Buddy card

Practice-Strength Onboarding

Agreements with a fixed point of contact.

A fixed point of contact in the first weeks takes a lot of guessing away: who can I go to, for what, and when am I interrupting? The buddy card makes those agreements visible, for the new colleague and for the buddy.

When to use it

  • A new colleague is starting soon

Tip

Choose a buddy who is calm and knows the work well, and give them time for it. A buddy without time is a buddy on paper only.

What you fill in

  • New colleague
  • Buddy
  • How long
  • What you can go to the buddy for
  • What you can go to someone else for, and who
  • When can you interrupt the buddy?
  • Fixed moments
  • If the buddy is not there
  • Agreement: there is no such thing as a silly question

The tool runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.

Example result

Made with the example in the tool. With your own details you get your own version, ready to copy.

Buddy card: Tom and James Okafor, customer service colleague For the first eight weeks, your fixed point of contact is James Okafor, customer service colleague. You can go to your buddy for: • Questions about customer emails and the customer system • Where to find things and how things work here • When you are not sure whether you are doing something right • The unwritten rules of the team You can go to someone else for: • Your working agreements and your planning: Hannah Clarke • Contract, annual leave and pay: Sophie Patel in HR • Laptop and accounts: the IT service desk Send a message first; I will let you know when suits, usually within an hour. Fixed moments: every day at 16:00 for ten minutes, and on Friday at 15:00 for fifteen minutes. Buddy not around? Then you can go to Grace Taylor. There is no such thing as a silly question. Better one question too many than a day of doubt.