New Trainees Can Cause Headaches

When you plan ahead for new trainees you can eliminate several months of headaches!

Steve, Branch Manager for a whole sale plumbing distributor in Bend OR., told Session 9B of Turbo's Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"I was having a big challenge managing my time, finding and making the time needed for both me and our trainees. Depending on the training module and position it can take anywhere from a few weeks to 8 months to compete each. I often found myself scrambling the last few days of the month trying to stay current. This was resulting in me not meeting our company's standards for timely completion of our new hires ongoing training requirements.

"The action I took was begin to plan ahead one month for the following months training requirement for each trainee. Now I meet individually with each trainee at the beginning of the month. We set a list of goals and expectations on the training that needs to be completed over the next 30 days. As a part of our plan we also identify who from our branch will need to help in the actual training, whether it's me or someone in another department. We then schedule a day during the last week of the month to review the trainee's progress and prepare for the next month.

"Since I started planning ahead the training has gone a lot smoother for all parties involved. Our branches trainees get the quality training and time they deserve. This has resulted in improved time management on my part, and now my trainees are ahead of our company's required training schedule!

"The lessons I learned from this experience is to take the time to plan ahead. Don't be afraid to set goals and get commitments from people on my expectations. The action I want you to take is to plan ahead and set goals. When it comes time to set goals, write them down and get commitments from other parties involved as necessary.

"The benefits you will gain are employees that want to learn, and in turn will be even more engaged in their future as well as your companies. In addition, your training will be scheduled and completed on time reducing the stress of missing deadlines, and improving your personal time management."