The only two things that your employees need to know

Each employee you have does multiple things, with multiple steps and tasks, and multiple potential outcomes and consequences. 

How do you, as their manager, instruct them, guide them, and keep an eye on their work with so much to juggle?

You do that by focusing on the only two things that your employees actually need to know: 

  1. They need to know what to do
  2. And they need to know what to know

What do people have to do

You expect your employees to get a job done. 

Getting the job done will require certain tasks, activities, and a proper sequence of steps. 

Make sure your people know what those tasks are. Make sure they know what is expected of them. 

If you have hired somebody new to run all of your accounts receivable, then you expect that person to receive all payments, within the deadline, and report on cash flow weekly or monthly. 

Tell the new hire exactly these things: what is expected of their job. 

What do people have to know

To accomplish all this, and to meet your expectations, there are certain things your new employee will have to know. 

Systems

For example, what systems to use. 

Does this person know how to use your accounting software? Do they know how to use your invoicing software? Do they have the correct email set up and internal communication channels?

Make a list of all the systems the person has to know how to use. 

Behaviors

What are your guiding principles, and how will this new person exhibit those in the way they conduct their work?

Your employees have to know what image and reputation you want to share with the world, and they will have to behave accordingly. They won’t know what those behaviours are if you do not tell them clearly. 

Communication channels

Where do they capture new information? How do they mark a job as done? When they need help or more information, who do they ask and how? 

If your new employee is doing their job perfectly, but not recording any of that information, then it is as if it weren’t being done at all. 

Explain the communication channels clearly so they know when to communicate, with whom, and how. 

Make the list, let people learn

Take a couple of hours two days from now to make two lists:

  1. Everything my employees must do
  2. Everything my employees must know

And make sure that you tell them, so that they know what to know and know what to do. 


How to build a great onboarding program?

Contact me for a 3-part 1:1 training session to create a plan you can use over and over again