Have you seen your classes slowly but surely dissipate until you can’t graduate the needed headcount for the production team to be successful? I can tell you, I have spent many a night wondering how we can close this gap. How do we hold on to great people that have been recruited for the role? As you already know, the answer to this question is not going to be a quick and easy “do this (fill it the blank) and everything will be okay.”
What I can do is share some tips that will help you along the way:
- Communication with other departments : We should share the behaviors and skills needed to be successful with our recruiting team. Speak with the leaders that are doing the hiring to ensure that they know what to look for in quality candidates. This will ensure the necessary foundational knowledge is built into the new hires before starting training. Provide feedback on the results, and help them continue to solve for you. The operations team needs to participate in growing relationships with new team members during the training phase. Set specific times to visit the class and have a prepared agenda, which should cover key ideas trainees will need in their future roles.
- Show potential candidates the job : Let new hires know what the role is and how to be successful before taking the job. One of the biggest opportunities still lies in a different set of expectations on “what I will be doing” versus “what I am doing.”
- Set expectations early : Trainers need to be able to clearly communicate what training will include from beginning to end. They should provide agendas to track progress and communicate changes. Trainers should let trainees know how to conduct themselves to be successful. They should set the expectation early that class is participative, and then have activities that engage the learner allowing them to contribute.
- Connect with the learners : Trainers should be taught how to engage new hires and learn who they are quickly. How do they learn? What types of behaviors should they expect from everyone? Many forms of testing exist to determine these insights, and each company should research which works for their culture.
- Build an environment that breeds success : By creating an environment that is both educational and fun, you can remove the stress that accompanies learning material. When trainees are engaged and enjoy what they are doing, they will absorb the needed information before they even realize it.
- Teach your training team the metrics : Your trainers should know how to do the role they are teaching. They should be able to share the metrics that will enable the team members to achieve their commitments. The trainer should then be able to teach the behaviors that will drive success.
- Use the right language : Positivity breeds positivity, and unfortunately, the opposite is true as well because negativity breeds negativity. Instead of focusing on the opportunity missed, look at what was accomplished. Look at the positive. You could say, “You missed the target by 20%,” or you could say, “You achieved 80% of the goal; now let’s find the next 20%!”
Utilizing the above action items in each class as well as on the floor will create a positive working environment that will instill pride in employees. Starting this atmosphere early on in training will set the right mindset for the trainees and ensure they stick around to be successful in production. You will soon be able to rest easy.
