The other day I was coaching a client who had a new role in his organization. It is a job that has plenty of responsibility and it is newly created. He can’t wait to do it.
The challenge, though, is that he has only been trained to part of it. It’s like a wagon with three wheels. You might be able to hold up the end without the missing wheel to get the other wheels to move, but it will never be a smooth ride.
Here’s what’s going on. His supervisor trains him for the new role “when he (the supervisor) gets a chance.” It’s been months and she’s too busy with fighting fires and doing her own job.
Training is important. I have always asked my leaders to submit the training program for a new team member before the person is hired. I want to know that we have a solid plan in place to train and develop them.
Imagine hiring an actor for a role and you don’t have the script done. They can “kind of” act out the part, but without the script they have nothing solid to follow—and no idea where the story is going to go.
YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK:
- Do you have any new positions you are going to hire?
- Can you come up with the training program— complete with dates so that it can be shown to the applicant?
- Could you ask the applicant what they think of the training program so that you know if it scares them or not?
- How many of your people are “acting out” their job and have not been completely and fully trained?
- Do you realize that these people could fail because there are new things coming at them all the time and they don’t even know some basic procedures they were never taught?