One of my first jobs was a retail job for a fabric store, But I quickly found myself confused and lost by the complicated culture. I had been there for four months and I still felt like I knew next to nothing. I switched jobs and began cashiering at Walmart and I succeeded at a faster rate than at my previous job. I learned, and I quickly felt like a part of the team before the first week was over, even dealing with the busiest shopping day in the US known as “Black Friday”. I was literally a “Battle Ready” employee!

One of the biggest differences between this small town fabric store, and a corporation like Walmart was the entire approach to onboarding new hires. The fabric store did not have a reliable onboarding system, things were taught on a purely need-to-know basis. While Walmart had an entire program with multiple training strategies- games, videos, even simple shadowing were, and still are, techniques that Walmart employed.

The more “small” and local jobs that I work at the more I find of the first example. Small business owners do not value, or, they simply don’t have the time to put towards proper training of new hires. A lot of times I hear “I don’t have time for babysitting” or “This job has a very steep learning curve.” within the same breath of complaining about the significant lack of training that their employees have!

So then it becomes a question of “What simple things can I do to make my Team the best it can be?” because I believe that with a little time and effort small businesses can have just as effective of an onboarding process as large corporations.

Training Checklists & Employee Manuals:

One of the best and most effective ways I have seen onboarding is the use of Training Checklists. The visual component of the list can motivate new hires to keep learning, while all other managers or leads understand where the new employee is at within their training.

In the food industry; these checklists even go a step further outlining and explaining each of the tasks in order to make sure that a new hire understands each aspect of the role. Managers, leads, and other team members could simply move down the checklist keeping training consistent and functional no matter the trainer or trainee.

In addition for outside of restaurants or retail, these checklists could be employed in the form of an employee manual. I like to call them “Workplace Bibles” because it is where employers, and employees can find all the policies, procedures, expectations, and any other vital information within the manual. I wouldn’t suggest having your employee sit and read the manual for hours and expecting them to know everything off the bat. But using them as guides. For example, When introducing a new policy or procedure introduce it by sitting down with your new employee reading the manual together, following up with questions of the most important bullet points, and addressing any questions that your employee might have.

Teach Basic Troubleshooting:

Another thing that I noticed is that large companies prepare their employees for the worst in the best way by teaching their employees how to problem solve within the company first, before resorting to help. This can be as simple as letting your employees shadow a task for a moment or day so that they can see the reality of the work. This also helps to make it so that employers and trainers do not “babysit” new hires as often, as new hires already have basic problem-solving skills and tools available to them.

Small businesses struggle with this, mainly because the employer’s mentality is not in the right place. I studied a company with a high turnover when I looked and found the reviews from former employees I was shocked to find that most of their turnover was new-hires who hadn’t even worked there for a year; The biggest complaint was that the managers helicoptered, never letting employees solve problems on their own, making them feel stupid and untrusted.

Adapt to Different Needs:

As a modern individual, I don’t really believe in learning styles. There is very little evidence to support that new hires learn best when taught in their “Learning Style”. But I do believe that a blend of different techniques is absolutely necessary because our brains are biological computers.

Neuroplasticity is the idea that the brain can reorganize and create new connections through learning. Anyone can learn a skill, but you must do it in a way that helps to create that new connection as fast as possible. You are trying to create habits within your new staff member.

A blend of training methods is usually best when helping new hires. Switch up your methods throughout the day. One might start with shadowing, quizzing, moving to role-play to finishing strong with hands-on practice. This way you are getting different techniques and teaching the same skill in different ways. Making a strong neural connection within their mind!

The first step to a successful business is successful onboarding. Well-taught employees are better able to take care of your customers, which should be the goal of every employer! I challenge every employer to take an hour or two to come up with a plan to best onboard new hires and implement it with managers and leads during the next week. Tweaking it to a smooth-running process. Because your business is not a cruise ship, but a well-maintained battleship with battle-ready employees!