The BIGG Successs Show
How to Get Better Results When You Train Your Employees
Why when it comes to employee training, show-and-tell doesn't work. We'll give you a process that does! Find a written summary of today's show at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.
>> Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today, we'll discuss how to get better results when you train your employees. >> The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. >> It seems like we often get asked by young entrepreneurs, what books do you recommend that I read? One of them that we highly recommend, and men recommended it now to thousands of people, is Michael Gerber is the EMIF. And of course, we live in a world where E seems to stand for electronic and- >> E-mail. >> Yes, we think online, right? But E, in this case, stands for the entrepreneur myth. >> And in the book, he talks about a baker. A great cake baker. >> You might say a master baker. >> Yes, you might. And this cake baker is so good, and people love her cake so much, that the word of mouth is spreading like wildfire. >> Hey, that's what you want. >> That's right, she's got so many orders now, that she can't do them all herself. >> Oh man, now that's a problem. >> Yes, but she has a solution. >> Not good. >> She'll hire an employee, train this employee. >> Now she'll have more time on her hands than she ever had before. >> She can take even more orders. So the employee comes in, she trains the employee, she shows this person how she makes her cakes, all the right ingredients, how she mixes them, all of her secrets. >> Mary Lynn, you're making me hungry. You're going to have to bake us cake. >> Well, I don't think you can count on that. (laughing) >> So anyway, here's what happens. She sets the employee loose. >> All right. >> Always baking cakes. But then suddenly she's getting phone calls, not for more orders, she's getting complaint phone calls. Because her employee doesn't care about baking cakes as much as she does, doesn't put the care and quality in that she was putting in. >> That's special love. >> Right, and so now this great cake baker is dealing with so much stress and extra work now because she's dealing with quality control on top of everything. And she's so frustrated, she just throws her hands up in the air and says, oh, you know, if I want to get something done right, I just have to do it myself. >> Yes, the age-old problem, right? >> So the solution has become even a bigger problem. >> Yes, and it's the conundrum we deal with as entrepreneurs, right? We hire people because we're too busy. And then oftentimes we find out that we're even busier because we're trying to fix all the things that have gone wrong. >> And the age-old method to train employees is on-the-job training. >> Ah, the old OJT, right? >> That's right, I do it, you watch, you take notes and then you should be able to do it. >> Yeah, the problem is show and tell, which is what that really is, right? It just doesn't work. There's an old Chinese proverb that goes like this, tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand. >> And coming up, we'll share a process to get better results from your training. >> Today we're talking about how to train employees and get better results. And we discussed sort of the reason this is a problem because we show and tell and our people just don't get it. We said there's a better way and it's actually a five-step process. >> The first step in the process is to tell them what they need to do, you can't skip that. >> That's right, you have to literally just go through step by step, here's what you've got to accomplish, right? And then the next step is show them how to do it, go through step by step, showing them how it's done. >> Which is what our master baker did. >> That's right, so see, here's the thing, we've done now the show and tell, right? >> Exactly. >> But we're not done, we're only two-fifths of the way through. >> The third step in the process is to review and you'll repeat this as needed. You wanna make sure that employee is putting out the quality of cakes that you put out. >> That's right. >> Or whatever your business is. >> That's right, and then the next step, which is the important one, and so we're walking through this Chinese proverb, right? Can you walk through a Chinese proverb? I've walked through fields before, but I've never walked through a proverb, but I guess we're going to today. But the next step is to involve your employee. In other words, let them do the work. Let them go through the process. So you'll start by having them explain the process to you. Then you'll have them do it. And so now, you've involved them in the entire process. >> Right, the active participation. And then the final step in the process is to review again. >> Yes, there you go, you know, and it's worth it. I mean, obviously, it takes work to review and to make sure that your employee gets it, but it'll save you work in the long run. >> That's right, and let's make sure it's clear, Marilyn, that the first review is really, they're reviewing with you what you've told them and how you've showed them how to do it. The second review, the fifth step is they're reviewing with you what they did and how they did it. And so they are two different reviews. Now, this is all great, but the thing is, there's actually a piece that comes before this. And that's what we're going to talk about next Thursday. >> You can get a written summary of today's show on our site at Big Success. That's BigWith2Gsuccess.com. We also have a link to the book, The Emith, we mentioned earlier, and while you're at our site, make sure you sign up for our free Big Success Weekly to get the tips and tools you need to be a big success. >> Next time, we'll talk about what we're sacrificing to achieve work-life balance. >> Until then, here's to your big success. >> The Big Success Show at BIGGSuccess.com. [ Music ]