Nobody in a small business has a training department. What usually happens is a rushed explanation, a few corrections, and then the new person figures out the rest by making mistakes on live work.
The four-step method
Old, simple, and better than anything else at this size.
- I do it, you watch. Explain what you are doing and why, as you do it.
- I do it, you tell me what to do next. Now they are thinking, with a safety net.
- You do it, I watch. Say nothing unless something is about to go wrong.
- You do it, I check afterwards. Then gradually stop checking.
Most training in small businesses jumps from step one to step four, and then everybody is surprised by the mistakes.
Have them write it, not you
Ask the learner to write the steps as they go. Two reasons. Writing it forces them to actually understand it, and their version is written for somebody who does not already know, which is exactly what the next person needs.
Your version would assume too much. It always does.
Teach the why, not only the sequence
Somebody who knows the steps handles the normal case. Somebody who knows why handles the odd one, and the odd one is where the cost is.
Train the person who will train next
The second time this job is handed over, it should not be by you. Have the person you trained train the next one, with their own document. That is the point at which the business stops depending on your memory.
Leave a Comment