OnBoard Yourself! is the brainchild of founding owners Todd Hudson and Tamara Greenleaf.

Todd Hudson is a knowledge transfer expert whose work experience includes directing complex operations for several large high tech firms. As a hiring manager, he personally onboarded hundreds of new college grads.

In 2004, he founded the Maverick Institute, a think tank for innovation in knowledge transfer, that he still heads today and is creator of the Maverick Lean Learning system, which applies the principles of the Toyota Production System to corporate learning and training. Todd has successfully taught companies of all sizes how to quickly and effectively onboard new hires of all ages.

Tamara Greenleaf is a communications and marketing expert who has worked as a communications manager for Fortune 100 firms and has managed her own marketing and PR agency. She is a nationally published writer, an award-winning speaker and an authority on personal branding for career development.

We founded OnBoard Yourself after witnessing the struggles of new college grads in their first jobs combined with the frustration of the overtaxed hiring managers whose job it is to bring the newbies onboard.

Knowing that new hires who get off to a slow start rarely gain the traction they need to succeed -- and combining that with the hard fact that today's hiring managers rarely have a wealth of internal resources to onboard new hires -- we devised a solution based on the simple question: Why not teach new-hires how to onboard themselves?

Of course, we know that OnBoard Yourself can never fully replace a company's own custom onboarding program. But our design and hope is that combining OnBoard Yourself's resources with company onboarding, will give everyone in the equation a far better chance at helping new-hires get up to speed quickly and efficiently.

A Note About Our Teachings

All of the learning opportunities at OnBoard Yourself are based on Maverick Lean Learning principles, which emphasize:

• Clear Learning Signal -- People need to know when they need to learn before attempting an activity. Learners need to understand the limits of their knowledge and skills.


• Pull, Not Push -- Individuals should 'pull' the exact knowledge they need to accomplish a specific task. Training events that 'push' information in advance of need are minimized.


• Just-in-Time -- Learners can pull the knowledge exactly when they need it to accomplish a specific task. Opportunities to practice and master content are immediate.


• Instant Gratification -- The time required to find content is instantaneous. Learning is directly tied to application. Feedback on results is immediate.


• Individualized Learning -- The format, amount and rate of learning are all tailored to the individual's learning style, previous experience and the specific situation they're facing.


• Freshness -- Content is created as close to the time of need as possible, so it's up-to-date and focused on the problem at hand.

For more information on Maverick Lean Learning, click on the horse to go to the Maverick Institute's website.

Our Other Contributors

There are lots of great ideas and experts out there who can help new-hires onboard themselves. One of our jobs is to sort out the very best and present them here in the form of podcasts, articles, vidcasts and Webinars, that are easy to access. If you are an expert with ideas to share, we'd love to hear from you. Just contact us>>.

We're Here to Help You

Whether you're a new college grad or a hiring manager, we're here to help, and, in the spirit of continuous improvement, we welcome your feedback. If you have any suggestions for us on content or ways we can make OnBoard Yourself work better for you, we're all ears. Just contact us>>.