"Because
we entrust the Starbucks brand to the hands of the baristas
(employees), it's vitally important that we hire great people
and imbue them with our passion for coffee. We do that through
a training program whose sophistication and depth are rare in
retail."4
Howard
Schultz
Founder
and former CEO, Starbucks
The
training period is the last step of acquiring an employee to
fill a position. You have already searched through
applications, done interviews, and made an offer that was
accepted. Because of all of the work that has been done, you
might be tempted to slack off a little on the training of the
new employee. This is especially true if you have gotten
behind on some of your work because of the time you have spent
finding a person for the position. However, be sure to resist
these urges because these formative days, weeks, and months
are a critical time. Cutting corners on training employees
will only create greater difficulties down the
road.
ELEMENTS
OF EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE TRAINING
Your
goal during the training period is to teach new employees what
they need to know so they can be a functioning member of the
team as soon as possible. Effective training programs have
numerous benefits. They can accelerate the learning process,
make employee morale high from the beginning, reduce employee
turnover, establish lines of communication between you and the
employee, and create a bond between the employee and the
company.
On the other hand, training employees ineffectively
stunts the growth of new employees by making them go through
unnecessary frustrations. When employees start a new job,
there is a lot of nervousness, some excitement, and even a
little fear. Employees want to blend in to their environment
and be accepted as soon as possible. If the initial starting
period is too uncomfortable for employees, they may start to
wonder if they made the right decision to take the job and may
leave soon after they are hired.
A successful training program should include
information about the overall company as well as the
employee's department and individual job. This can include
discussing the policies and procedures of the company, key
executives, culture, etc. You should also give a full
description of what products and services the company provides
as well as information about its customers and competitors. In
addition, the employee should be taken around to other
departments in the company and given the names and titles of
people that will be important to them as well as tips
regarding their work styles and personalities. Above all,
however, you should communicate to the employee through your
actions that they are valued and you will make sure that they
are given every opportunity to succeed.
Once the new employee has been informed about the
company, you can begin training them in their job. Unless your
company provides the training your employees will need, you
should have control over as much of the job training in your
department as possible. This is not something you should
delegate unless one of your employees is the only one with
expertise in that particular area. The reason is that whoever
does the training sets the standard and has the implied
authority. And you need to be the one who sets the standards
for your employees and has the authority over them. Employees
who are trained in their jobs by someone else will likely go
to that person when they have questions in the future and you
should want them coming to you.
Once the specific job training starts, remember that
the quickest way for employees to learn a new skill is for
them to jump in and do it. You can only go so far by
explaining something to the employee. After you go through the
process of explaining a task to an employee once, let the
employee get their feet wet while you sit back and give
guidance when they need it. You should also encourage the new
employee to ask as many questions as possible and do your best
to give thorough answers. Although a lot of questions they ask
will be very basic and the number of questions may test your
patience, try to put yourself in their shoes and remember what
it is like to start in a new position.
During the training process, you should allow employees
to make mistakes and then use them to teach employees where
they went wrong. Employees are much better off making mistakes
in front of you rather than on their own after the initial
training period. You should also ask them questions and have
them explain to you what they have been taught to make sure
they truly understand what they are doing. In the initial
stages of training, you should not just accept it when
employees say they understand what you taught them. Let them
show you they understand. In addition, be sure to give
employees a sense of how what they are doing fits into the big
picture. It is easy to focus only on the steps necessary to do
a task, but giving employees a broader view will instill a
much deeper understanding of how their role relates to the
whole operation.
Managers should give a lot of assurance during the
employee's training period. It is very important to praise
employees when they do a task correctly. If a task is done
partially correct, then praise what was done right and
tactfully let the employee know where a mistake was made and
how it should be corrected. The training period is usually a
very uncomfortable time for new employees. They need to know
that they are making progress and you will be there to help
them when they need it. During this time, don't expect an
employee to be perfect, just expect them to improve. You want
to do what you can to build the employee's confidence. If
employees have some early success in their job, they will feel
like they are a contributing member of the team and will
likely have a favorable first impression of the
company.
Finally, the training period should be viewed as a
process and not a one time event. A lot of questions that
employees will have can be answered in the first few days and
it won't be very long before the number of questions tapers
off sharply. However, you should not think that this will be
the end of the assistance you will need to give them. Every
once in a while, they will need to come to you to get a
question answered and it is critical that you make yourself
available to them. This will allow employees to complete what
they are doing and know exactly what to do when the situation
arises in the future.
EXAMPLES
Here
are two examples that show the consequences of improperly and
properly training employees:
Kevin Sullivan was hired as a salesman by a medical
equipment company in Baltimore. His experience selling to
hospitals in his previous jobs helped him land the position.
Kevin was excited about the job, but knew that he needed to
get some training on the products that his new company
offered. Even though he was still selling to hospitals, the
product line was much different than what he had sold before.
However, when he arrived at his new job, he was shocked
to find out that his new company didn't plan on giving him any
training on the products he would be selling.
Basically,
he was given the keys to a company car and told to get the job
done without any knowledge of the products. Although Kevin was
a good salesman, he was in way over his head. He felt like a
person who couldn't swim and the swimming instructor just
pushed him into the pool and told him to figure out how to
swim on his own.
Therefore, when he would meet with a potential client
at a hospital, he could not even answer some of the basic
questions that they would have. The customers would get very
frustrated, because they felt their time was being wasted.
After desperately trying to teach himself what he needed to
know about the products he was selling, Kevin finally got so
frustrated that he quit just a month after he
started.
***
Starbucks is a company that does an outstanding job
training their employees. They give each new hire, including
part-time employees, twenty four hours of training which is
remarkable for their industry. The training is done by either
store managers or district managers and includes basic
employee orientation as well as other various
courses.5 New employees watch a video where the CEO
tells them about the company's history, his experience there,
and how happy he is to have them join Starbucks. They also
participate in mock customer service scenarios. The result:
Employee turnover at Starbucks is usually around 60% which is
much lower than the industry average of
150%.6
SUMMARY
The
training period is the bridge between the time employees walk
through the door their first day until they are comfortable
doing the job on their own. A thorough training program will
give each new employee a much better chance to succeed in
their job.
