Creating Inviting Onboarding

Joining Belong in Plymouth should feel like being welcomed into a community—not like reading a manual.

That was the feeling behind our conversation in late 2022, when Stuart Jones said: “We often forget what new people don’t know, and it can feel overwhelming if we don’t guide them properly.”

We agreed: our onboarding needed a rethink. Karen Pilkington suggested creating a Welcomer role—someone who could offer a friendly intro, answer questions, and help new folks settle in. “Sometimes a single phone call can answer all those little questions people hesitate to ask,” she explained.

We also recognised the need for transparency. Who’s involved in what? What do all these terms mean? What does it *feel* like to be part of the network?

So we started building simple ways to orient new people—without overwhelming them. A light-touch welcome doc. A few key contacts. An invite to shadow a meeting.

More than anything, we’re trying to reflect the project’s wider ethos: slow, relational, and generous. Because the way people join us shapes the way they participate. And belonging starts at the beginning.