“Why would I want to hire someone to have to spend 3 hours training them to do something I can do in 40 minutes?”
Yes, it is a valid question and one that regularly goes through a leader’s mind when they are on-boarding (aka training) a new member of their team. It is also a common thought that gets a lot of our new clients “stuck” per se in their hiring of our professional services. I understand, it has been a common frustration I have addressed with our clients in the early phases of hiring our services as well as a thought that I have had myself as I have hired new team members to Assistants 4 HIre.
Here are the tips I send to our clients and reminders to myself when going through the on-boarding process:
1) It’s only temporary.
Yes, actually the thought that you can get done in 30-40 minutes that may take you up 2-3 hours to train is completely valid. Not only do you have to pay the person you are training for that extra time, but you are also losing your valuable time in the process.
Remember that this is a temporary process. It is only is a part of your reality for a couple of days when training your team member properly. Of course, there may be a check-in or an update afterward when some updates need to be made, still, this is only happening now, it will not be your reality in a month or two when the on-boarding is complete.
2) Have whomever you are on-boarding to write the processes and procedures you are training them on.
Want to streamline your training so that you won't have to train the same thing 2,3,4,5 times in the next year, two years, etc as you add team members to your business? Or at the very least, cut down on the time it takes you to onboard? Make sure whomever you are training writes down the procedures you are training them thoroughly as you train them.
Done well enough, the person you are training can then train the next person launching into the business. If you still feel you need to be in charge of the training, hand over your new addition the procedures prior to the on-boarding process which now turns into a “review of the items listed” while going through the on-boarding process.
3) Create a system for Assignments and Follow Up
I love Trello (www.trello.com) It is easy to add team members, create columns of “To Do,” “Doing, “ and “Done.” You can create boards for each major theme in your business and then follow what is being done.
For Example: After I write the post, there will be a card for my team member Liz to “edit,” with a due date of tomorrow attached. Once I send this over to her, I can just check on Trello tomorrow to see when she moves it to “doing” and “done.” Once it arrives there, the next steps can be taken.
There are many other apps that are also effective “Teamwork” and “Monday Morning” to name a couple.
In any case, when creating a team, you want to be able to streamline tasks and be able to see their progress in the most effective way. These apps and tools are amazing in helping achieve that goal.
4) It is all WORTH IT!
All that time you just felt you spent onboarding your new hire will come back full circle. In a month or two when you are on a train, plane or commuting and you only have to write a 30 second “To Do” card in Trello to prompt an action to get done something that would normally take you an hour...your reward has just been met!
Your life just got easier, more efficient and less stressful! That is why we believe in delegating.
Want more tips and tricks to help you with time management, onboarding, or business strategy? Continue to check out our blog and subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.assistants4hire.net/blog-1