Have you been frustrated trying to lead your employees or co-workers? Does your vision seem to fizzle once it leaves the drawing board? Join Brandon and Rick for the second half of “Leadership” where they tell the story of Paul Orfalea of Kinkos and his effective method of training his co-workers. Learn some tips exposed by experts on the latest theories of training.
- If you are a leader, Lead
- Lead by example
- Lead by serving the relevant needs of your employees that are required to do their job.
- It is just not good enough for you to focus on customers’ needs and emotions. As Paul Orfalea of Kinkos says, your co-workers must also have that same frame of mind. Many call this ownership of one’s responsibilities. To receive co-working “ownership” you must give training.
- And in this light, manage your customers’ emotions.
- Make people comfortable enough to express themselves. This way, everyone can have the same mindset of improving the business.
- Develop a training plan: No matter how small your business is, take a moment and create an employee training plan.
- List the job description and responsibilities. Check with an HR company/labor lawyer about what to include in contracts and employee manuals.
- Determine who is responsible for training employees. (It shouldn’t be you.) If you are large enough to have business units, then a manager of the business unit should train the employee.
- If you are big enough to have an HR department, foster a dialog between the HR department.
- Set out a set of objectives you would like the employee to learn. How would you measure success?
- Schedule out a timeframe of how they would learn. What would you do if the employee struggles at one stage?
- Set up a reporting structure between the trainer and you as to the progress of the employee.
- Once the employee is trained, schedule review: First more frequent, like quarterly or semi-annually, then annually once they are established in their new position
- Continue to give constructive feedback.
- How does the optimum training affect your company’s success for each project?
- Problem solving
- When you face a challenge, do you fall back on normal operating procedures?
- Does this constrict you, your management teams, and employees when solving problems?
- Do you engage your employees and managers for a strategic solution to a problem?
- If it ain’t broke, you aren’t looking hard enough.
- Ask different questions and listen to your employees.
- Don’t ask where can we cut?
- Ask, how we can reinvent ourselves to a new vision.
- When you face a challenge, do you fall back on normal operating procedures?
To lead without a co-worker training plan is like a general sending their soldiers out to battle unarmed.
