Onboarding in the Fellowship Program

For many, Impact Canada’s Fellowship program has served as a unique entry point into the Public Service. Not only are Fellows often joining the Public Service for the first time, but they are also positioned between and across both the program’s central team at the Privy Council Office and their host organization’s project team. To facilitate the integration of Fellows into their placements, each new Fellow receives an onboarding module that provides them with the necessary tools and connections for early and ongoing success, tailored to their individual situation.

Since it was initiated in 2018, all elements of the Fellowship program have been constantly evolving and adapting. Our onboarding modules are continuously undergoing experimentation to address the needs of Fellows, host organizations, and home managers in the most effective way possible. Collecting, analysing, and implementing feedback from newly onboarded Fellows has been most valuable in contributing to the program’s progress from what was once a 1-day module to our current 1–2-week format with a detailed agenda and reading package. This familiarity with adaptation is also what allowed for a seamless transition from in-person to virtual onboardings as a result of COVID-19, with no negative impact on knowledge transfer, integration, or networking.

The Fellowship program’s onboarding modules define and achieve goals from the perspectives of Fellows, host managers, and home managers. Ultimately, we strive to provide Fellows with the tools they need for early and ongoing success, as well as the development of appropriate knowledge, connections, and expectations. From the perspective of home managers, it is important that newly onboarded Fellows have an understanding of the Impact and Innovation Unit and the support that it offers, in addition to a knowledge of the application of Behavioural Science or Challenge Prize approaches in a government context. These understandings are built through reviews of specific Challenges or Behavioural Science (BeSci) projects and their contextualization within the machinery of government. Host managers require that Fellows feel integrated into their host organization’s team and prepared for project work. From our perspective, a successful onboarding gives Fellows a warm welcome, connects them with their managers and teams, gives them access to information and resources, exposes them to projects, and provides them with an understanding of their expectations.

The Fellowship program onboards both individuals and interdisciplinary cohorts of several Fellows at once who are placed across various departments and projects. Regardless of the resulting complexities of scheduling, each onboarded Fellow receives the information and guidance they need to succeed in the first 90 days of their position. This may include bilateral mentorship meetings between new and experienced Fellows, an in-depth reading package with dedicated reading time, contextual presentations related to the Impact and Innovation Unit and the machinery of government, team introductions and project spotlights related to placement area, a review of the host organization’s responsibilities, mandate, and priorities, networking opportunities, integration into the Fellowship and interdisciplinary cohorts, required training for new public servants, and team-building activities. Not every session is included in every onboarding module, but these more occasional sessions are always open to those who have not yet had a chance to attend. Many of these sessions are also useful to Impact and Innovation Unit staff beyond the Fellowship program, serving as both a learning opportunity and chance to network beyond one’s immediate team.

As we prepare to welcome new BeSci and Challenge Fellows in Fall/Winter 2022–23, we are delighted to share the positive sentiments of past Fellows regarding their onboarding experiences:

“I was really impressed by the organization and content of the two-week onboarding. I was not expecting to learn about most projects, interact with members at all levels of IIU, and already be included in meetings about current projects within a short period of time” — Behavioural Science Fellow

“Overall, the onboarding was a really good experience for introducing us to the public service and the organizational structure of government” — Behavioural Science Fellow

“The IIU really cares about Fellows above all else, and that we will have the support to succeed in our projects” — Behavioural Science Fellow

“The close-knit ‘culture’ of the workplace is immediately apparent, despite not having any in-person meetings. The organization and planning that has gone into my onboarding schedule is second-to-none” — Challenge Prize Fellow

“It’s no small feat to coordinate and accommodate multiple different schedules and agendas” — Challenge Prize Fellow

“The onboarding module made me that much more aware of how special this Fellowship really is. Thank you” — Behavioural Science Fellow

We look forward to immersing new Fellows into the Fellowship cohort, and to sharing their reflections in 2023.