Wow! Your New Hire!

Helping your new hire get off on the right foot starts before their first day.   New employee indoctrination begins with how they learn about the opportunity, the interview process and how they are introduced to their new job and co-workers.   Starting a new job is stressful, exciting and challenging.  What can you do to make it positive?

 

Prepare a review packet for the interview.   This includes the job description, the vision and mission of the company.  Solicit feedback from your staff on why they like to work for the company.  This way you can include “Testimony from the Troops” so the prospect can get a look at the company from an employee’s perspective.

 

As the supervisor, phone your new hire a day or two before they start.  This is where the real indoctrination begins; where the first impression starts to form for your newest staff member.  Tell them what name they are to call you, confirm what name they like to be called.  Express how enthused you are to have them on your team.  Review with the new employee how the first day will go and what to expect the first week.  Give them your cell phone number and tell them day one lunch is on you.  If there is an after-hours number share it so they can give it to family members, and this is the perfect entrée to discussing texting and personal phone call boundaries on the job.

 

Talk about dress code and invite them to park in a special place on their first day – as close to the front door as possible.  Explain this will be the only day they park there but you want their first day to be as easy and comfortable as possible. 

 

Ask your new employee to come in 5-10 minutes early and that you will be waiting for them at the door.  Greet them with a handshake and a notebook.  Tell them the notebook is a central place they can make notes and write down questions or store information they want to hang on to.  Let them know that each day you will visit with them about what is in the notebook.

 

Ask them to share a few things they like for people to know about them – maybe favorite places to vacation or where they grew up, etc.  Take their photo to be used in introducing them to others and explain that you are personally committed to making them a part of the team!   Put the photo to use immediately by making a poster for the coffee bar and send out an announcement informing other departments about your new employee.  Ask those you email to call or fax a welcome to your newest team member.

 

Get your new hire off on the right foot.  Wow them like you want them to wow customers, co-workers and you!  Help them feel a part of versus a part from the team immediately!

 

Still learning,

Honey

War or Peace? What's Your Plan for Resolving Conflict?

When conflict happens between you and another person look at your part in the deal and face the conflict.  Ignoring and resisting conflict won’t make it go away.

Working and living with other people generates joy, frustration and irritation.  Express appreciation for the joy and address unresolved conflict.  A lack of either or both will create resentment and fuel conflict. 

Maybe you have someone that “rubs you the wrong way” or maybe someone offended you 13 years ago or last month and your typical approach is to get even by not speaking or acting rude.  This approach is a lousy strategy for peace – peace of mind especially.

It takes guts and honesty mixed with courtesy to speak up when you feel offended.  But that is your part in the deal.

Try this - “When you this or that I told myself this or that.  I know it’s my responsibility to share what’s up for me so can we have a respectful discussion about this?”  Courtesy, courage and kindness are the perfect combination to approaching conflict.  You can’t make anyone do anything but you can choose your actions and reactions to everything.

Don’t continue to lay the groundwork for war by setting a trap to ambush the other guy.  Go direct, avoid being accusatory and work to resolve the conflict.  War is expensive, people get hurt. 

Remember, remain open to feedback and lessen your defensiveness when others muster up their courage and bring you issues they have with you.

So what’s it going to be – war or peace?

Still learning,

Honey

This Teller Drives Me Crazy!

Ever said that?  If you are a customer who has had "issues" with a teller you might have said that.  If you are a manager of a branch in a bank or a credit union I know you've said that!  Maybe you are training a new teller and are pulling your hair out.  

Hot Tip - Hot Link  

Essential Tellers Issues

Read on, here are some symptoms and treatments for tellers that drive you crazy.

The teller was trained and now acts like she wasn't.

At the risk of sounding defensive here are some things to ponder.  Tellers are expected to know an immense amount of information - some they use daily and some they seldom use.  Remember, tellers, like the rest of us, learn by doing.  Deliberately and in a supportive way have them practice process, procedures and decision making.

Create simulation exercises for ALL tellers to review monthly, if they are new have excercises for them weekly.  Simply put, copy transactions or make up mock transactions and have the teller review the items in the transaction and explain what they would do and why.  Make some of the transactions very routine, some very complicated.  Provide all the information the tellers needs to make a decision.  Account balance, account history, etc.

