How We Onboard Your Team to a New Notion System
Four ways to help your team move from “Where do I click?” to confidently getting work done.
A new Notion system is exciting. But a well-built workspace is only useful if the people using it know what to do with it.
You can have the cleanest dashboards, the smartest databases and a beautifully organized project tracker. But if your team opens the workspace and wonders, “Okay… now what?” the system is not going to do much on its own.
That is why onboarding is part of the conversation when we build a Notion system for a client. Different teams have different schedules, comfort levels and ways of learning. Some like to watch a walkthrough at their own pace. Others want to ask questions, click around and learn by doing.
Here are the four ways we can help your team get comfortable with its new workspace—and the pros and cons of each.
The goal is not to turn everyone into a Notion expert. It is to help each person understand the parts of the system they need for their work.
Option 1. Pre-recorded videos
Learn at your own pace 🎥
We record walkthroughs of your newly built system so your team can see how it works and how to use it. People can watch when it suits them, pause when they need to and replay the parts they want to revisit.
Someone missed the first explanation? No problem. Someone wants to see how to update a task again? They can go back to the relevant part instead of asking a colleague to walk them through it for the fifth time.
The pros
- Flexible: team members can learn around their own schedules, even across time zones.
- Repeatable: people can pause, rewind and revisit the explanation whenever they need a refresher.
- Useful beyond launch: recordings can also help introduce future team members to the system, as long as the workspace still matches what is shown.
The trade-offs
- People cannot ask questions in the moment, and it can be hard to tell whether everyone has watched or understood the videos.
- If your system changes significantly, the recordings may need updating.
Best for: busy or distributed teams, people who prefer self-paced learning, and teams that want a resource they can revisit.
2. Live onboarding session
A guided walkthrough 🖥️
Prefer to have us walk the team through the workspace in real time? A live onboarding session gives everyone an introduction to the new system together, with space to ask questions as we go.
It is a good way to help people see how the different parts of the workspace fit together and what their role in the process looks like.
The pros
- Immediate answers: people can ask questions while the system is being explained.
- Shared starting point: the team hears the same walkthrough and can discuss how it applies to their work.
- Real-time clarification: we can slow down or explain an area differently when something is unclear.
The trade-offs
- Everyone needs to make time for the session, and one pace will not be perfect for every person.
- A walkthrough is not the same as hands-on practice. People may understand it while watching but still need help when they start using the workspace themselves.
- The client is responsible for recording and documenting the call if the team needs a replay or notes. Make sure everyone is comfortable with recording before you start.
- Takes longer than pre-recorded videos and might not be equally well structured.
Best for: teams that prefer a shared, guided introduction and want to ask questions in the moment.
3. Q&A session
Get unstuck after exploring 💬
A Q&A session is exactly what it sounds like: time to bring your questions about the system and work through them with us.
This usually pairs best with pre-recorded videos. Your team can watch the walkthroughs, try the workspace and make a note of anything that is unclear. Then, instead of sitting through the same introduction twice, we can focus on the questions that came up in real use.
The pros
- Focused: the discussion is driven by the team’s actual questions.
- Flexible: people can ask about the parts of the system most relevant to their work.
- A useful follow-up: it gives the team a chance to clarify things after the initial introduction has had time to sink in.
The trade-offs
- It works best when people have already watched the videos or spent some time in the workspace. Otherwise, they may not yet know what to ask.
- A Q&A is not a full walkthrough or a substitute for hands-on practice if the team needs either of those.
- Like any live session, it requires scheduling time together.
Best for: teams that have had an introduction, especially through videos, and want help with specific questions or sticking points.
4. Tutorial session
Learn by doing 🧩
Sometimes watching a walkthrough is not enough. You may be worried that your team will struggle to use the new system—or you may know that some people are much more comfortable with technology than others.
That is where a tutorial session comes in.
We usually create a copy of the system for the team to play in and prepare a set of tasks for people to complete live. Depending on the workspace, those tasks might involve finding a project, creating a task, updating a status or navigating to the information they need.
The copy gives everyone a place to experiment without worrying about changing the live system. And working through tasks helps reveal where people feel confident and where they need a little more guidance.
The pros
- Hands-on: people practise the actions they will actually need to take.
- A safer place to explore: the team can try things in a copy rather than experimenting in the live system.
- Makes gaps visible: completing tasks can show where someone needs a clearer explanation or more practice.
The trade-offs
- Practicing live in a group can feel stressful, especially for people who are less confident with technology or do not like learning in front of others.
- Tutorials need dedicated time and preparation, and people may progress at different speeds.
- A practice copy is helpful, but people will still need time to apply what they learned in their real workflows.
Best for: teams with mixed levels of Notion or technology experience, and clients who want to check that people can actually use the system—not just watch someone else use it.
If group practice feels intimidating, we can discuss ways to make it more comfortable, such as giving people time to explore quietly, working through examples together or breaking the group into smaller sessions. The format can be discussed when planning the onboarding.
Which onboarding option should you choose?
There is no single right answer. The best option depends on your team, their schedules and how they prefer to learn.
If your team… | A good starting point |
Needs flexibility or wants to revisit explanations | Pre-recorded videos |
Prefers a shared walkthrough and immediate answers | Live onboarding session |
Has watched the videos and has specific questions | Q&A session |
Needs hands-on practice or has mixed technical confidence | Tutorial session |
Or… Choose a combination of 2 methods!
Pre-recorded videos will often cover the same introductory ground as a live onboarding session, so you may not need both. You can follow the videos with a Q&A if questions remain, or with a tutorial if the team would benefit from practicing in a copy of the system.
A live walkthrough can also be followed by a tutorial. And if your team would benefit from both videos and a live introduction, we can discuss that too. The point is to choose the combination that helps your people, not to add meetings for the sake of meetings.
Our favorite pairing: videos first, followed by a Q&A session if questions come up. The team gets time to explore before we meet, so the conversation can focus on what they really need help with.
A good system is one your team can use with confidence
A new workspace does not need everyone to become a Notion wizard overnight. It needs people to know where to find their work, what to update and what to do next.
Whether that happens through a recording, a live conversation or a little hands-on practice, we want your team to feel comfortable using the system we have built—not afraid to click on anything.
Building a Notion system for your team?
We can help you think through the setup and the onboarding that comes after it.
Let’s talk about what your team needs!
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