If you’re reading this, you’re probably staring down a pile of onboarding to-dos and a new teammate who needs to hit the ground running—yesterday. Maybe your team just adopted Heybase and you need a no-nonsense way to get people up to speed without hand-holding for days. This guide’s for managers, team leads, or anyone who’d rather focus on real work than endless orientation meetings.
This isn’t a fluffy “why onboarding matters” piece. It’s a step-by-step on how to actually get new folks working in Heybase with the least amount of friction. Expect practical advice, a few shortcuts, and an honest look at what’s worth your time (and what’s not).
Step 1: Get Your House in Order Before You Add Anyone
Before you even think about sending out invites, take ten minutes to make sure Heybase is set up for someone new. Most teams skip this and then wonder why onboarding is so messy.
- Check your workspace structure. Are your folders, boards, or projects organized in a way that makes sense to someone seeing them for the first time? If not, do a quick cleanup. Don’t aim for perfect—just make sure it’s not chaos.
- Clear out old junk. Archive or delete outdated boards or docs. You don’t want new hires tripping over irrelevant stuff.
- Set up templates for repeatable tasks. If you run the same onboarding every time, make a template for it. It saves you and the new hire a lot of time.
Pro tip: If you’re starting from scratch, don’t overthink your structure. Make it good enough, and clean it up as you go.
Step 2: Bring New Team Members In (the Right Way)
Inviting someone to Heybase is technically easy, but there are a few things you can do to avoid confusion later.
- Send an invite with context. Don’t just fire off the default email invite and call it a day. Give your new teammate a heads-up about what Heybase is, why you use it, and what they’ll find there.
- Set permissions upfront. Only give access to what they need. Over-sharing leads to overwhelm; under-sharing slows them down. Default to less, then add more as they get settled.
- Add them to the right teams or groups. If you’ve set up teams in Heybase, assign them now so they see the relevant boards and channels from day one.
What doesn’t work: Dumping someone into the workspace with zero explanation and hoping they’ll “figure it out.” You’ll just get more questions (and headaches) later.
Step 3: Give Them a Simple “Start Here” Guide
The first thing a new hire should see in Heybase is a clear, friendly welcome—not a wall of files.
- Create a “Start Here” board or doc. This should include:
- A quick note about your team and what Heybase is used for
- Links to key boards, docs, or team spaces
- A checklist of first steps (e.g., “Update your profile photo,” “Read the team rules,” “Join the #general channel”)
- Keep it short. Think one screen, not a novel.
- Use plain language. Skip the company speak. “Here’s where we keep project plans. Here’s who to ask if you’re lost.”
Pro tip: Update this guide every time you onboard someone new. If they ask a question, add the answer for the next person.
Step 4: Show, Don’t Just Tell (Screen Recordings Are Gold)
A five-minute screen recording beats a 20-page onboarding doc every single time.
- Record quick walkthroughs: Show how to find key boards, how to post updates, or how to use your main workflows. Loom, Screencastify, or even a phone video works—don’t sweat production quality.
- Link these in your “Start Here” doc. New folks can self-serve, replay as needed, and you save yourself repeat explanations.
What you can skip: Lengthy PDFs or training decks that nobody reads. Focus on the actual clicks and steps that matter.
Step 5: Assign a Buddy (or Be Their Point Person)
Even the best guides leave gaps. Humans still need, well, other humans.
- Pair new hires with a real person. This can be you, a teammate, or whoever’s willing to answer “dumb” questions without rolling their eyes.
- Make it clear: “If you’re lost, ping me or Taylor.”
- Don’t overthink it. You don’t need a formal mentorship program—just someone who’ll respond within a day.
What doesn’t work: Hoping people will speak up if they’re confused. Most won’t.
Step 6: Demo Your Typical Workflow—Live
Get on a quick call (15–30 minutes tops) and show how you actually use Heybase for real work.
- Walk through a real task: Maybe how you kick off a project, update the team, or track progress.
- Let them ask questions as you go. No need for a slideshow; just share your screen and narrate what you’re doing.
- Bonus: Record the session for future hires.
This is your chance to set expectations and answer the “Why do we do it this way?” questions before they become pain points.
Step 7: Give Early, Low-Stakes Tasks
Let your new team member try things out before they’re handling critical work.
- Assign a simple task in Heybase: Maybe update a status, comment on a doc, or move a card.
- Give quick feedback. Correct gently, but don’t nitpick.
- Encourage questions. Make it clear that “breaking things” here is low risk.
Why this works: People learn fastest by doing, not by reading instructions or sitting through hour-long intros.
Step 8: Review, Adjust, and Simplify
Onboarding isn’t something you finish once and forget. Each new hire is a test of your process.
- After a week, check in. Ask what made sense and what didn’t. Did they use the “Start Here” guide? What was confusing?
- Refine your docs and templates. If something tripped them up, fix it for the next person.
- Cut what nobody uses. If you’ve built a maze of onboarding docs and nobody touches half of them, trim it down.
What to ignore: The urge to build a “perfect” onboarding flow. It’ll never be perfect, and trying to make it so just slows you down.
What Actually Matters (and What Doesn’t)
Let’s be honest—most onboarding advice is overkill. Here’s what you really need to focus on:
- Clarity: Make it dead simple for new folks to know where to start and who to ask.
- Access: Don’t make people beg for permissions or links.
- Real work: Get them doing something small in Heybase, fast.
- Feedback loops: Learn from each onboarding and keep tweaking.
You can skip the long manuals, the endless checklists, and the fancy onboarding portals. Set up enough structure to help people get started, then let them dive in.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Onboarding in Heybase doesn’t need to be a massive project. Set up what you need, borrow what works from this guide, and don’t worry about the rest. The simplest approach usually wins. Each new team member is a fresh chance to improve—so listen, adapt, and keep moving forward. Your goal isn’t a perfect onboarding process; it’s a team that gets real work done, together, with as little friction as possible.