Jerry & Sheryl Isenhour, CVC Success Group coaches

CVC Succcess Group coaches Jerry & Sheryl Isenhour

In today’s episode of The Chimney & Fireplace Network we are going to talk about the work ‘assumptions’ and how they affect your business. Sheryl will dig deep into new-hires and the onboarding process. She will talk about how the onboarding process and the beginning communication strategy will always lay the foundation for a successful employee, and she will share her ideas of how to successfully handle onboarding from start to finish. A strong onboarding process will influence retention, providing clear expectations and guidelines.

The Chimney and Fireplace Success Network is a weekly podcast brought to you by the CVC Success Group and hosted by industry expert, Jerry Isenhour. Each week you will find new presentations to assist business owners and managers in turning their business dreams into their business realities.

Transcript

 

Jerry Isenhour.: Let us talk about a word; the word I want to talk about today is assume. Perhaps we can use the word assumptions instead of assume. You see, often, the failures that we have in life, in business, is a result of our assuming things.

This failure, it can often be a failure as a leader. It can lead us to fail with our customers or even fail in life. You see, often, we assume that others understand. But after many times, we often find that this is a proven false statement. So, stick around with me, and let us talk about assume and the assumptions that we make in life.

What we assume often leads us to failure

Like I ended the last segment, let us talk about the assumptions that we make in life. Because so often, our assumptions and what we assume leads us to failure. Let’s look at a couple of examples. When we drive down a two-lane road, we assume that the person in the other lane is going to stay in that lane. But a study of vehicle fatalities will prove us wrong.

Many times, someone crosses that center lane, and we’ve assumed wrong, and it can be deadly. We assume that people will stay on their side of the road as they’re going through it. I can remember my own experience one time, traveling down an interstate highway in Western North Carolina. Sheryl and I were riding along, and all of a sudden, out of the exit ramp came a car on our side of the road. Now, when you drive down an interstate, you never assume that someone is going to be coming head-on at you in your own lane, it is not a good experience.

We come to failure because we assumed someone understood

But let us go further, let us talk about how it happens in business. You see, often in our hiring practices, we come to failure because we assumed. What are some of the things we assumed? We assume our new hire has basic skills. One of these is so simple as reading a tape measure. But we find out after hiring that we hire people that don’t have a skill set to read a regular tape measure. How many people today can you hand a printed road map that could find their way to the destination today.

Artificial Intelligence is taking away many of our basic skills

Siri and other artificial intelligence taken those skills away. You see, artificial intelligence is actually causing us to lose our basic skills of being able to research, read, and find answers. And today, in our world, we live in, so many build their knowledge today based on what they learn from the media and from social media. They refuse to do their own research, their own due diligence. But you see, I want to key this down to onboarding of new hires.

Because often in today’s world, we assume that our new hires know what we need, and we never explained to them what our basic requirements and our rules are. You know there’s a simple skill, it’s called come to work every day on time. But for some reason, for so many, this has become a lost skill. And there are so many other skills that we as employers and leaders must teach today, and we must understand it. And many of these they are elementary skills.

Skills we assume that others should have

Skills that we simply assume others should have, but quite honestly, they are lacking mechanical skills, math skills, communication skills. And this is why the onboarding the training processes of 2021 are so important. But what you’ve got to do to start with this, you’ve got to understand what the shortcomings of the people are that you hire. The simple skills they do not know. Or they cannot command today. And these can be quite numerous, quite numerous. You see, one thing we’re finding out is that common sense really isn’t all that common anymore.

So here’s our message to you today, if you want to be successful in 2021 as a business owner, as a leader of people, you’ve got to understand the shortcomings of the people that you hire. You’ve got to understand they may not have the communication skills, the people skills. The other skills that are vastly important in order to win in today’s world. So what we have to do as employers is we have to be diligent in training our people. We also have to step up our abilities and our skills, and the ability to inspect for what we expect. Because often, this is where it happens.

We are not inspecting for the expectations we must be met

Our expectations are not being met, but we are not inspecting for them. And if we’re not inspecting for them, how are we going to know that they’re delivering? You see it’s vastly important; this is part of the quality control in today’s company. To make sure that the people that represent you that your team members are doing what they’re supposed to do.

Being a leader in 2021 is going to be more difficult

That they are not letting things slide. Is it tough? You better believe it. Being a leader in 2021 is getting to be more and more difficult. Because people lack the basic skills that are required for success in life all so often, so it’s us as their leaders, as their employers, it’s up to us to share with them and train them in the methods of success that they’re going to need to be a rock star on our teams.

And with that, I am going to turn it over to Sheryl and see what her thoughts are this week and see what tips of wisdom that she is going to share with you today.

Sheryl Isenhour: Jerry spoke on an overview of things; I am going to work a little more with people today on the onboarding process, which I think is extremely important. No one out there knows your business as well as you do. That’s what makes the onboarding process so important. The onboarding process and the beginning communication strategy will always lay the foundation for a successful employee.

Think about your new hire like building a house

Think about your new hire like building a house; if you do not spend time laying out the solid foundation, your house might fall and come down in any kind of storm. Doesn’t take a big weather to knock a house down. During the beginning process, you need to understand the goals of the new hire. This will help you develop a strategy that will show you how to deal with this new hire, and it also lets them know that you are interested in them as a person.

