Onboarding with the TIGERS 6 Principles

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Onboarding with the TIGERS 6 Principles

You’re Here Because Culture Matters

You’re not looking for another checklist. You’re here because you understand that onboarding isn’t about filling out forms. It’s about setting a foundation for how your team will work, learn, and grow together.

Traditional onboarding programs focus on compliance, paperwork, and firehose-style orientation. But truly effective onboarding programs go deeper. They embed behavior expectations, build psychological safety, and lay the groundwork for long-term trust and collaboration.

That’s what onboarding with the TIGERS 6 Principles delivers.

The First 90 Days Shape the Future

Research shows that employees decide within the first 90 days whether they feel they belong and can see a future with your organization. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience great onboarding.

And the cost of getting it wrong? Gallup estimates that voluntary turnover costs U.S. businesses over $1 trillion annually. So the question isn’t whether onboarding matters. It’s whether yours creates connection, clarity, and commitment.

That’s where our behavioral system shines.

TIGERS Behavior-Based Onboarding Builds Momentum

The TIGERS 6 Principles—Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Risk Resolution, and Success—aren’t buzzwords. They are the scaffolding for healthy workplace cultures. And when onboarding is structured around these principles, your team builds alignment from day one.

Each principle is introduced over two months of weekly micro-trainings. Managers and employees engage in structured conversations, reflect on behaviors, and complete short self-assessments. These interactions do more than educate. They connect.

This is onboarding as culture-building, not box-checking.

Explore: Successful Onboarding Practices Begin with Work Culture Understanding

A Day in the Life of Onboarding in Action

Let’s be honest. Onboarding can feel like trying to drink from a firehose. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Imagine instead, each new hire joins your organization and immediately experiences clarity. They know what behaviors lead to success. They feel seen. And most importantly, they feel safe asking questions and making mistakes because they’re supported by leaders who’ve been trained to develop—not just direct.

This is what the TIGERS onboarding system aims to create. We’ve redesigned it to reflect what your people truly need. Clear expectations, emotional safety, and behavioral guidance that makes work feel purposeful from day one.

Your employees dream of being part of something meaningful. They want their talents noticed, their values aligned with yours, and their development taken seriously. They’re not asking for perfection. They’re asking for a place where their growth matters.

Your challenges? They’re real. You’re managing burnout, fast-paced shifts, and talent that expects more transparency and coaching than ever before. You might be implementing this system for the second time, and that’s okay. It means you’re paying attention. It means you care about getting this right.

When onboarding reflects shared principles and a deeper commitment to growth, it affirms your team’s decision to join—and stay.

Explore: Trouble with Retention? Commit to Culture in Onboarding

Building Persevering Teams with Onboarding Tools

In our blog Employee Communication Skill Development and Onboarding Strategies, we explore how learning systems with embedded support tools can lead to long-term perseverance. Our onboarding model uses this same framework, turning insight into impact.

We know that during the first 90 days, even the best new hires second-guess their decisions. The TIGERS model supports them emotionally, behaviorally, and socially. Through weekly prompts and transparent coaching strategies, new hires are less likely to feel isolated. And they are more likely to persevere through the awkward phase of acclimating to new teams.

Performance support tools, behavior development plans, and real-time feedback loops act as a buffer and booster. They prevent early disengagement and equip employees to rise.

When onboarding builds resilience, your teams are more than ready. They’re unstoppable.

Polishing Leadership Skills Early

The TIGERS onboarding program isn't just for front-line employees. It prepares managers to lead new hires with empathy, stress-reducing techniques, and emotional intelligence.

Drawing from The Best Ways To Polish Your Leadership Skills, we help managers show up more consistently and lead without micromanaging. The program includes structured conversation starters, coaching conversation frameworks, and stress-management practices to support leadership development in real time.

When leaders model inclusive behaviors from day one, new employees learn what’s expected—not through policy, but through practice.

What Onboarding Solves—and Where It Fails

Too many onboarding programs fail because they frontload information and skip integration. According to Onboarding Practices That Leave Employees Disengaged, it’s not the content that fails—it's the delivery, timing, and follow-through.

The TIGERS model solves this with:

This moves onboarding from a passive learning event to an active experience that employees live, discuss, and apply—week after week.

Team Activities to Connect

Group learning activities enhance early team bonding. As suggested in Team Building Activities to Improve Employee Onboarding, intentional, principle-aligned activities accelerate belonging and foster trust.

Activities include:

Values exchange games tied to the Trust and Genuineness principles
Cross-functional collaboration challenges that develop Interdependence
Role-playing difficult conversations using the Risk Resolution framework

These aren’t just icebreakers, They’re culture builders that align behaviors with your organization’s values.

Why This Matters Now

Turnover is expensive. Disengagement is invisible until it's too late. But onboarding doesn’t have to be hit-or-miss.

With the TIGERS 6 Principles, onboarding becomes a behavior-aligned, culture-building system that pays off in engagement, retention, and performance.

If your goal is to build a collaborative, high-trust, and agile organization, start where it matters most—at the beginning.