Employee Orientation and Training - Part II

Orientation and training is certainly not a glamorous part of running your own business. However, it is an extremely important part if you want to be successful for the long term. Notice I added the words "long term." I have seen many short term successes over the years. These are companies who happen to hit their industry at the right time. Maybe they became a home builder during a housing boom in their area. Maybe they got into the mortgage business during the refinance boom. Maybe they started selling sports memorabilia when the professional football team in their city won the Superbowl. It is kind of like the "one hit wonders" of the entertainment industry.

If your objective in owning a business is to start the business, build up the sales quickly and sell it a year or two later, then you certainly don't care about building a strong foundation. On the other hand, if you intend to own the business for many profitable years, then a good orientation and training program is a vital part of that foundation.

The purpose of an orientation program is to enable new employees to become familiar with the company as a whole. The program should present the company's vision, goals, policies, etc. It should also take care of "housekeeping" matters such as direct deposit for paychecks, insurance forms, vacation requests. The employee manual should be given to the employee at this time.

Training is teaching the new employee the duties and responsibilities of her new position. While an accountant and a sales person may be in the same orientation meeting, they would most likely not be in the same training session.

"But Ron," you say, "I am a really small company with only two employees. I don't need to do all of this." Yes, you do - even if you only have two employees. Do you want to have two GOOD employees, two mediocre employees, or two bad employees?

The Orientation Session: There are two reasons to have a formal orientation session. The first is make the employee feel as though he is part of the team. You make him feel welcome. He meets the other team members. The second is to learn about the company. These are two highly integrated objectives. The more an employee knows about the company, the more he will feel that he is a part of the company. Some of the items which should be covered in the orientation program are:

• History: Tell your new employee about the history of your company. When was the company started? Why was it started? Where? Is it in its original location or has it moved? Who was the founder? Even if you are the owner and this is your first employee, give him this type of information.



• Vision, Mission, Goals: Show your new employee your mission and vision statements. Explain why you chose that particular vision for your company. Tell her what your company's goals are. How can you expect her to help you achieve those goals if she doesn't know what they are? How can she feel that she is part of the team if she doesn't know where the team is going?



• Employee/Policy Manual: Review your policies with your new employee. These policies should be in writing in the form of an employee or policy manual. The manual should contain all policies from dress code to vacation requests. Yes ...... even if you just have one employee you should have a manual. (We will cover the content, structure and purpose of the policy manual in the next posting).

The Training Program: Don't hire an employee if you don't have a training program in place. Let's go back to the professional football team that drafted the college quarterback and the recently graduated surgeon that we discussed in the last posting. You thought it was ridiculous for the team not to teach the quarterback the plays and have him practice with the team prior to his first game. You certainly didn't want to be the patient receiving the heart transplant from the untrained surgeon. Why do you think that it is okay to have your customer (the person who puts money in your pocket) receive a product or service from your untrained employee?

When you develop your training program keep three important concepts in mind.

• Assume the new employee knows nothing! Don't say, "Well, I am sure that you know X, don't you?" How do you think she is going to answer? Whether she knows or not, with a question phrased in that manner she is going to say, "Of course I do." Start from point zero and train/teach everything. Even if she knows already, the training will be a good review.
  


• No matter how simple you perceive the job to be, have a training manual with all of the instructions. Have checklists in the manual so employees have to remember nothing. Everything is in writing for them. Develop a procedure that requires them to use this checklist and a procedure whereby you can follow-up to make sure they were used. It doesn't matter whether you are hiring a custodian, a painter, an accountant, a marketing VP, or whatever. Have a training manual for the position.



• Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up and follow-up some more. As I said in the last posting, Tiger Woods is the number one rated golfer in the world ......and he still has an instructor. He has someone watch his swing to help him get better. You need to watch your employees and help them get better. You should have a formal program to follow-up on their performance. Never let them (or yourself) stop learning and improving.

In the next posting, we will discuss the employee/policy manual. Please submit your comments and suggestions. You can visit our web site at http://www.sentrabusinesssolutions.com/.