Include less cash deposit for a new account and temporary ID.

Include a check to be cashed that is made payable to a business.

Include an endorsement that is a simulated forgery and a copy of a legit driver's license.

I think you get the idea.  

I have a teller with a bad attitude.

Whoops...you have a teller with poor behavior.  Stay out of the attitude business and focus on behavior.  Learn to be very descriptive without judgment or exaggeration when positively confronting a teller about rudeness, indifference, laziness, gossip and the like.  State what you saw or heard, state what you want instead and call for agreement.  Brief, firm and to the point.  Document the conversation.  If you have to do this more than once, call for a corrective action plan the teller is to provide you with and give them 2 days to prepare it.  Review the plan they provide you, collaborate and work it out so you both are in agreement, document it and ask the teller to sign it.  Ask what you can do to best support the plan.  Follow up and follow through.

Don't delay addressing behavior that drives you crazy!  And, remember to review your own behavior every day and ask yourself "what did I do today that would drive someone crazy?"  If that wasn't your intention :), stop the behavior, apologize and be a role model for others.

Be the person you want others to be.  

Still learning,

Honey

On the Job is a Juggling Act

You know the challenges that come with juggling your time on the job!  Meetings here, there and everywhere, paperwork, phone calls, employees, customers, email…the list goes on and on.

Here’s a few time management tips that will help you to not drop the ball and decrease your stress level!

 ü  Everyday make a list of what is to be done

·         If you don’t know what you should be doing, how can you manage your time to get it done?

·         Plan for the unexpected

·         Some people like writing this list out by hand because it shows commitment to each item.

·         Others like software that helps to slice and dice their to-do list into manageable, relevant chunks.

·         What on the list needs to be done first?  Second, etc.?

·         Put a time estimate by each item

·         Do a reality check – where do you need to make adjustments?

ü  Retrieval is everything

·         Are you wasting time looking for items on your computer and your desk?

·         Organize a filing system and routinely file lower the stress of too much stuff not being where you can find it

·         Remember FDR  when you open a document on your computer or review paper on your desk

o   FILE or DISCARD or RESPOND

ü  One calendar – only one

·         More than one calendar in your life puts your reputation and your time at risk

·         Use a pencil if your one and only is a paper calendar

·         Key point – your to-do list is about what needs to get done, your calendar is about when it gets done

As a juggler learn how many balls you can keep in the air at one time.  Sometimes you have to say no or delegate.  Stay tuned on how to say no and how to delegate.

Still learning,

 Honey

How Do I Know This ID is for Real?

Identification Rationale
Requesting, examining, and recording the presenter’s identification is an important part of the check-cashing decision.  It is how you determine whether the presenter is the person he or she claims to be. Since it is difficult to recognize everyone who wants to cash a check, properly identifying them is critical.

Identification Six Point Validity Test

Determine the validity of customer identification using specific criteria.

Acceptable identification must:

      1.   Contain a photograph.

      2.   Describe the presenter.

      3.   Show a sample of the presenter's signature.

      4.   Include the birth date of the presenter.

      5.   Display a date of expiration.

      6.   Be recognizable as an official I.D. and contain a registration or identification number.

Commonly acceptable forms of identification may include:

• Valid Driver's License with a photograph                             
• Armed Forces issued  ID                                                        
• USA/Foreign Passport    
• Official state Issued ID with a photograph                           
•  INS issued Alien Registration Card
• Well-known employee I.D. cards that contain photograph
• Government/military identification cards

REMEMBER:  For the I.D. to be acceptable, it must pass the Six Point Test.

Why Training Can't Get Where it Needs to Go!

How did we ever get somewhere we hadn’t been before without Google Earth or a GPS?  Oh, I remember, we used a map -- those impossible to refold paper maps that had a scale so you could take a ruler and mark up your route and measure your distance.  Now that’s really dating me.  Even my plug in the cigarette lighter Garmin is old hat.  Today, my Smartphone acts as my guide, navigating me here and there.  I really like it when the navigator alerts me when there are tolls so I can be ready to fork over my quarters or dollars and pay the price to travel the best route.  

When it comes to training, set your sights on your destination, map out the route and pay the toll.  Clear a path for training to become a rock solid contributor to your culture, efficiencies and bottom line. 

 

Still learning,

Honey