Have you ever feared training employees? It takes time away from your work and in the near future people will notice our productivity took a small decline and your supervisor may not recall the effort you put into preparing the new employee.
But…it is an honor to be chosen to mentor someone.
You have been selected to be the human textbook for them to read!
To be entrusted with the responsibility speaks well of your leadership qualities and you should be proud.
The main thing to remember is not to overwhelm them with blunt force trauma that comes from overloading them with information.The basics are to provide them with a safe and stable platform to learn as they build their career with the company.
I will give you a positive and a negative example I have from my new employee experience.
I had a trainer named Chris at one job he was kind of quiet…always took the initiative to start a shadowing session and left plenty of openings to ask questions.
He never asked me questions about my personal life beyond what neighborhood I lived in…and never crossed the line by acting superior due to his superior understanding of the company…so I trusted him and well after training, I still considered him a strengthened ally that I could go to if I encountered a difficult situation.
The other guy was not as helpful…he was, in fact..quite destructive to others.
He was a diva…he ran his mouth about being a subject matter expert…he was with the company less than a year and despite periodic gaps in his knowledge…he bullied his way into a mentor spot.
He thought it would be a good career move..and it also meant there would be light duty while he trained others…a lazy man’s perspective to be sure.
Jeffrey would approach everything with zeal but would then seriously overshoot it with his excess and then it would be ham- fisted aggression.
For morale, this company would mark an achievement by placing balloons on your desk and it provided a respite from the daily grind. Sometimes there would be candy given out for no reason whatsoever.
Back to training…
I spent my first 3 days at the company under Jeffrey’s tutelage wherein he proceeded to disrupt nearly everyone around him and was focused getting attention by any means necessary…often by force.
He rarely sat at his desk and was frequently wandering the rows of cubicles throwing candy at the faces of unsuspecting coworkers on the phone. No ruined technical support call or spilled coffee was enough for him to stop. A marketing call with a top notch prospect was disrupted by a popped balloon while the call was in progress.
Jeffrey kept his job and continued to “mentor” others because it was time away from actual duty…in his eyes his goals were adjusted to accommodate the training time…he was in it for all the wrong reasons.
He will land on his feet because he will always put his needs ahead of those of the company.
Chris will be okay too…but for an entirely different reason…he understands the needs of the company and he brokers the information and helps others tirelessly.
When given the opportunity to train…cherish it…you can do your company a tremendous service and not even realize it!
