In this instructional video, Matt Vaadi presents a concise 5‑step onboarding framework that starts with defining the employee’s long‑term "dream outcomes" (12‑month goals) and then works backwards through 6‑month, 90‑day, and 30‑day milestones. Each step emphasizes clear, measurable, and meaningful targets, using SMART‑style criteria. He illustrates the process with a marketing director hire, detailing revenue, lead‑generation, and activity metrics. The fifth step introduces a Tim Ferriss‑inspired "10X rule" that challenges teams to compress the timeline—asking how a 12‑month goal could be achieved in 90 days by stripping away non‑essential work and intensifying focus. Vaadi cites James Clear’s "Atomic Habits" principle that systems, not goals, drive results, and shares a downloadable 12‑month outcomes template. The video’s purpose is to help employers design onboarding plans that boost employee engagement, retention (citing a 69% retention figure for strong onboarding), and productivity, while encouraging viewers to subscribe for further weekly content.
Chapters
We don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems. That's a quote from James Clear's famous book, Atomic Habits, and it could not apply more than to employee onboarding and new hire training and development. That's why in today's video, I'm gonna provide you with my simple 5-step framework for how we start with the end in mind. What is that final destination that we want our employees to get to?, and then we back into that and create a perfect plan for the first 90 days. And now this video is going to not only provide you with a step-by-step framework you can follow to onboard your employees to increase employee engagement and retention, but also if you hang in there until the end, the 5th step is the magic step. This is the one where I'm going to show you how you can not only get them to that dream destination, but get them there faster. But it's important to note, These videos are only for our subscribers, so make sure that you subscribe right now. I'll hold, just give you a moment. All right, fantastic. And now, welcome to another episode of Culture and Compliance, where we're going to break down how you can create an awesome workplace culture for you and your team. So in that bestselling book, Atomic Habits, James Clear breaks down how if we start on the West Coast at LA and fly a plane to New York, if we're just one degree off target, we're going to end up in Washington, D.C. And that's why we've crafted this perfect 5-step formula to help you to put the destination in place for your new hire and make sure that you don't get one degree off course so that you fly straight and achieve those dream outcomes for your new teammate. 69% of employees who have an exceptional onboarding process are likely to stick around for more than 3 years. And that's why it's so critical for us to spend time investing in the employee onboarding program. And this process will help you to create a very simple framework to onboard your new hires. So let's start at the end. Step 1 is what we call dream outcomes. You want to have 3 outcomes that at the end of 12 months, If you could point to these 3 things, you could easily say, "This person is a rockstar." So, what are those 3 outcomes that if they will have achieved these, we know without issue, without explanation that they knocked it out of the park? And so, we want to be able to point to those things and know that A, they were clear, they were measurable, and they were meaningful. So, that means we can't debate whether or not they were done. We can't debate whether or not they created real value for the organization. And there is some form of measurement. Think like SMART goals for your employee onboarding program. So let's use an example of my marketing director I recently hired. We had one of her 3 outcomes was to create a lead generation machine that's generating $24,000 per month in new monthly recurring revenue at that 12-month outcome point. This was one of 3 of her outcomes. And we knew that if she could accomplish this, it will be easily— we can easily point back and say, this was a home run hire, great job. Again, one of 3 outcomes that we look to. And so in step 2, we back that down to 6-month milestones. So we're going to narrow the lens a little bit. And if we want to be where they're at 12 months, whatever those 3 outcomes were, where do we need to be at the 6-month point to be able to achieve that at 12 months? So that helps us to narrow the lens a little bit. We're going to know what knowledge, skills, abilities this individual needs to possess to be able to achieve that outcome. So by 6 months, we should be making really good progress towards that, right? So if I'm to further the example of the lead generation machine being one of her 3 outcomes, it should be fully functional and able to train others to execute it. This includes outreach via email and, and LinkedIn DMs. Weekly content and target, weekly content targeted at our ICP for middle of the funnel, and paid ads retargeting website visitors. We should be seeing 4 new meetings per week generated from these activities. So now you can see the specificity that we're able to get to at that 6-month point. Now when I go and I look, what resources do I need? I know what systems that we need to have in place. I know what training she needs to undertake to learn these skills. I know the people that I need to put around her to help to learn these things. And so that step 2 is zooming it into 6-month milestone for the new hire. Step 3, I take that down to 90 days and I'm going to do the same exact thing. Now, if I need to be there at 6 months, where do I need to be at 90 days? Well, in this example, cold outreach should be set up and generating leads. This includes at least 10,000 emails going out per month and at least 200 DMs per account. The pillar content should be decided on and be active, whether that's a podcast, video series, newsletter, etc. So again, now at 90 days, this is where we're going to be. And if we do that, we should be in a good position to achieve our 12-month outcomes. Step 4, you're probably getting the, the patience here, but don't worry. Step 5 is the one that where the real magic happens. So make sure you hang in there for that one. Step 4, we're going to take it now to 30 days. In this example, it's a full audit of all existing lead gen activities and a plan for implementing the new lead gen process and activities. So basically just getting that strategic plan in place to be ready for where she needs to be at 90 days. Well, now step 5, again, this is where the magic happens. This comes from an exercise Tim Ferriss calls his 10X rule, where he consistently asks the question, if you had to achieve your 10-year goals in 12 months, what would you do differently? And so now I would challenge you to look at, if you've gone through and followed along with me and done the 12-month, 6-month, 90-day, 30-day, look at that timeline and say, What would we have to do to accomplish these goals in 90 days instead of 12 months? And this is so exciting because more often than not, people find with this level of attention and intensity towards these goals, they can achieve them in 90 days. They just need to peel away all the other things from the role that don't matter, all the busywork, all the meetings, all the crap that our employees sit through that they don't need to do if they need to achieve these outcomes. And if these outcomes are so important that we could call this person a rockstar at 12 months, then why wait? Let's align the resources, let's align the intensity to knock these things down earlier. And so, you might just decide that, hey, this needs to move to 6 months and we can put a new 12-month in place. You might understand that it can go to 90 days, but either way, be honest, be critical, and make sure that you're pressing and pushing the issue. And so finally, what I've included here for you is I've included in the comments a link to our 12-month outcomes template, our 12-month dream outcomes template, where you can track the milestones, you can track the description, the resources and training needed, and then determine if your employees are on track or off track. This is just one part of our Perfect 90 employee onboarding program. Make sure you follow our YouTube channel because I'm going to be dropping more pieces of this sequence in here every single week so that you have a complete onboarding program to help you increase that employee retention, engagement, and productivity to create a better culture for you and your team. Make sure to subscribe. Thank you so much again for stopping by. My name is Matt Vadie, and it's been a pleasure to have you.
