Pick a buddy

Someone new is joining your team and the People team runs a buddy programme. A week or so before the start date, Pyn sends you a Slack message asking you to choose the buddy. The picker in the message lists your colleagues; your choice becomes the Buddy on the new starter’s record and triggers the messages that brief the buddy.

Before you start

• You have the Slack message from Pyn with the buddy form in it. The buddy picker is a Slack feature; the People team sends it to Slack for that reason.
• You know who you want: someone on or near the team who is not the new starter’s manager.

Steps

1. Open the Slack direct message. It names the new starter and shows the form, with a people list labelled Buddy.

2. Open the list and choose the colleague. You can type part of a name to narrow it.

3. Answer any other questions in the form, such as a note for the buddy.

4. Select Submit.

Note

If you receive the same message again a few days later, it is a reminder because no buddy has been recorded yet. Submitting from either copy is enough.

What you should see

Slack accepts the submission and the message no longer waits on you. In Pyn, the new starter’s profile shows the buddy you chose, the Buddy Assigned automation enrols the new starter, and the buddy receives their first message within the hour. If you picked the wrong person, tell the People team; they can change the relationship on the record.

Related

• Answer a form or poll for the other kinds of questions a form can hold.
• Buddy programme for how the People team sets it up.
• What nudges and escalations look like for the reminders that follow an unanswered nomination.