STEP 1: Measure-Up.
Before my esthetician knows which
facial will be best for my skin, she
examines my skin under a bright light
and a magnifying mirror. You can do the
same with your processes for hiring,
onboarding, selling and retention. A
complimentary Merit-based Measure-Up
assessment is available to you (see
digital box for website link). How do
your processes “measure up” to those
considered “best-in-class”? Before you
can offer the hydrating facial, it’s best to
identify the problem as dry skin.
QUICK TIP: Ask current staff these four
questions to identify gaps in your
onboarding process:
1. When you started, what was hard to
figure out?
2. How long were you working here until
you finally felt you hit your stride?
3. How well did our onboarding training
prepare you for your day-to-day work?
4. What would you add to our onboarding
training?
STEP 2: Mechanics.
Once you’ve selected the proper facial for
your client, you assemble the equipment,
tools and products you need for the
treatment. If the treatment room was
missing the towel you needed, you would
likely stop and find a towel before you
began. When new hires start, it is
important to prepare in advance so you
are not only clear about all of your expectations of them, but also that you have
everything you need for their onboarding.
Any gaps you uncover in the “MeasureUp” phase would be handled in this step.
This step takes some deliberate thinking,
but “done is better than perfect” and
some thinking and planning is better than
nothing.
QUICK TIP: Identify all of the expectations you have of new hires for a specific
role in three categories:
1. Information they need to KNOW
2. Actions they need to be able to DO
3. Systems and tools they will USE*
“Most likely, because the spa is so
busy, you won’t have time to train
them and the new hire will be left
on their own to do things the way
they’ve learned elsewhere.”
STEP 3: Implementation.
As a spa enthusiast, implementation is
my favorite part. In our facial example,
implementation is the act of conducting
the facial. In terms of onboarding new
hires, the implementation step happens
when you test the process you’ve
designed with a real person, either
“undercover” like a secret shopper or with
your actual new hire.
QUICK TIP: Tell your staff you’ve hired
someone and put them through the first
day on the job to see what is really
happening when a new hire starts. You
can learn a lot from your “undercover new
hire!”
STEP 4: Alignment.
As we all know, hydrating facials are not
a one-time thing. To maintain my
healthy glow, I get facials on a quarterly
basis. Guess what? Onboarding is the
same deal. It is a work in progress.
Sometimes you need to get rid of some
dead skin to reveal better skin and
sometimes you need to shed old ways
of training that no longer give you the
results you want. As you will learn new
things through implementation, you’ll be
able to adjust and align your process.
QUICK TIP: To keep your process in
alignment with your values, culture,
systems and tools, it is important that you
review the process at least on an annual
basis to keep it fresh and relevant.
A good hiring process is obviously
important to identify the candidates
with the potential to be great in your
organization, but don’t stop there. A
deliberate onboarding process gets your
good hires off to a great start and sets
them up for long-term success.
Your next new hire feels special, they
learn the ropes quickly and become
valuable members of the team faster
than you anticipated. They tell their
friends, who are also top in their field,
making it easier for you to recruit top
talent and grow your business. Clients
are thrilled. They refer more friends.
Finally, your spa is on autopilot a