When you took your first assignment as a Supervisor, did anyone impress upon you how much of your success would be dependent upon your effectiveness as a Trainer? Probably not.
Did anyone bother to tell you that Training took time? Probably not.
Did anyone dare to tell you that if YOU didn’t train the people who would be working for you that “someone else” would. Probably not.
Funny thing about that last “Did…” sentence. It is the one that can wake you up from a sound sleep one night in the future (if it hasn’t already happened). (Too melodramatic? Hmmm)
If you haven’t figured it out already, If you don’t take control of the Training of each new hire, and of the on-going training of your established staff, one of two things is almost guaranteed to happen: 1) the newbies may try to train themselves, or 2) the last person you would want to train the newbies will become their trainer. (IKR)
Look around your department. Do you want “the go by the booker”, or “the complainer” or the “missing in action”, or the “just get by-er” to do the training? Scary, right? And how comforting is the prospect of letting the newbies train-themselves? If the job is really, really, really basic and simple; (You know you-pick-something-up-and-and-you-put-it-down easy.) Maybe it’s possible. But let’s face it. There really aren’t too many of those jobs out there.
And, it is also possible that you have an “identified Trainer” to do that new hire orientation. Whew! Wait, who trained them? Was it you?
Training doesn’t just happen. Not everyone who works for you will make a good trainer. Failing to make “TRAINING” a priority is a guaranteed way to end up having to do more of it than you want to.
Training the people who work for you, how to do it the right way, is a sign of respect, it is a win-win proposition, and the time spent training can pay you back by giving you more time to do those things you don’t have time to do. Funny how that works.
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