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Ever
notice that “deer caught in the headlights of a
fast approaching truck”
look on the faces of the new people on their first day
at your rental company? They don’t even know where the
bathrooms are.
They
may possess the talent to break down and rebuild a small
engine with the same confidence as a Marine disassembles
a weapon, but it is all just raw potential until you
integrate the newbies as productive members of your
staff.
Yard
man, counterperson or driver, your new employee must
become comfortable with the mechanics of your specific
operation before producing the results you expect.
There
are two basic methods for training new personnel. The
first and most used is the “sink or swim” school of
training in which a supervisor leads the new employee to
a large swimming pool. “We are very impressed with
your credentials,” the supervisor says. “Ask anyone
if you have questions.” Then the supervisor pushes the
new employee into the deep end. The new employee — who
doesn’t want to look foolish — makes a valiant
effort to hold his frantic splashing to a minimum.
This
method of training is effective — eventually. Taking
the plunge and making mistakes can teach a person pretty
well. Most of your new people will ultimately
learn their jobs and settle into the company rhythm.
But
ask yourself, can your business afford an average of
three mistakes for every step of the learning process?
Large
companies employ a dedicated training staff, even
allocate time for new employees to attend training
seminars. New employees can make their three mistakes in
a classroom setting.
This
is impractical for the majority of rental equipment
operations. Chances are good that your company offers
some sort of orientation, maybe a handbook of some kind.
Still, the day-to-day reality for most rental businesses
is lean and mean. The need is now and resources do not
allow the time or money for elaborate training programs.
Consider
a marriage of the two methods — a hybrid version that
is less likely to soak up limited resources and more
able to provide personal flotation devices when a
multitude of new processes and procedures threaten to
engulf your new employees.
Reference
material is the foundation of proper training. When your
new employee is lost in a sea of new information and
everyone else is too busy to help, reference material
can make the difference between success and frustration.
Nothing
is more fundamental than names and phone numbers, which
you have in abundance. Your database is full of them.
But people often need something they can tape to a wall.
Nothing beats a simple, printed list.
Assign
an experienced employee to compile a list of names,
phone numbers and, if appropriate, addresses of the
people and organizations that are important to the
smooth operation of your business. This should be a
short list, no more than two or three printed pages.
Just as most people have many acquaintances but a
smaller circle of friends, your employees may
communicate with hundreds of people occasionally but
interact with a much smaller group day-to-day.
This
abridged contact list is not a customer list, per se.
Include suppliers, the people who fix equipment beyond
the skills of your crew, even the phone numbers of the
people who stock your vending machines. But exclude
company personnel at this point.
Especially
during the first few weeks, your new employee will
discover a need to contact someone and not know who or
how. That new person will waste a few minutes
considering the problem, a few more minutes deciding
which co-worker to interrupt … you see where this is
heading. You can short-circuit the entire scenario with
a simple list of frequent contacts.
Include
a short paragraph explaining why this person is valuable
to your company. Note the services and/or products this
person provides, as well as what is expected from you.
Omit any derogatory comments. This transforms what began
as a phone book into a superb training tool and resource
for your new employee.
Few
employees will thank you for this assignment. Too many
important tasks already compete for their attention. For
best results, be sure to stress the priority you place
on the project and set a deadline for completion.
When
completed, give the list to another employee for review.
Instruct the second employee to add names and to refine
the comments under each name, then return the list to
the first employee, who has overall responsibility to
format and polish the finished product.
Next,
compile a similar but separate list for names and phone
numbers of company personnel. Replace the “comments”
paragraph with short job descriptions.
You
now have two reference tools that will benefit not only
new employees, but your entire staff. Both projects
probably required less than two hours’ total time.
Are
there other areas where you can provide written training
material for your new hires? Consider training sheets to
summarize important procedures and processes.
Most
of your business procedures are fairly simple, at least
to you. Still, your new employees must learn dozens of
procedures and hundreds of simple steps. Put all that
together and it’s intimidating. The things they learn
today will begin to crowd what they learned yesterday. A
good training sheet allows for efficient instruction and
quick review, so you don’t lose what you have gained.
Be
warned that there exists a hard truth about training
sheets, which you probably know intuitively or have
learned through long experience. Many training sheets
are poorly constructed, confusing at best and often
nearly worthless. These things work only if you are
serious about developing training sheets that are both
functional and effective.
A
good training sheet must clearly explain a specific
process in such a way that your new employee could
successfully complete the process alone. Vague
explanations, partial explanations and outdated
information spawn frustration rather than resolve it.
In
addition, a good training sheet must be short and to the
point. It should consist of one page only. An elaborate
explanation of some basic process that rambles on in
endless detail will prove more detrimental than
beneficial. Break down complicated processes into
component parts that fit onto a single sheet.
Now
for the good news. Most training sheets take less than
15 minutes to prepare. And the format is simple.
Describe step one of the process, then describe step
two, then step three and step four. Add a few bulleted
explanations under each step and you are finished.
Notwithstanding
the previous warning about poorly written training
sheets, keep in mind that a training sheet is nothing
more than a basic outline with brief descriptions, not a
master’s thesis.
The
procedure for developing training sheets follows the
pattern you established for the phone lists. One
employee writes the sheet; a second employee reviews the
sheet.
Reference
material is great, as far as it goes. But sometimes the
hand of a more experienced employee on the shoulder of a
new employee makes all the difference. The combination
of personal instruction coupled with a training sheet
for review is powerful.
In
all likelihood, you generally will appoint someone to
shepherd a new employee for the first few days and then
function as an advisor until he becomes familiar with
his job assignments. This is excellent but creates some
challenges for the shepherd. The shepherd must now do
double duty — training the new person and still
accomplishing his or her own regular job.
You
should consider assigning other employees to help with
specific training exercises, rather than expecting one
person to do all the heavy lifting. Everyone gains
multiple benefits. Team spirit increases because more
employees become involved in the training process. The
new employee acclimatizes more quickly not only to the
job, but also your company community. And the teacher
often learns more than the student.
If
you limit these training sessions to 15 minutes, the
time expended by busy, veteran employees is kept to a
minimum. In this way, you secure many benefits of a
training staff without the expense.
You
cannot afford to ignore the negative consequences of
unplanned, undirected training. Do it right and it will
help integrate your new employees into your company
quicker and much more effectively, so they can get down
to business. |
