By William Seidman
Good leaders and managers know that their ability to bring in — and quickly ramp up — new hires is critical for sustained success. In an economic downturn, efficient and effective new hire development is especially important. At Cerebyte we have an alternative to the usual methods of either an intense “fire hose” training class or some sort of on the job (OJT) mentoring.
Why did we search for a new method? Because fire hose training gives too much too fast without sufficient context, and on the job training is too random and relies too much on people gleaning meaning from observed actions.
At Cerebyte we’ve developed a process that creates a great blend specifically for new hire development. We’ve tested it and seen it work for our clients. How do we do this?
Based on the expertise of an organization’s positive deviants, we first develop a set of big steps that are coached during a brief and focused classroom setting.
Our persuasive technology provides the class structure; the specific learning activities are led by a facilitator.
The organization’s positive deviants also give us the key items that the manager needs to reinforce. This shows up as a transitional “big step” in the technology and usually 2-4 steps of learning — structured on the job training — that drive to greater depth and application.
It takes about three days to create the entire program. The results have been spectacular, cutting ramp-up times by 50% or more, and increasing leaders’ and team members’ stated satisfaction in the training process.