I spent the day today training a new house manager. That’s not how my day was supposed to be spent. In my mind, I had this picture of my current manager jumping into this training role and helping her assistant settle. Not so.

I had a chat with her afterwards and found out that in her mind, because the newbie was hired for a job, she should be able to do it. I bet you’re thinking she makes a good point, and she does. Because of this, instead of patiently showing the newbie what needs to be done in this space, my “oldie” watched and thought it wise to do the tasks later herself. Now the problem with that is that she has a full time job of watching, playing with and feeding the baby so she is falling behind. Yet, she still thought it would save her time to just get things done on her own. It’s faster and will not earn her the wrath of the “boss”. Sound familiar? I talked about this in an earlier post on teams.  So, you see how this thing about how you lead affects your organisation or department? But that’s a story for next time. Back to training.

I spent the day today training a new house manager. I discovered that while I’m training one way, the newbie had been shown a different way by the oldie. I bet you’re wondering, so what’s the problem with that if it gets the job done? The challenge is that while it get the job done, some things don’t get done as they should. The floor is mopped, but the chairs are dusty. The house is clean, but not really. The clothes are washed, wrung out and ironed haphazardly. The clothes are hang up, but probably need to be re-ironed before they are worn. The job is completed in part. The method gets some of the job done.

In your organisation, the project is completed for a client, but the invoice is not sent to them. And we know how delayed invoices can delay receiving payments. Payment is made to a supplier and an ETR receipt or Personal Identification Number (PIN) is not requested prior to doing that. Now, 20 days later, you need to file returns and you have to follow up the supplier to give you these details. The method, when it’s not followed fully gets only some of the job done.

So, could I have made it simpler for the oldie? Could I have made it simpler for myself?

Yes! By having a method by which work gets done in your department or organisation, you start to determine the outcome and reduce the amount of resources wasted in redoing work. It reduces how much and the level of supervision needed. So, after my newbie leaves today, I am writing and printing a checklist of what needs to get done every day. That way, she can check her work as she goes along.

In my situation, a checklist works. In yours, in your organisation or department, maybe a visual of what needs to get done or a one-pager of steps may work to solve the issue of outcomes that fall short of what you expect. Whatever the case, define the method by which work gets done and make the expected outcome clear. Have a process and how to measure the success of that process.

Leave me a comment if you may!