Do you have an onboarding process for a new client? How about for a new team member?
When you bring someone in to work with you in any capacity, you should have an intake procedure that helps you get the information you need from them, and give the information to them that they need to do their job properly.
What about communication policies?
Do you have a set of rules around how you communicate with people in your business? You should be very clear about who does what, and how everyone communicate with each other.
I learned a valuable lesson about both of these things recently – and it had nothing to do with clients or team members (well, not really!). It had to do with our new house cleaner.
A few months ago our house cleaner of several years told us that she would be retiring. We had gotten so used to having her help (even though we discussed it for two years before hiring her!), that we knew we had to replace her.
We found her number on the bulletin board at our local grocery store, and she didn’t have a formal business – she was just an older lady who knew how to clean stuff. She let me know the tools and products she wanted to use to clean with, and we bought them. She knew what she needed to do her work properly and she told us.
It was easy to work with her, and she was so nice too, it was great to see her every couple of weeks. We had excellent communication and a great professional relationship.
So when she retired and we had to find a new house cleaner, we went back to the bulletin board and hired someone new. Also not a formal business, but that didn’t matter to us. We had done great last time the same way.
But, the new girl was very different than our old house cleaner. She was younger (we didn’t have to worry about her retiring soon! LOL) but she also worked differently.
She didn’t give us any instructions, she didn’t ask for anything in particular, she just came and cleaned. We offered her extra time if she needed it, and we let her do things her way.
But her way was not our way. She seemed to rush every time she came. She left things dusty that we thought would be included in her cleaning routine. She used more cleaner than we we were used to. She did a great job on some things, but no so much on other things. Every time she left I had to ask her about something that was not completed.
She was quick and very pleasant, and she never complained.
Until I complained.
I told her I didn’t like her rushing. I told her I didn’t like her leaving things dusty.
She didn’t like that. She got upset and bit back by saying the quality of our flooring and our cleaning tools and products, none of which she had complained about or even mentioned, was inferior. She said that was affecting the job she was doing.
But she had not mentioned anything to us (and these were the same tools and products our previous house cleaner had used without issue).
I knew that I didn’t want to keep checking up on her every time she cleaned, so I let her go.
Here is the lesson we learned:
Our first house cleaner communicated well and took responsibility for how she did her work. She told us what she needed to do the job very well, and we had a great long term relationship.
Our second one did not. She didn’t communicate at all, actually, except for hellos and goodbyes. She didn’t tell us what she needed to do her work well, and we had a very short relationship.
BUT we also did not communicate well!
We did not set out our expectations for the new one. It was not entirely her fault that things did not work out.
We had taken our previous experience with our first house cleaner and assumed that everyone worked that way. They don’t.
When we realized the difference between the two women, we should have sat down the new one and gone through everything we wanted again. In detail. And asked for her feedback.
I expected her to act like the first housecleaner, but she was completely different. There was really no reason for me to expect her to act any differently than she did.
Clear communication is so important in any relationship, but definitely in one where money is being exchanged.
If we had done a proper training and onboarding for this young lady, I’m certain our experience would have been different.
The same thing happens when you are bringing in a new client or a new team member. Everyone has previous experiences they are drawing on, and everyone had different expectations about how things will work.
You can’t assume that everyone works the same way, because they don’t.
The best way for you to ensure that you are working well within your business is to have set policies and boundaries that you present to the person coming in to your business, that everyone needs to follow.
1. Tell people what needs to get done. Set the expectations you have for the client or team member. Tell them what you expect from them, and what they can expect from you. If you can develop a scope of work that details who will do what, that’s even better.
2. Make sure everyone knows how and when to communicate. Develop clear communication procedures. Do you use a project management system? Email? Messenger? How often?
3. What products do you use to get the job done? Detail the processes or systems to be used for the work. What programs do you use to get the work done, and who owns them?
4. Write it all down! By being clear (and writing things down!), you can be sure that the clarity does not get lost. Onboarding quite often consists of a lot of information. It’s hard to remember it all. Use checklists if necessary.
5. Check in regularly. Make sure everyone is happy and clear on what the expectations are. Without regular check-ins, people can settle into bad habits, or develop bad routines.
I know the next house cleaner we bring in will be very different, after going through this experience.
I will definitely provide clear expectations of what we need done, and what we expect. And I will make sure our communication is much better than it was in this instance.
Now we just need to find someone who agrees to those expectations, so we have another long term partner in our household!
Making your business run more smoothly starts with foundational pieces like this. If you need some help with your foundations, have a look at my Getting Started as a VA self study program.