I love to go bowling. I love the lights, the sounds, the anticipation, the rush…there really is nothing like it! I haven’t been in a long, long time, but the last time I went, I saw a father teaching his 6- ish year-old son how to bowl. He had bumper guards on their lane that covered the gutter.
The little boy had so much fun! He tried various ways to get the ball down the lane and knock over the pins. He and his dad laughed and laughed… they high-fived and danced around.
Then, the boy asked his dad to lower the bumper guards. The father tried to tell him that it was going to be really hard, but the boy insisted. So, Dad lowered the guards, and the boy promptly rolled the ball in the gutter. He. Was. Crushed!
The Dad talked him through it. He helped the boy process his devastation, and the guards went back up on the lane. When they headed out, I heard the Dad say to the boy, “we will come back soon and practice some more.”
What do bumper guards have to do with hiring? I am so glad you asked!
We spend all of this time, energy and money trying to hire the right fit, and the minute this new hire shows up to work, we drop them in an office with little or no training. Even C-suite executives need to be told how to locate the coffee pot and who the largest client is. If you don’t train your new hires, they will throw lots of gutter balls… at the company’s expense.
Put up the bumper guards. Spend time with your new hire explaining the parameters and the boundaries. Show them where the supply closet is and introduce them to Dorothy in Finance. Explain to them who the best clients are and how they came to be. Teach them how to throw a strike.
Once the new hire is continually throwing balls down the center of the lane, lower the guards and cut them loose to throw one turkey after another!
*** For you non-bowlers, a turkey is 3 strikes in a row.
POWER THOUGHT: Learning to bowl without bumper guards equates to starting a new job without training. You are destined to spend all your time in the gutter.