How to induct new staff

“Induct new staff? What do you mean? I’m too busy for that!”

That was me many years ago and like me you may feel that sometimes you have a revolving door in your business. Just as you get one person up to speed on your systems another decides it’s time to leave.

Some industries are more prone to this that others.

You feel as if you are in a never ending cycle of inducting, training and coaching people into new roles.

I am experienced enough to know that will never change – it’s simply part and parcel of running a business.

So as business owners how do we improve the induction process and make it as painless as possible?

Here are my thoughts:

1. Systematise the work you want done in the role.
2. Work in the system yourself and document it thoroughly.
3. Hire, then induct into the system.

Systematise the work you want done

Basically this means to actually document all the functions of a particular role. This doesn’t necessarily need to be in great detail, just some bullet points will be enough to get started. Something like the below will do in a word document.

Work in the system yourself for a period of time

Once you have laid out what you want from this new role work in it yourself for a period of time. This will help you iron out the wrinkles and provide some clarity when you induct someone into the role. While you’re doing this it’s also a good time to make some notes about it in your policies and procedures system.

Hire or re-assign someone to the role and induct them into the system

Having completed the previous steps it should be a lot easier to choose the right person and then induct them into the role. Since you have documented the functions of the role, it is there for the new employee to see and understand. The systemized role is now a permanent (yet flexible) record of the responsibilities of the role.

Here is a video that might help you.