Chapter Three: Master the Art of Transforming the Workplace | Part 2 of 4
Revised and updated | Hire Train Monitor Motivate: Build an Organization, Team, or Career of Distinction in the Transformational Workplace
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Chapter Three
Master the Art of Transforming the Workplace
Part 2 of 4: Train for Quality
Customer-focused, team-oriented, and consensus-driven organizations are dedicated to excellence in recruiting and retaining employees who educate and serve their constituents. Their ongoing responsibility is to hire, train, monitor, and motivate passionate contributors who strive to achieve the desired customer and organizational results.
I was fortunate to have successful tenures in organizational leadership and team building by learning and practicing the art of hiring, training, monitoring, and motivating. These four skills are essential for building and sustaining an organization, a team, or an individual’s career of distinction.
Train for Quality
I’ve noticed that the typical response from employee surveys is the perceived need for more training. We are always learning and remain open to further instruction, regardless of our current level of knowledge. So, whether you’re a facilitator or a learner, staying in constant training mode is essential.
Nonetheless, any employee training program must address both technical and regulatory requirements, as well as personal and group performance, to achieve the desired organizational, team, and individual results.
First Impressions Last Forever
Orientations are key onboarding events for new employees. The old saying, “First impressions are lasting,” still holds. It’s best to conduct formal, full-day new employee orientations with a written, step-by-step agenda that involves different departments. And as soon as the new employee completes the necessary human resources paperwork, prepare a memorable day for them.
Provide an engaging overview of key information and introductions. Take them out to lunch. By the end of the orientation, have the new employee thinking, “This is the best first day of work, ever!”
Individual vs. Group Training
Group training sessions are often enjoyable and productive for the non-sales departments. Sales and marketing teams also benefit from group learning, although, in my experience, salespeople may adopt some bad habits in group settings. Consider limiting sales staff to individual training sessions with their supervisor.
Nevertheless, focus on quality performance during training. Despite time constraints, learning opportunities serve as practical tools for communicating goals and measuring outcomes that teams and individuals have committed to achieving, as well as providing a valuable opportunity to offer public praise.
Hire talented, qualified players, and training sessions become rewarding get-togethers that celebrate success; a guaranteed welcoming alternative to forced learning where employees come to regret checking “more training, please” on the survey in the first place.
No matter how it is presented, when participants view the training as a celebration of effort and a chance to learn new things, gatherings become popular events that motivate performance, not despite it, but because of it.
Ninety-Day Impact
Whether hiring and training or being hired and trained, performance during the first ninety days on a new job or promotion often determines the employee’s long-term impact, for better or worse.
As the hiring or training manager, stay attentive to the recruit’s behavior, commitment, motivation, and desire to succeed during this crucial learning phase. If you are the recruit, develop a plan to acquire as much knowledge of the job description as possible, and then show proficiency in the new role. Remind yourself each day that what you achieve in the first ninety days will leave a lasting impression on your supervisor and coworkers.
An effective way to assess the success of new employees, including your own, is to determine if they make an impact from the very beginning. Initial ninety-day evaluations are a valuable tool for measuring the effectiveness of the hiring process and training program. Was the hire a good fit? If so, did the orientation and training set the new employee on a path toward long-term success?
Think of the ninety-day impact as similar in scope to the first one hundred days in the White House for a new U.S. president. Political wisdom states that what the president achieves in those initial hundred days often defines their legacy.
Validate your potential long-term contributions to your new job or your recruit’s performance by demonstrating or observing the ninety-day impact. A hundred exceptional days is also acceptable.
Onboard your new employees or coworkers with strong orientation programs that create positive first impressions. Train both new and experienced employees in quality, and remain open to new ideas and methods that support the development and production of your organization’s products or services.
Monitor performance during the first ninety days on the job to assess long-term potential and determine if the new employee, including yourself, is a good fit. Your customers and, as a positive result, the organization’s stakeholders will benefit from the commitment to excellence.
Next in Hire Train Monitor Motivate | Chapter Three: Master the Art of Transforming the Workplace | Part 3 of 4 — Monitor for Compliance
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