“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” – Zig Zigler***
There is a phrase out there called “Baptism by Fire.” Ever heard of it? Maybe you’ve lived it?
My first experience with this particular circumstance was in college. It’s a minor example but a real one nonetheless. I was a journalism major so I needed to build my portfolio with writing samples. I volunteered for one of the university newspapers. I’m not sure who or how many staff members actually worked on or existed on the staff of the paper but I wasn’t really concerned. I was given an assignment with no direction, no editorial introductions, no expectations shared, no comments, no nothing. Petrified and oh so insecure, I wrote whatever I thought was needed, not knowing if this was how things usually worked or not. I was just happy to have an opportunity for a by line. I wrote from an angle that I thought would work and tried to do my best. Apparently, what I wrote passed the test because the editor complimented me, made minimal edits and published the article. It was my first published work! It was also my first experience being baptized by fire, a term I had never heard of at that point in my life but I came to know well in time.
What Do You Mean Baptism by Fire?
The phrase “Baptism by Fire” began as a phrase that was synonymous with a challenging situation or circumstance that someone went through. In Biblical references, it is used to describe martyrdom. Over time it began to be used to describe a soldier’s first time in battle; with the battle serving as the soldier’s baptism.
The phrase has also been adopted by today’s working world, with a baptism by fire referring to an employee being thrown into a situation, or “the fire” quickly in the absence of training with the expectation that their wisdom, experience and skill will help them to conquer the challenge successfully. The rationale being that they will have to deal with complicated, real-life situations sooner or later anyway so why not let it be sooner.
If an employee passes this test, it is assumed they should be able to handle any other situation that arises on the job. Some good job examples where such a test of abilities might make sense is police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
Why We Use This Practice
I learned early in my professional career that the practice of Baptism by Fire is utilized when:
A. A trainee is unable to complete a well-organized, planned training due to time constraints or unforeseen circumstances or
B. There is no well-organized, planned training for a trainee
I learned it as an example of item “A” above. I was progressing through a well-planned, well thought out orientation and training plan. Things were going well and I was getting all the information I needed and the opportunity to take in that information and practice it. I was scheduled to shadow an experienced coworker on facilitating the new employee orientation on a Monday morning. We held them every other Monday and I had sat through one on a more recent date as an attendee to reacquaint myself with its content, as opposed to an observer to note the structure, guest speakers and overall flow. The orientation itself would begin at 7 a.m. and end between 3:30 and 4 p.m. The facilitator, the role I was being trained to perform would start at about 6:30 a.m. and end after 4:30 p.m.; giving time to open up the room, set up (for meals, snacks, handouts, multimedia etc) and break down… truly the longest day ever!
This particular Monday morning the person I was scheduled to shadow made multiple fears come to life. She got sick and couldn’t come to work! I got a call in the wee hours of the morning, informing me that I would need to conduct the entire day on my own. What an awful way to learn something so lengthy and so intense but what option did we have? There were people who could pop in and check on me periodically throughout the day but that was the extent of the assistance I would get. I was on my own. I had to set up, break down, host, introduce presenters, present, entertain, conduct Q&A’s, track time and last but not least, collapse when it was all over.
Well, I did it and I survived but I decided that was not something I ever wanted to be responsible for causing to occur in anyone else’s developmental life. I knew it could not be helped in that instance but I saw it happen multiple times in other employees’ orientations. In most of those situations, it most certainly could have been avoided.
The Alternative Option
The alternative option, is to plan, implement and stick to training and orientation programs. The primary goal of training people for new roles is to make sure people understand what to do, how to do it and when. Besides those three givens it is also a way to increase the chances of success for the individual or individuals involved, improve adherence to an intended mission or vision and last but not least, help avoid unnecessary errors.
As indicated, I have, on more than one… two…twenty occasions, seen leaders bypass training plans and protocols in favor of fast tracking someone into a new role because they needed the person to get up and running quickly, they had less than competent trainers or there simply was no training or orientation plan.
Develop a Training/Orientation Program for New People
Outline
Developing a program of this nature is easy on one hand but time consuming on the other. It should be easy because you are writing down an outlined structure of all the key job components and content that you know a new leader or new employee/volunteer needs to know to successfully fulfill their role. When you’re done, it may look rather intimidating but add a few extra spaces between the lines for additional white space and it’ll look a little better (LOL).
Details
The next step would be to fill in the details of each section. This would require input from individuals who carry out those tasks regularly. For example, if the primary heading for a particular section is Scheduling Orientations, the detail that might be added might look something like this:
1. Create a calendar
2. Identify specific orientation dates (26) for the calendar year
3. Reserve meeting rooms for each date and assign to corresponding dates
4. Assign facilitators from our dept. to each date, send calendar of dates to each
5. Send memos to all participating departments, requesting names of presenters
6. Complete and send catering requests to Food Services for each date
a. Requests for continental breakfast
b. Requests for beverages a.m. and p.m.
c. Requests for lunch
d. Requests for snacks
7. Review and update handouts and supply lists
8. Check inventory of above etc. etc. etc.
Do this for every major area of training that needs to occur. Then choose individuals who are good at these tasks to conduct that portion of the training. If Jenny does a lousy job setting up for orientation, don’t let her do orientation training. If she is excellent at giving tours or taking payments for replacement ID badges, have her conduct that aspect of the training. Let her do what she is good at. This will help ensure variety, attention to detail and will give the new person ample opportunity to meet a number of the team members as they rotate through different areas and sit with different trainers.
Closing Thoughts
I can speak from experience, as I always try to do in these posts. I have used detailed orientation training documents in multiple settings. I found that they had the most profound effect in the most hectic, high performing, high stress area I had charge over. It was that area where I got the most positive feedback… yes I solicited formalized feedback from each orientee. That was the only way I could track pitfalls or identify those that may not have been the best at training…or the worst. I was able to tweak some of the training and trainers and improve the process. The staff was quite competent to begin with but they were given ample training to ensure greater confidence and success to match that competence. To my knowledge, no one was ever baptized by fire in that job, but all were given the opportunity to look, listen and learn before they were expected to jump in and do the job. They knew from the beginning how much time they would have to learn and how soon they would be expected to perform… no surprises. Sounds like a perfect world; but it wasn’t perfect, just planned. Try it!