Ask most people under 40 to define the America Dream and you’ll likely hear them mention owning their own business and/or being their own boss.
If you dig deeper and ask why so many young people want to pursue entrepreneurship, surprisingly, the first response won’t always be about making more money; in fact, it seldom is.
You’re more likely to hear them waxing on about wanting an opportunity to call the shots and getting out from under the grasp of a suppressive boss and a toxic workplace.
Every employee needs clear direction as to what is expected of them. They must know the boundaries they must adhere to. And they want to know how they can succeed in their roles to earn your high praise and move up the ladder. But there’s a razor-thin line between giving them direction and micromanaging them into robotic automatons that cannot think for themselves or act without a command.
Those among the young that are the brightest and not content to remain in the robot stage turn over quickly.
Savvy employers know this, and it’s why they never stop training their people, even if it means training them beyond the opportunities that exist for them in their present jobs. It’s also why they are trusted to make important, even costly decisions.
Solid hiring practices that feature revealing interviews, tailored assessments, and detailed background checks help to improve your odds of hiring the right kind of people who fit your culture, and who are trustworthy.
Trusting them to be honest in all matters is one thing. That’s on them.
Elevating the trust you have in them to the point where you are confident they will make good decisions while on the job hinges on the training they receive. That’s on you.
Companies that are renowned for having award-winning cultures never skimp on training. For them, training isn’t a period or a program that eventually ends but rather an ongoing process with no end.
For instance, The Container Store ensures that all new hires receive hundreds of hours of training before they ever set foot on the sales floor. Wegmans employees must learn every detail about the department they are assigned to. (That’s why the deli worker at Wegmans can tell you the color of the cow that gave the milk that went into the cheese you’re asking about.) At Marriott properties, all employees are cross-trained to do multiple jobs in the hotel just in case their help is needed in a completely different capacity than the one they were hired for.
But training does more than prepare employees to handle the rigors of the job. Training also makes employees more comfortable managing key day-to-day scenarios. The best training prepares employees to react to almost anything that might happen on the job. And while training can’t cover every possible contingency, it can better prepare employees to deal with exceptions—events outside the norm that require employees to think on their feet. When training is emphasized in a culture, employees feel more at ease when having to make difficult decisions. This type of autonomy inculcates within employees an ownership mentality, i.e., “This is my business, and I’m going to use my head and my heart to make absolutely certain things go as they should.”
In the military, the phrase “the training kicks in” describes how soldiers in combat situations react in extreme situations. The goal is always to train soldiers so well that they can act on instinct and make the right decision when faced with life-or-death conditions. Army Rangers and Navy Seals should serve as the prototype of the kind of people you want staffing your front lines.
It’s vital that you never let a day go by where your people aren’t learning, training, and growing.
Then trust them enough to step back and let them ‘own’ their job so they will unleash their creativity and become their best self at work.
