The hidden value of onboarding conversations

Onboarding is broken at most companies. The typical approach is to drown new hires in paperwork and process, leaving them feeling lost and disengaged. In fact, 88% of employees think their company's onboarding process is inadequate. It's no wonder that so many new hires struggle and churn.

The root cause is that companies aren't tapping into the most valuable part of onboarding: the conversations between new hires and their peers. These discussions are full of insights about what's working, what's confusing, and what needs to improve. But right now, those insights are getting lost.

I saw this firsthand over years of bringing employees together to learn from each other through peer groups. The insights that emerged from those discussions were pure gold. People would share their challenges, brainstorm solutions, and walk away with newfound clarity. Those conversations transformed careers.

The problem is, it's almost impossible to make this kind of peer learning happen at any real scale. Matching the right people, coordinating schedules, keeping discussions on track, capturing insights - it's a ton of manual work. HR leaders know peer learning is invaluable for onboarding, but they can't operationalise it. So new hires end up drowning in paperwork and videos instead.

That's why we started Coho. We're building a platform that automates the hard parts of connecting new hires for transformative conversations. And it captures the insights from those discussions so you can actually use them to make onboarding better over time. 

Here's how it works:

1. Smart matching: Our algorithm looks at role, background, goals and a lot more to group new hires with the best possible peers and existing employees. We optimise for long term professional and personal relationships that go way beyond the first 90 days. 

2. Guided discussions: Coho's AI keeps the conversations focused and fruitful with intelligent prompts contextual and personalised to each group and person, so every minute is maximised for learning.

3. Real-time insights: We analyse the conversations to identify key themes - the biggest challenges new hires face, the resources they wish they had, the aha moments. Then we surface those insights to the right people.

4. Targeted resources: When the system spots an unmet need, it proactively suggests relevant content - an onboarding guide, a training, a subject matter expert to connect with. Continuously improving the new hire experience.

We're building our MVP right now and looking for forward thinking companies to partner with us and shape the future of onboarding.

The most valuable onboarding conversations are the ones that aren't happening today. Coho makes it easy to uncover them and put those insights to work.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of data-driven onboarding, let's talk. I'd love to explore how Coho can help you unlock the hidden potential in your new hire conversations.

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Mindaugas Petrutis
Founder, Coho
mp@joincoho.com .