Everyone Learns at Their Own Pace.
Depending on what type of organization you are leading, that pace will vary greatly.
In a corporate setting, you typically have a very structured path to learn the job, and someone is in the learning phase eight hours per day as part of onboarding. In the process of this early stage you can clearly see how quickly someone is picking up on the aspects of the job.
In a direct sales/home business scenario it is entirely different. You may have an initial training or launch session with someone, but it is very difficult to know just how much someone grasps immediately. Regardless of what they say to you in the initial session.
People Are Often More Concerned With Your Opinion of Them Than Getting an Answer
This is massively important to remember. Just because the person you are training is not asking a lot of questions, don’t confuse this with them having a full understanding of what you are saying. One of the biggest mistakes in getting someone started is to assume they know what you are talking about, or specifically what you mean.
In a corporate setting it becomes clear relatively fast what someone understands and what they don’t. As their leader it is your responsibility to stay with them and shepherd them until they are comfortable in the tasks of the work.
Recognize that it is smarter and easier to stay with them closely at the beginning and then loosen the reigns and give them more autonomy as they learn, than to be loose at the beginning and realize that they need more supervision and then tighten the reigns. This will break their confidence and lower their esteem which is sending them in the opposite emotional direction of where you want to be growing them.
Situational Leadership…
This topic is one tiny piece of a much broader and deeper leadership practice. Situational leadership is crucial to understand for all leaders in any type of industry. As I write this, I just finished a leadership training with a big corporation on this exact topic (I also share a bit on this topic in the book Leading With Heart). I love to watch the recognition appear in the faces of the various leaders in a room as they realize why you have to approach each person you lead differently relative to where they are in their development.
In the home business side, the error is often that the new person is left to fend for themselves too quickly without checking the understanding. Just looking at a sales report to see if they are producing doesn’t give you a true indication of how much they understand or how hard they are working. You have to stay with them and check in with them.
You may have to ask multiple times if they have a question or if there is anything you can help them with. Of course you have to do this from the right heart perspective. It has to feel and BE from a place of truly wanting to help them and not just so they produce for you (that would be relative in a corporate situation).
Those that truly are striving to grow and develop in either side of things (corporate or home based) will eventually learn to walk and then run on their own. What they need from you is to stay with them. Invest in them. Nurture them. And ultimately grow them.
Do this, and the rest of what matters in the work will take care of itself and will do so for a long time.
Grow people and you will grow your business. By The way, in the video I share a personal story on this topic:-)
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Many Blessings,
Todd
P.S. If you would like to improve your progress in business, perhaps some coaching would help. Contact me at tburrier@gmail.com to talk about my coaching program. I do individual and group coaching.
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