What Curling Taught Me About Onboarding

Curling taught me how to onboard new hires, to join a community, to feel a sense of belonging. 

This Winter Olympics, I was hoping to watch ice skating, but only Curling was airing. Too indifferent to change the channel, I watched a few rounds. I became quickly confused and fascinated at the same time. 

My internal monologue went something like this:

How do you win at this game? How do you keep score? What causes a penalty? Why are they yelling? How do they not fall down on the ice? How much does that round thing weigh? Is curling expensive? I bet those players are married to each other–they act like they’re married. Did the announcer just say “hog line?” What’s a hog line? I bet they have super strong hip flexors to lunge like that.

And so began my fondness for Curling. I observed the team dynamics and penalties. I googled the terms I heard. I learned enough vocabulary for Curling 101. I now know what it means to:

• Deliver the stone to the button

• Throw the stone into the house with the right draw weight

• Pebble the sheet

• Be at the hacks, the hog line, the tee line

• Use the gripper shoe and the slider shoe

• I figured out the sweep on my own.

Curling is a pretty calm, chivalrous sport, until it’s not. The yelling:

“Whoa!” 

“Hard!”

“Hurry Hard!”

“Clean!”

So, the next time you’re onboarding a new hire, give them the vocabulary–quickly. This helps them engage because they have a framework for making sense of what they’re experiencing. They become a part of a new community.

Knowing terms doesn’t make you smart, but not knowing terms leaves you out of the game.

P.S. A curling stone weighs 42 pounds.