The first day in a new job. The first day in a holistic, agile environment. My first day at wibas GmbH.
In this article, I would like to invite you to read about the type of onboarding based on the pull principle and the challenge of remote onboarding. I have also included a few of my impressions of a company in a purely agile culture.
The start at wibas (pull instead of push)
My start at wibas was not 100 percent remote - I was allowed to spend the first week in the office in Darmstadt.
Once I was technically up and running, I received an Excel with tasks and the people who could help me with them. I was then allowed to start working independently. This gave me direct contact with the self-organized way of working. It was up to me to find my way around wibas.
The first thing you always need is a coffee! So I turned to the service team and was introduced to the art of the portafilter machine. Yes, this was a task on the onboarding list. Then Daniel explained the systems and tools for the first time and I was able to turn to Sybille for the personnel tasks.
A quick message via Teams to my colleagues and I was helped.
The pull principle is practiced by everyone at wibas. This means that everyone pulls their own tasks and topics. In my case, this was onboarding. Occasionally there were a few push actions from the new mentor, recruiter or HR department - gradually it turned into a pure pull.
Working in a self-organized way right from the start gives you a great sense of trust from the company. If things do get stuck, there is a mentor for every employee who is happy to help. All other colleagues always offer their help too.
The number one learning for me in an agile environment is: "Approach people and ask questions - they will either help you or know who can".
Remote onboarding in an agile working environment
Especially at the start, it's nice to get to know your new colleagues during lunch breaks, coffee breaks or even in the corridor. Due to the situation, this was not possible with everyone.
So it was halfway possible after all. In the meantime, I've also had a few virtual coffee breaks. Simply set up a 10-minute call via Teams with the subject #virtualcoffeebreak. In addition, wibas has a virtual coffee bar where colleagues can bump into each other by chance.
The first month of onboarding included getting to know my colleagues, starting my first project, PSM training, an appraisal interview and several exchanges with my mentor and the SPIKE strategy.
The SPIKE strategy was the presentation but also the further development of the corporate strategy, in which everyone was invited to participate.
wibas is agile in all its facets, which was a completely new experience for me.
I am particularly impressed by the transparency in the company. The employees are fully involved and are allowed - and even encouraged - to actively participate in topics such as sales, service marketing and corporate strategy.
My takeaway from the first month is that good collaboration is an important aspect of successful communication and that good visualizations and a New Work office concept support this effectively.
If you would like to read more about remote working, the New Work office or the agile working world, I invite you to continue reading on the wibas blog.
Three insider tips from me:
New Work Office | Survival remote kit | Agile iceberg
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