Being a great buddy
You don't need to know everything, you need to know who does. The three small jobs of a buddy, and how to do them well without it becoming a second job.
Someone said yes to a new job, or a new team, or coming back after time away. They are about to spend a few weeks feeling slightly lost. You have offered to make that easier. That is the whole of it, and it is a lovely thing to do.
Being a buddy is not a training role, a mentorship, or a second job. It is being the friendly person someone can ask the questions that feel too small to ask anyone else.
The three jobs
- Welcome. Say hello before or on their first day, and have a first coffee in their first week.
- Navigate. Be the safe person for the obvious questions: where people eat, how to ask for help, whether it's normal that nobody replied yet.
- Connect. Introduce them to three people they'd enjoy knowing in their first month.
That is the whole ask. If you do those three things, you have been a great buddy.
A first coffee that works
Thirty minutes is plenty. You do not need an agenda, but three questions help the conversation find its feet:
- What made you say yes to this? (Or, for someone who moved: what's different from where you were before?)
- What's been confusing so far?
- Who should you meet first?
You don't need to know everything. You need to know who does.
Making the three introductions
This is the job only you can do. Think of people who are generous with their time, a little outside their team, and who you'd be glad to have met in your own first month. Use Introduce on their profile: both people are asked first, so nobody is put on the spot.
What's not your job
- Teaching them the work. That's their manager and team.
- Reporting on how they're doing. Nothing you talk about goes to anyone else.
- Handling anything serious. If something worries you, point them to the support contact your program lead shared.
Stepping back gracefully
Life gets busy. If you need to step back, end the pairing from your Home with one quiet button. No reason is needed, and the program lead will find them someone else. At the end of the run, you simply stay connected, the way any two colleagues who get on do.
A buddy is a friendly peer, not an expert.Welcome, navigate, connect. That's the whole job.
Put it into practice
Before your first coffee, write down three people you'd have loved to meet in your own first month. That's your introduction list.
Meet someone worth knowing, and let curiosity do the rest.
Find someone to meet