We've facilitated over 10 million introductions for more than 20,000 teams, and one question we still get often is: "How are other teams using Donut?"
This definitive guide outlines various programs you can set up in 10 minutes or less, inspired by industry leaders like Okta, Bonusly and Buffer, from cross-department connections to mentorship programs.
🎥 Want to see how it works? Our demo videos show real examples of the tailored introductions, workflows, and other features that your team can start using today!
📚 Share Knowledge Across the Company
Leverage existing expertise and foster peer-to-peer learning.
Peer Mentorship Program - Match mentors and mentees for a structured program guiding their partnership over a set timeframe. Send resources periodically, automatically set meetings, and prompt discussion.
Peer Mentorship Program Best Practices:
🎯 Easily set clear goals
Use the enrollment form to define specific, measurable objectives for the mentorship program.
📆 Let Donut help you establish a meeting schedule
Utilize our built-in scheduling tools to set regular check-ins and track progress.
💬 Collect constructive feedback
Encourage mentors and mentees to share targeted feedback through the Donut's polls.
📚Share relevant resources
Mentors and Admins can upload articles, case studies, and other helpful materials within the Journey. Click here to learn more about adding content to your Journey.
🎉 Celebrate milestones
Recognize mentorship achievements using custom Donut Celebrations channels!
New Manager Mentorship - Match new managers with experienced mentors for six months of periodic meetings, productive conversations, and resources that will help them learn.
Lunch & Learn Sessions - Have an Excel whiz on the team? Want everyone to benefit from a good public speaker's techniques? Pair colleagues interested in discussing a particular topic so they can share knowledge. You can create multiple channels based on interest, and have people join the specific channel's that interest them.
Code review pals - Introduce engineers for code review sessions and constructive feedback, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Sales demo buddies - Pair account executives for joint sales demo calls and feedback sessions, fostering collaboration and skill enhancement.
🌟 Ramp Up New Hires and Interns Faster
Empower new hires to hit the ground running by automating
the delivery of timely, relevant information.
Full-Time Employee Onboarding - Set new hires up for success with a 6-month program that includes 30/60/90-day check-in reminders, strategic networking opportunities, feedback collection, and more.
Key Intros and Channels for New Hires - Have managers choose networking opportunities and must-join Slack channels for new hires. Collect feedback on the onboarding experience.
Simple Onboarding Polls - Send quick-pulse polls to new hires at the end of Week 1 and 30 days — gathering valuable data about the onboarding experience and time to productivity.
Internship Full Lifecycle - Run a 12-week internship program complete with onboarding, networking opportunities, and offboarding.
Explore additional resources and programs for new hires and interns
Explore additional resources and programs for new hires and interns
Intern Class Connections - Asynchronously prompt interns to chat about everything from their favorite hobby, to dream vacation, to career goals.
New Hire Cohort Connections - Help new hires meet other people starting around the same time. Create camaraderie among new hires, and helps them knowledge-share and navigate as they onboard into your company.
New Hire Cohort Watercooler -Prompt new hires twice a week to chat about thought-provoking topics to create rapport among a cohort.
New Hire Connection Roulette - Every 4 weeks introduce a new hire to a tenured teammate for networking and knowledge sharing.
📈 Facilitate Ongoing Development
Create customized training initiatives and skill-building programs.
Leadership Training - Set newly promoted managers up for success with readings and exercises, and strategic connections for peer support. Collect feedback from new managers and their managers to gauge performance.
Scalable Skill-Building - Identify skills to strengthen across the organization, like public speaking, data analysis or project management. Build Journeys to teach those capabilities.
Explore additional training + development solutions
Explore additional training + development solutions
1:1 Mentor Skill Sharing - Connect mentors who are subject matter experts with mentees who’d like to gain that particular skill. Using the "Cross-Group Intro" type, Donut will set up mentees and mentors for a 1:1 skill-building session.
Language Learning - Use “Within-group Intros” to connect teammates with language practice buddies who are looking to help each other level up their language skills.
🗓 Streamline Event Planning
Leverage automation to reduce the manual workload involved with coordinating with happy hours and offsites.
Happy Hour Coordination - Send pre- and post-event prep reminders to the organizer, and collect feedback from attendees.
Offsite Preparation and Feedback - Keep offsite planning on track with reminders to event organizers and attendees, and collect helpful feedback.
💻 Keep Leadership Connected
Give teammates regular opportunities to chat, brainstorm, and give feedback to leadership.
CEO Coffee Lottery - Pick four lucky teammates per month to have a coffee with the CEO.
Leadership Roundtables - Once a month, pair team leads with a a group from their respective departments for productive discussions and brainstorming sessions, generating innovative ideas and solutions.
Team Lead 1:1s - Prompt team leads to meet with direct reports once a month for a one-to-one discussion, fostering open communication and providing a platform for mentorship.
⬇️ More Solutions to Foster Meaningful Relationships ⬇️
⬇️ More Solutions to Foster Meaningful Relationships ⬇️
Spark Watercooler Conversations - Whether your team is co-located, remote, or a blend of both, leverage Donut to initiate engaging conversation topics in a designated channel.
Celebrate Birthdays and Work Anniversaries - Never forget a birthday or work anniversary! Automate personalized celebration messages to be sent to a channel, allowing teammates to congratulate each other on their special days.
Highlight Weekly Wins - Recognition and celebration contribute to trust-building and team cohesion. Donut randomly connects a group of individuals each week to reflect on the week's achievements, big or small, and celebrate collective growth.
Facilitate Cross-Department Intros - Sales, meet marketing. Engineering, meet customer support. Ensure that teammates from different departments are familiar with each other.
Promote Intros Across Offices - Does SF feel a million miles away from NYC? Are London and Chicago totally disconnected? Create opportunities for teammates who wouldn't typically interact to connect and engage, bridging the geographical gap.
Organize Remote Coffee Meetups - Is your team fully remote? Split across different offices? Coffee via Zoom is the new 21st-century cafe meetup.
Hybrid Walk & Talks - Screen Fatigue is real, but so is social isolation. Connect a hybrid or remote team by encouraging regular "walk and talk" meetings, whether that's IRL or on a voice-only call.
All-Team Breakouts - Enhance the value of all-team meetings by creating smaller discussion groups and providing thought-provoking prompts to kickstart meaningful conversations.
Lunch lottery - Treat a few lucky winners to a company-sponsored lunch each month, recognizing that strong bonds are often formed over shared meals.
Support Mergers + Acquisitions - Smooth the transition during a merger by proactively introducing new teammates from different companies, facilitating integration and collaboration.
❓ Is something missing? If you run a program you think should be featured here or have questions about leveraging Donut for specific business needs, just hit the chat bubble on the right-hand side of the screen. We'd love to hear from you 😊