Considering the kind of training that I do, one of the hardest questions for me to answer is, “How long will this take?” I assume when I am asked this question (which comes in a number of different forms, and is a legitimate one) that the person is trying to determine the level of investment necessary for the training and not that they assume they will be bored and hope it will be over quickly.
It is a difficult question for me to answer. When it comes to creating a great work place environment, building a strong team, or working through the core values that are foundational to what we do on a day-to-day basis, all I can really say is, ‘it depends’. I realize this is not a popular answer, but it is an honest one. There are numerous factors involved in the process.
Back in November I commented on how important a good head start is in this process. Just after that, I read an article entitled, “How To Get Your New Hires From Zero To One Hundred in Weeks” written by Angelina Chapin for the December 2010 issue of Canadian Business. The article caught my attention because I had been thinking about the on-boarding process, but also because it addressed this concern about time that many leaders have.
Two comments from the article stood out for me. Chapin writes, “Amid a tough economy, managers need new hires to be productive quickly. And that requires the boss to be more proactive than just giving recruits quick run-downs on expectations and the company culture, then pointing them to a manual.” She goes on to write, “To fairly assess a newcomer within weeks rather than months, it’s critical for the manager to provide the right support, says Roger Chevalier, California-based management consultant…’If employees are selected properly, 85% of whether or not they will succeed is based on the environment created by a supervisor.’ Key factors to this environment: newcomers were given direction, on-going training and encouragement.”
Perhaps another way of answering the question is that the process never really stops. There are many steps along the way, many of which can have immediate benefits, but essentially the process never ends. Building a great place to work, with all of its varied components, is an on-going investment, but well worth the time and effort.
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One Of The Hardest Questions For Me To Answer
It is a difficult question for me to answer. When it comes to creating a great work place environment, building a strong team, or working through the core values that are foundational to what we do on a day-to-day basis, all I can really say is, ‘it depends’. I realize this is not a popular answer, but it is an honest one. There are numerous factors involved in the process.
Back in November I commented on how important a good head start is in this process. Just after that, I read an article entitled, “How To Get Your New Hires From Zero To One Hundred in Weeks” written by Angelina Chapin for the December 2010 issue of Canadian Business. The article caught my attention because I had been thinking about the on-boarding process, but also because it addressed this concern about time that many leaders have.
Two comments from the article stood out for me. Chapin writes, “Amid a tough economy, managers need new hires to be productive quickly. And that requires the boss to be more proactive than just giving recruits quick run-downs on expectations and the company culture, then pointing them to a manual.” She goes on to write, “To fairly assess a newcomer within weeks rather than months, it’s critical for the manager to provide the right support, says Roger Chevalier, California-based management consultant…’If employees are selected properly, 85% of whether or not they will succeed is based on the environment created by a supervisor.’ Key factors to this environment: newcomers were given direction, on-going training and encouragement.”
Perhaps another way of answering the question is that the process never really stops. There are many steps along the way, many of which can have immediate benefits, but essentially the process never ends. Building a great place to work, with all of its varied components, is an on-going investment, but well worth the time and effort.
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.