The initial communication strategy is adept brainstorming

The initial communication strategy is adept brainstorming. Let them know about your other employees and your products and your services. This also sets the tone for your relationship with them and your company. It can also give you a good idea as to whether this person will be a good fit. So both parties need to be very open, and they need to be very honest as possible during this process. Many ask me how long does the onboarding process take?

Well, that’s a tough question to answer as it varies with each person. The personality style of people are so different. Some requiring more instructions than others. Part of the process is getting to know each other’s working style, and that doesn’t happen overnight. It all depends on how open each party is to building this working relationship. It takes time to understand each other’s preferences and quirks. Onboarding is an ongoing process, and it includes a series of events.

Unlike the new hire orientation, which is designed to help each new employee understand what they need to do in order to succeed in the job. Unlike the new hire orientation, which again is a one-time event, information is provided to new hires regarding policies, benefits, and compliances, among many other issues. The purpose of the new hire onboarding process is to introduce the new employee to their job, their colleagues, and the organization.

So that they have the necessary resources to succeed. It also makes good business sense, and it increases retention, which may save on recruitment costs, given that some experts are saying that they are estimating the average hiring cost to be approximately twice the employee’s salary. So what are the benefits of implementing the onboarding process? It promotes employee’s engagement, their organizational commitment, their involvement.

And it influences retention; it provides clear expectations and guidelines. It decreases stress associated with a new job, resulting in a much more productive and team focused employee. Hey, as the old adage says, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. As a manager, you are the most influential person, and you hold the key to making the onboarding process a success.

Laying the groundwork for the new hires first few days

Continually laying the groundwork for the new hires first few days will go a long way to establishing that successful relationship, which could be the difference between you retaining your employee and starting a new search for the replacement. The process that I use for this basic period, which I usually class around 90 days.

That’s not setting stone, but it’s a good reference time. Technicians may vary slightly with the office staff, so you may have to make some adjustments as you go. During the first 90 days, we start new employees off with smaller projects. We set goals; we want them to achieve these goals. And we want them to get acclimated to the environment. By the end of the first 90 days, or first 30 days, the new hires should have a good idea of the responsibilities and what to expect in their roles.

They should be well underway with any training programs

And what is expected of them. They should be well underway with any training programs that you have to offer. The next 30 days, these should involve handing over bigger responsibilities. This is when you focus more on engaging the person and encouraging the independent thought process and the problem-solving. Now that your new hire is an expert on the smaller projects raise the bar and introduce the bigger projects and longer-term responsibilities.

They should be much more comfortable with the functioning of the company

At this point, they should be much more comfortable with the functioning of the company in their respective fields. Over the next 30 days and beyond, we are all about empowering the employee to work more independently. As your employee is taking on more responsibilities and accomplishing bigger tasks, they’re going to start becoming more accountable for their own work.

Your new hire should be able to handle projects with very limited guidance from you or their direct superior, and they should be equipped to tackle bigger responsibilities by this point. Taking the new hire through the onboarding process, rather than throwing them to the walls, will give them a learning curve that they’ll need to mesh with your company. There are many other steps involved, but this should at least give you a starting point.

You were glad you put them through the onboarding process

As always, be able to say you were glad you put them through the onboarding process, rather than saying after you have lost the employee, that you wish you had, and he moves on to another company that will take the onboarding process seriously and create a super employee that you may have lost. With this, I am going to turn it back over to Jerry to conclude the words of wisdom that will be your steppingstones to success.

We have talked today about the word assumptions

Jerry Isenhour.: So, listen, as we have talked today about the word assumptions, the word assuming, and we have talked onboarding’s. What kind of thoughts have went through your head? Where do you see that possibly assuming maybe a downfall of yours? Value to inspect for what you expect, is that also one that could be leading you down a bad road? Well, it is a simple matter of deciding that you are not going to take it anymore.

Stepping up to the plate

It is a simple matter of stepping up to the plate, not assuming, but rather becoming certain. Understanding the skills of the people that you’ve hired, understanding the shortcomings, and understanding how to share the training with them to bring them up to the level that you aspire to. That’s one of your roles as a leader. It is one of your roles as a manager, and Sheryl and I want to wish you the most success in getting better at this.

Reach out to us

If we can help you, reach out to us. And with that, I’d like you to take a look at a book I recently wrote and just released in December. It is called Step Up To Success, and it is how to turn a novice into a top performer. And in this book, I am going to share with you the processes of work in the field, the processes of interviewing, the processes of assessments. The process of onboarding, the process of training, and continuous ongoing training.

Sound principals in this book

There are some sound principles in this book; it is written from the aspect of a workbook for you to put together your own processes. Go to Amazon, order your copy today. It might just give you the answers and a process that will work for you. And with that, we’re going to end this week’s broadcast, this week’s podcast of the chimney and fireplace success network.

As always, it’s a pleasure; it’s a privilege, it’s an honor to be able to talk to you like this. We hope that our words help you devise the success path for you to move forward, to get to make your dreams into your realities. This is Jerry Isenhour, appreciate you joining me. Talk to you next time on the next episode of the chimney and fireplace success network.