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4 Ground Rules For Startup Training – It’s About Training Teachable Skills

 

Your startup is growing quickly and with that comes the need to train employees to handle new responsibilities. While it’s tempting to approach startup training in the traditional way, a lot of times it’s just not cost effective or efficient when it comes to everyone’s time.

 

Instead of wasting your time and especially that of the employee, there are some ground rules you should keep in mind when it comes to startup training.

 

 

 

Concentrate on Skills and Not on Personality

Instead of concentrating on changing personalities one should be concentrating on teaching specific skills that can be learned by the employee so that they too may eventually teach these skills to their coworkers.

 

If you’ve got a newbie in sales who to your surprise weeks into the job seems a bit more introverted than you expected, don’t “train” her by trying to make her into an extrovert. What should instead do is teach her the skill of listening so that when she’s speaking to customers she can also respond to them with the language you’ve taught her in order to steer the conversation towards a sell.

 

 

 

 

Know The Skill Specific To The Task

Nothing is more a time waster than taking the time to train employees too broadly with skills that they aren’t likely to use. You have to know what exactly the employee should be executing as their task and train appropriately. This means teaching the skill or skills that are going to produce actual results for the employee and of course in the long run, your startup.

 

Founders typically know how to do it all and of course this makes sense. However, once your startup team begins to grow, you need to train skills that makes those new members specialists in their fields. That way they can concentrate on what they need to do and only that while you can worry about the rest. The championship team members always know their specific roles because their coach made it clear to them from the start and made adjustments as needed.

 

Check Up On The Employee

Whenever we learn something new, we make mistakes although it’s important to check in with your startup employee not only to see if they are doing things right, but also to see if they need any additional help. You’re approach shouldn’t be looking of his or her shoulder to check the work so as much as being there to lend a hand.

 

If your employees know that you are there in the interest that they know what they are doing because you are there to help, they are more likely to be open to you as a person as well. There’s no need to strike fear in your employees. Instead, approach them as someone there wanting to teach the skill and not shove it down there throats with a “do it or else” attitude.

 

 

 

 

Remember The Skills

Remember, these are skills you are training and not personality traits. Most employees are very flexible and can learn quickly. If you’ve asked them to be a part of your startup team, then you know this already. Give them the skills they need and coach them when they need it. Do this and they’ll be showing you nothing but their best in no time.

 

Photo Credits

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