Dear Barb:
My owner has hired three new employees because he wants our company to set records this year. I have been with our company for 10 years, and as a result, the new employees are constantly asking me questions. My owner did initial training, but I find myself unofficially training and it’s costing me money. I just came off my
worst months in years. Their constant personal conversations are a major distraction. I don’t want to be rude, but I’m tired of giving them answers all day long and tired of hearing their stories.
My owner is pretty much an absentee owner, only coming in maybe 15-20 hours a week. How do I tell him that he needs to train these people and stop them from talking to me? If they are costing me money, they are also costing him money. At this rate we are not going to set production records, we are going to produce less than we did last year without these new hires. How do I approach my boss without appearing like I’m not a team player?
Sharon C., Tampa, FL
What is your solution?
Dear Sharon:
The first two pieces of advice I have are directed at you. Each time a new employee asks you a question your answer should always be the same, “What is your solution?” If you keep providing answers, they will keep asking you questions. If they know you are going to say, “What is your solution?” the number of questions will dramatically reduce.
If you are on your phone working, it is much harder for you to be interrupted or be distracted by their personal conversations. You need to tune them out and focus on completing your planned daily outgoing calls in order to maintain your production level.
All owners are receptive to ideas that will increase sales and profits. If you approach your owner from the perspective of having identified areas where the new employees need more of his training to make them more productive, he will welcome your input. If you don’t have a consistent training program, you might encourage your owner to demo our Top Producer Tutor which will take training off his desk and yours. Have him go to Top Producer Tutor.
We support the training program, so their questions would come to us. We also do live calls where they can ask questions. This will also prevent you from experiencing another bad month.
Barbara J. Bruno, CPC, CTS