Fun Orientation Training Ideas

One of Ohio Savings Bank's most creative programs is its new employee orientation, which is designed around a radio station theme, WOSB: Your Station of Choice. WOSB's program log--or agenda--includes features such as the Morning Show, an icebreaker activity; and OSB Oldies, a short story about the bank's history. "We want our new employee orientation to be fun, unique, and memorable," Pyles says. "This is a great example of how we allow our training team to use their creativity. It was truly a collaborative effort."

Throughout the day at the new employee orientation, various in-studio guests stop by to meet and greet new hires, share insight into their specific business unit and role, and field any inquiries from the studio audience. Guests include a career development consultant and a benefits expert. Bank executives from various divisions share responsibility for facilitating a small portion of the program.

OSB's corporate vision and cultural values are introduced in the "Weather, News & Traffic" segment. New hires participate in a weather-related kite exercise in which they take on the challenge of adding to the bank's success by making the kite soar to new heights. Brightly colored kites, each featuring one of the bank's five cultural values, are hung around the room. Teams assigned to each kite receive an envelope with laminated cards listing a variety of behaviors. "Charged with the task of creating a tail for their kite, teams select four behaviors from the envelope that they feel best demonstrate their particular cultural value," says Pyles. "Teams must then brainstorm one new behavior that epitomizes that cultural value, write it on a blank card and add it to the tail, hence the 'soaring higher' goal."

Ohio Savings Bank ranked #10 in the 2005 Training Top 100, Training magazine's annual ranking of organizations that excel at training and development. http://www.trainingmag.com/training/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000791064

Go check out ideas from The 2005 Top Training 100 http://www.trainingmag.com/training/reports_analysis/top100/2005/rankings.jsp