Last week in “Reflecting on Leadership“, I said “The more I thought about it, the more disturbing this reflection became. I thought back to any number of employers and client businesses and the training they offered to new team members. Training was never about preparing a new (albeit, sometimes experienced) employee to succeed / survive IN THE ACTUAL SITUATION / ROLE.”
It’s important to unwrap this & explain why I find this disturbing.
Why “disturbing”?
I said “disturbing” because the short and long term impact of this lack of training hit me. It impacts the company’s success, the employee’s short term success in the role, and the employee’s career in the long term.
Think about the perspective of the employee who steps up. Employees might be stepping outside of their comfort zone in order to take a shot at this role. While access to opportunity is important, employees like to help their company & manager by filling an important role. Consider the potential chaos created by the departure of someone with “big shoes to fill”. Everyone knows the impact of that departure – yet someone is likely to volunteer to take on that role. Employees who step up to fill a role created by increased workload feel similarly.
From the owner’s perspective, each of those situations imply that success in the role is important to your company. An existing staffer who steps up deserves to be well-prepared for the role.
What happens if someone who “steps up” to take on a new role is “thrown to the wolves”? The natural response is that other employees will be less likely to step up when the opportunities present themselves. Eventually, the perceived lack of opportunity will provoke them to leave your company.
They reflect what we teach.
The lack of role-specific training teaches the employee what “normal” is. As their career continues, they’re likely to manage others – and will likely do so as they have been managed. There will be exceptions, of course, but our own experience tends to be our teacher. Consider the long-time employee who becomes one of your senior leaders. Would you want them based role-specific training decisions based on the training they received? Anything you do is everything you do. It all ties together.
Employees who join other companies in your industry send a message. Not because they left you, but by reflection. Their skill set, experience and how they work reflects upon your company. Your peers and your customers will eventually figure out that your team is “making it up as they go along”, if that’s how things work. Poorly trained people are easy to notice.
What about seasoned staffers?
You might expect them to step in and “hit the ground running” since you selected them because of their background & experience (among other things). Even so, experience & background aren’t everything. New team members joining from “the outside” should take part in discussions about your company’s culture, resources, role expectations, etc before a hiring decision is made. Culture is a critical piece for experienced people. Behaviors expected / tolerated elsewhere can cause failure of a new team member as if they never had a chance.
Avoiding the blank sheet
While the specifics of role specific training will vary, some topics likely occur across industries.
Examples to get you started:
- Specific duties of this role on a daily / weekly / quarterly / annual basis.
- Process-specific training required to succeed.
- Where / how do the duties in this role fit into its department?
- How does this role’s work fit into and contribute to the company’s big picture / mission?
- Information / data received regularly.
- Events to be concerned about.
- Events to expect.
- Events to be concerned about if they don’t happen.
- Data the company creates and/or collects that’s related to this role.
- Expected deliverables & their due dates.
- Sources of industry info that should be monitored.
- Industry influencers to interact with / follow.
- Available ongoing training / certifications needed.
- Company’s policy on getting initial & advanced training. Time out of office, travel, tuition, reimbursement, etc.
- Time normally required in this role before going to advanced role specific training.
- Company experts (in this role’s context) and the person whose job requirements include mentoring the person in this role.
- Internal company groups related to this role / department. When / where they meet. What to gain from them. Insight they need.
What ideas / suggestions do you have?
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