A strong new hire orientation does more than collect forms, explain policies, and point out where the break room is. It gives people an early answer to a bigger question: How do we want to work together, and what should our Guests feel when they work with us?
Harley-Davidson of Tampa offers a useful case study because a group of five Florida Harley-Davidson dealerships made the FISH! Philosophy part of that answer. The group includes dealerships in Tampa, Brandon, New Port Richey, Tallahassee, and Panama City Beach. Its Training and Operations Manager, Gary “Sergeant Major” Postle, describes how the philosophy became part of orientation, daily work, and a shared culture across all five locations.
How did Harley-Davidson of Tampa use new hire orientation to teach culture?
Postle came to the organization after retiring from the Army after 22 years, many of those years as a trainer. He was looking for an organization that believed in having fun at work while working hard to provide the ultimate Guest experience. He writes, “May 2006 started my journey living and breathing the FISH Philosophy.”
The group starts each Team Member with New Hire Orientation. Early in the initial five hours of training, new employees see the FISH! video by ChartHouse. The goal is larger than introducing a slogan. As Postle explains, “Everything we do in our culture and our values can be directly tied to the FISH! Philosophy.”
Teaching the shared philosophy early gives daily work a clear reference point.
The four practices give that philosophy a shared language. Choose Your Attitude asks people to notice and choose how they will show up, both before work and when difficult moments happen. Be There means giving another person physical, mental, and emotional presence. Make Their Day means creating a genuine moment that helps someone feel noticed and valued. Play brings curiosity, energy, and creativity to work while staying respectful and useful.
That language also appears after orientation. Postle says, “Our Team Members are quizzed and repeatedly asked to provide examples of FISH! as enforcement to our training.” In other words, the new-hire message is brought back into everyday situations instead of being left in the first-day materials.
The group also brings the philosophy together across locations. At one annual Team Meeting, every Team Member from all five dealerships was present, and the FISH! video was shown again. The group’s primary goal that year was clear: “We want to provide every Guest with a Premium Harley-Davidson experience; 100% of the time to 100% of our Guests. We want to provide an exceptional experience to bring them back”. The owners gave each Manager a Pete the Perch pin to wear on a Team shirt daily because they represent the best of FISH!
The result reported in Postle’s letter belongs specifically to the New Port Richey dealership. “As of July 2013, our New Port Richey dealership is # 1 of 700 plus Harley-Davidson dealerships nationwide, for its Purchase and Ownership Experience; Guest Satisfaction.” Postle attributes the group’s success to “hard work, training, having fun and our positive attitude,” adding, “We make it unique and memorable for every Guest.”
Harley-Davidson of Tampa is one of many organizations whose results with the FISH! Philosophy have been documented, so its story can be considered alongside other workplace examples.
What should new hire orientation include besides paperwork and policies?
Paperwork and policies matter, but they answer only part of a new employee’s first questions. A useful orientation also explains the company’s values, shows how those values look in real behavior, and gives people a way to practice them. That helps employees connect procedures to purpose.
That is where FISH! fits. Choose Your Attitude helps a new employee think about how to enter a shift and reset after a setback. Be There gives “good service” a clear shape: listen fully, stay with the person in front of you, and respond to what that person actually needs.
Make Their Day adds the value of sincere recognition, while Play invites curiosity and better problem solving. Both practices work best with clear boundaries, so fun should include people, respect them, and support the Guest experience.
A simple orientation activity can make these ideas concrete. After introducing a value, ask, “What would this look like with a coworker?” Follow with, “What would it look like with a Guest?” New employees can use the discussion to connect values with choices they will make in ordinary moments.
How can new hire orientation ideas make the first day useful?
For an employee onboarding plan, separate the information people must know right away from the information they can learn over time. Use the first hours to establish the culture and the basics of the role. Then provide follow-up conversations, practice, and check-ins so employees can connect the ideas to real work.
The first day gives new employees direction, and the follow-up turns the ideas into everyday work.
The FISH! practices are useful because they are easy to bring into those follow-ups. A manager might ask where a Team Member had a chance to Be There for someone or what helped them Choose Your Attitude during a difficult interaction. The team could also discuss a genuine Make Their Day moment, then look at where curiosity or creativity helped solve a problem within the workplace’s agreed boundaries.
The questions turn memory into practice by asking employees to notice behavior, explain it, and decide how to use it again. That is why Postle’s description of quizzing Team Members and asking for examples matters: reinforcement turns a concept into a working language.
