When you have the good fortune to hire someone to help you with your work doing these 8 things can help make sure you spend less time supervising or showing them what to do. And will give you more time to focus on the things that need your attention.
The 8 things are
Prepare
Before the person starts work make sure you have all the necessary tools and other things they will need to help you. If you must, make a list of things they will need to know about your work and have all necessary documents that cover everything you want to delegate to your new hire.
It could be phone numbers, addresses and locations of places that they may need to know for specific tasks. Or even the VIPs in your life and in business. The goal of having everything ready and at hand is to help the new hire learn things fast so as to decrease the time you have to spend explaining stuff to them. Or worse, correcting things.
Inform
Let them know about your work style, personal preferences and how you would like them to address you. And agree on how they would like you to address them.
Inform them too on which communication styles you are open to. Basically, tell them the best way to get in touch with you. Be it voice call, direct messages, emails or video call-tell them what you prefer.
This is also the best time to let them know about your preferred times, and when you are more likely to be available. And, which, if at all are the best times to contact you outside normal working hours.
Explain
Not everybody is quick at picking up daily routines or finding their place in a new environment. Some things may be too complicated and some may be very unfamiliar so, explain things so that they can follow the process.
Explaining things step by step, will help the new hire get things up to speed and help them follow and feel part of the process as quickly as possible.
Be Patient
You may want to hand over the reins as soon as possible but this may not be the right thing to do. Be patient and do not rush things. Let the person have time to acclimatize and to get to know the work environment and you better.
It might take your new hire more time or less time to get used to your processes, schedules, and tools but do give them time to get past any learning curves.
You might also have to make adjustments to your current schedule to accommodate working with them. At some point, you’ll think that things might go faster if you just did them yourself instead of delegating them but, much as you will be tempted to do things yourself-do your best to get out of this line of thinking.
Delegation takes a lot of upfront work, but it is well worth the hours put in.
Be Open
You hired them to help so be open about what you need them to work with you on. Briefly walk them through some of your ideas and tell them what projects are currently on your plate. Make sure you are open to and do encourage them to ask questions.
Most new hires can be a bit hesitant to ask questions until they’re more comfortable working with you but be pro-active and urge them to raise questions or ask for clarifications.
Be Clear
When assigning your new hire projects or assignments, it’s important to be clear about their responsibilities. Let them know about your expectations. Being clear means that your hire should have a clear idea of the tasks that they need to accomplish and the time they have to accomplish them.
You should also make it clear that you are open to them coming back to you when in doubt or when seeking for more clarification.
Clear communication helps you build a great working relationship with your new hire. And communicating is a great way for you to catch up on their progress. It also helps you uncover challenges or roadblocks and is a perfect time for them to ask questions or bring up items that might need your input.
Be consistent.
As much as possible, avoid changing things mid-process. Remember, the goal is for both of you to make each other’s work easier. Yours more than theirs but it does not mean making the new hire’s life unpredictable. So do your best to stick to what has been agreed upon. Unless the change will make a big change and even better, a profitable one.
So, when you do make changes, give clear instructions and paint a clear picture of the ideal outcome.
Be Realistic
Sometimes things can go wrong, take long or not happen at all. So be realistic and keep in mind that things happen. When the unexpected happens, just pick things up where you can and move forward. Learning from the experience.
Also, do let the person know when they have failed you. Or when they have achieved or surpassed expectations. When you are realistic and give honest feedback you can correct behavior, improve performance, and help each other to grow.
