Strategic Storyboarding

Are you spending all your time training new employees? Does it feel like you don’t really ever get to “team building” because your team is constantly changing?

You’ve read all the books, but while you are ceaselessly training new hires, it’s tough to get started on team performance. This is a huge problem facing both small business and global organizations.

But you’ve come to the right place to discover how to win in small business orientations and trainings. It just takes a strategic approach.

Providing engagement training to Fortune 500 corporations and to small businesses has given me unique insight into what’s working (and what is not working) in efforts to on-board new employees. It’s too easy to overwhelm new hires with volumes of complex data.

In addition, I’ve noticed a common pattern in entrepreneurial start-ups as well as training departments in established corporations.

One obvious error is:

• Contributing to instant burnout

• Reducing retention of star employees

• Causing feelings of overwhelm

• Decreasing productivity

• Triggering disengagement

In this article, I will expose this overlooked problem that zaps effectiveness and makes it next to impossible to transform new hires into a highly performing team. I’ll reveal practical tools that you can start using immediately. Help your new-hires get the information they need without the usual stress of “it’s just too much!” and reduce your costs and stress by minimizing the orientation training you have to do.

The costs associated with losing an employee are well documented, ranging from one to five times salary depending on the employees’ status. In many industries such as food service, turnover is over 117%. This causes organizations to spend valuable resources on recruiting, orientation, training and all too often—crisis management.

“Your Small Business Orientation—How Bad Is It?”

All right, ‘fess up. Just how long is your company’s orientation program. I’ve seen some that are six weeks, eight weeks, and three months. Others are just a few hours long and then it’s time to hit the floor, running.

Long or short, all along the spectrum, orientation sessions that are poorly organized data dumps cause new employees to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

In addition, just how much orientation are you doing? In many companies I know owners and training professionals devote close to full-time hours just training new hires. This leads to trainer burn out—who can sustain one more welcome class… when it’s going on 50 weeks?

Most of the small businesses who provide training are ‘pedal to the metal’ just running their restaurant, store or organization.

The biggest problem I see is that few small business owners take time out to learn new training skills. Even when they know these skills would shorten orientation time, increase on the job performance and reduce the pain of endless orientation training.

So, what are the key principles to get started on right now?

Principle #1-Visuals Shorten Ramp Up Time

Visuals make orientations memorable. A graphic chart is easier to remember and ultimately easier to put into practice. According to Stanford research, groups make decisions 36% faster with visual displays.

How much time could you save by orienting staff with a visual process chart? Explain your orientation agenda with a visual roadmap. Just as you pick up a map of a city, help your new hire understand how your company works… with a visual map.

Principle #2 - Give The Big Picture

Show a visual overview map. Adults get engaged when they can see the big picture up front. In a recent pilot orientation, participants complained that the trainer treated them like children. Why? They jumped into the details and didn’t use an overview map.

This occurs mainly because trainers and owners don’t organize the information into a visual big picture. The focus is on their content and not on answering the questions the new employee has.

Step into the mindset of a new person. Use a big picture storyboard to show the overview and answer specific questions.

This big picture is not just about what your company offers, sells or provides. Use this storyboard system to introduce employees to your business values. Help each employee quickly step into the big picture of your company values, mission and vision.

Ask yourself, what visual models will help a new employee instantly engage with your organization’s culture?

Principle #3 - Less Is More

Limit the sections of your map and your training to 7 units. Adult learning research shows that it is easier to remember 5-7 items. This is why phone numbers are seven digits plus the three for area code. And why so many people panic when area codes change and they have to remember a longer number.

In addition, the “Less is more” principle applies also to how the number of power point slides, the number words, the number of bullet points, and the volume of graphics. Keep asking yourself, “How could I say this more simply?”

Principle #4 - Color Connects

Design your small training just like a subway map. Use the same color to identify related and connected topics. Use different colors to show other “subway lines” or tracks of information.

Refer to these color codes when you present information to the new hires. For inspiration pick up a copy of Gray’s Anatomy of The Human Body. Each body system is marked with a color: arteries-red, nerves-yellow and veins –blue.

What related color code can you use to link concepts in your training?

Principle #5 - Repetition Builds Retention

Say it. Show it. Say it again. Have them repeat it. Now is the time for repetition but not boredom.

Show an icon and word message on the storyboard map and repeat the image/message on each section frame. Make a poster with the same message.

Repeat the same icon/word message in the manual. Use the same in a review check. Refer to the message when you are coaching shoulder to shoulder on the job. Repetition builds retention.

Principle #6 – Involve Your Audience

Give new hires the same overview map that is posted on the wall, as a placemat. Encourage them to draw/write on a placemat. They will see, write, and interact with the content and flow of the orientation as they take their own notes.

Continuously seek to involve your employees. Ask:

• Is your business philosophy to engage employees?

• How does this show in your orientation?

• Do you have exercises and activities when new hires can express their feelings, opinions and questions?

• Do current employees interact with new hires?

Secret to Training Success: Engage with Strategic Storyboards

Ignite success with new employees when you use each of these principles in your very next training session. You’ll find that these principles guide success, just as a compass points towards true north. You’ll find the true north of training is committed employees who see the big picture and buy in quickly.

Imagine, in a just a short time, you could get off the orientation training treadmill. And then, be sure to use all six principles to build your team performance!

To your strategic success!