Cascading Leadership Series – Hiring😃 & Firing☹️— But Friendly

The First Two Weeks are Serious Business

When we first hire an apprentice, we have no expectations of them even though they seemed to be a promising behavioral fit in their interview. Their direct supervisor will evaluate them for soft skills while they’re on their best behavior in the first two weeks.

Is greenhorn still a word?

Our initial behavioral evaluation system is called the Green Book. It is called the Green Book because the employees are green, as in greenhorns or newbies. It used to be a green folder now, we do this review online, and we use a scoring system that’s quite simple: smiling or frowning faces. 

😃😃😃: This person appears to be a good behavioral fit— the employee follows directions, works safely, is a good communicator, punctual, follows directions, quick to learn, has an appropriate appearance, and has good customer service skills. We also ask if they are happy because this matters to us. If they get all smiley faces, we have an individual ready to be trained in the skills necessary for our job! 

☹️☹️☹️:  If an individual receives frowns in some categories, we evaluate and decide whether this employee will be a good fit. If they can change their negative behaviors with feedback or a warning, we may keep them and move them forward. However, if somebody isn’t friendly (for example), it will be hard to coach around that, and they likely won’t be a good fit here. 

Both decisions are examples of good, kind, and helpful leadership. 

It is your responsibility, or the job leads’, to provide employee feedback!

If John Doe gets all smiley faces, we assign him to a Learning Path and get him on track to success in the company. 

Next up: Learning Paths. Till then—build muscle! 😃