state staff would be in their first year but would also help with retention rates.

Vivayic came alongside this organization and implemented our five-phase approach to build an onboarding solution designed specifically for state-level staff.

Step 1: Clarify Onboarding Needs

Through a series of focus groups and surveys of current state staff, we determined the most important onboarding needs. Some questions that guided our conversations:

• What are the biggest hurdles facing new state or local-level leaders?
• What are the most critical components of your job?
• What issues most consistently surface to national-level support staff?
• What do you know now that you wished you would have known your first year in the position?

This phase concluded with clear learner-focused objectives that defined the onboarding needs of state leaders.

Step 2: Synthesize What is Essential and When it is Most Valuable

We calibrated what we heard from state leaders with national-level staff, seasoned state leaders, and subject matter experts. Our goal was to distill complex processes and multi-page PDFs into their most salient elements.

For this client, we created a set of “explainer” videos that took long documents and turned them into 1 to 2-minute videos. The focus of the videos was to communicate the essential knowledge to get started: what, when, and why. Once state leaders grasp these concepts, they can get into the details.

Step 3: Design Knowledge Transfer Cadence with a Personal Touch

Cadence matters. Learner readiness is highest at the moment of need. After clarifying the most essential knowledge needed by state staff, we identified the cadence needed to share this information. We determined what state staff needed their first 30 days, first 60 days, first 90 days, and also what information depended on the calendar year. For example, some reports and events are calendar-specific while others depend more on the state’s schedule.

We also designed the onboarding program to include some “personal touch.” As the Theodore Roosevelt quote goes: “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Receiving a stale email with a list of resources your first day in a new state leader role feels like required reading adding to your long list of work. Our onboarding plan included an invitation to set up a “welcome call” as the very first step in the onboarding process. Our goal was to make the message clear: our national organization is here to help you succeed, and here is how you can reach us.

Step 4: Develop the Onboarding System to be Evergreen

The only constant is change. Processes, deadlines, protocols, and initiatives change. We designed the onboarding platform to be “evergreen” so that individual departments could update their relevant forms or processes, and it would not require a revamp of the onboarding process. We did this by creating an online learning hub where everything referenced in the onboarding process was contained and could be updated.

This client found the learning hub to be useful even beyond the intended audience and has recently used it for onboarding interns as well.

Step 5: Evaluate and Re-Evaluate

We plan to gather feedback from state staff who have gone through this program. It is important to evaluate and re-evaluate on an ongoing basis to ensure the onboarding program is meeting the needs of state leaders.

This client found the onboarding system and tools to be helpful for other audiences as well and has used it for interns and new national staff.

Turnover is a challenge. It impacts morale and decreases institutional knowledge. In a recent survey of non-profit organization HR professionals, 66% stated they use effective onboarding plans as a tactic to increase retention rates. Investing in effective onboarding can lead to more effective state and local partners, increase retention of those partners, and improve overall knowledge transfer. It also enhances trust between the national organization and strategic partners.

If your organization could benefit from a more intentional, well-designed onboarding process but you are not sure where to start, set up a discovery call. We would love to help.