How do you keep a culture consistent across several locations?
Consistency grows when leaders repeat the same core ideas, use the same language, and bring people together to talk about what those ideas mean in practice. That team meeting shows one way to reinforce a common identity: every Team Member from all five dealerships gathered, and the FISH! video was presented again.
A shared culture also depends on visible leadership. The owners gave each Manager a Pete the Perch pin to wear daily because the Managers represent the best of FISH! Leaders make culture easier to believe when they model it, especially when they Choose Your Attitude during pressure, change, and mistakes.
Employees watch those responses closely. A leader’s example can support the message given in orientation and make the shared standard easier to recognize.
Why does training reinforcement matter after day one?
Training reinforcement can be a short question in a team meeting, a story about a helpful choice, or a manager naming a behavior that improved someone’s experience. The key is to make the organization’s values part of normal conversations about work.
Values belong alongside training on safety, systems, and policies. Procedures guide people through known situations, while values give them a human and practical way to think through unfamiliar ones.
How does employee experience become guest experience?
Employees carry their experience of the workplace into the way they serve other people. A workplace that supports care, attention, and sound judgment gives employees a stronger foundation for creating those feelings in a Guest interaction.
The care, attention, and support employees receive at work shape what they give to Guests.
That connection sits at the center of the Harley-Davidson of Tampa story. The group describes FISH! as a framework for daily fun and a positive attitude, and it connects that framework to a Guest Service philosophy. Its stated goal was a Premium Harley-Davidson experience for every Guest, 100% of the time.
A workplace can apply the same idea without copying the dealerships’ exact activities. First define the experience customers should have, then ask what employees need from one another to create it. Be There might guide a careful coworker handoff, while Make Their Day could shape specific, genuine recognition.
Choose Your Attitude can help a leader show steadiness during a difficult shift. Play can give employees enough trust and room to find a better way, as long as the approach remains respectful and useful.
A practical way to strengthen employee onboarding
Use orientation to answer three questions: What do we do? How do we do it? Who do we want to be while doing it? The first two cover the work and the rules. The third creates room for culture, judgment, and a consistent Guest experience.
Then build a simple rhythm after the first day. Invite employees to share examples, ask managers to model the practices, and revisit the language in team meetings and check-ins.
A 30-, 60-, or 90-day conversation can ask what has become clear, where the employee needs support, and which company value they have seen in action. Together, these touchpoints turn onboarding into an ongoing welcome.
Harley-Davidson of Tampa shows how orientation can begin a larger system: introduce the philosophy early, connect it to values, ask people to use its language, bring the whole group back to it, and let leaders represent it in daily work.
Start with one shared conversation
Keep new employee orientation focused on a shared conversation. Ask your team what kind of experience it wants to create for customers and for one another, then choose one behavior to practice this week.
Return to that behavior often so people can see it, name it, and try it together. That is how culture becomes clearer.
Try the FISH! Philosophy with your team
If you want a structured way to begin, try the FISH! Philosophy upgraded trial. It gives your team 30 days of access to the FISH! film and its digital guides, so you can introduce the four practices, connect them to new hire orientation and employee onboarding, and start turning the ideas into everyday actions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is new hire orientation different from employee onboarding?
New hire orientation usually introduces the organization, policies, basic expectations, and first-day information. Employee onboarding is the longer process that helps a new person build skills, relationships, confidence, and context over time, so orientation works best as the beginning of onboarding rather than a substitute for it.
How can a company make its values clear to remote or hybrid employees?
Remote and hybrid employees need the same clear language, examples, and access to leaders as employees working on site. Build values into virtual meetings, written handoffs, and one-on-one conversations so culture remains visible when people are not sharing a physical workplace.
How can a company measure whether its culture training is working?
Use several signals instead of relying on one score. Look at employee feedback, participation in follow-up conversations, examples of the desired behaviors, manager observations, and customer or Guest experience measures that fit the organization.
How can small teams use the FISH! practices without a formal training program?
Start with one shared conversation and one practice that fits a current need. A team can notice where it needs more presence, recognition, creativity, or conscious choice, then discuss one example at the next meeting and decide what to try next.
How can leaders keep recognition from feeling forced?
Make recognition specific, timely, and sincere, and match it to the person receiving it. Describe what the person did and why it helped; appreciation feels more genuine when it responds to a real contribution instead of following a quota.
