Training Checklists for New Hires: The Secret to Consistency and High-Performance

Discover how this simple yet often overlooked tool can get your new hires up and running quickly and easily.

Let’s face it, while coaching and mentoring can be hugely rewarding, the realities of the training process can be a total slog for everyone involved. 

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You (or another experienced member of your team) is stuck explaining things again, and again… and yet again. Meanwhile every new hire has a totally different onboarding experience, at the mercy of whatever their trainer happens to pass on.

Under these conditions, steps get missed and instructions are spotty. No wonder the whole endeavor feels frustrating.

But it doesn’t have to.

Training checklists offer a straightforward way to shore up your onboarding system and set your new hires up for success, making life easier for them, your existing staff and yourself.

After all… who doesn’t enjoy crossing stuff off lists?

What is a training checklist?

A training checklist is a tool contractors can use as part of their onboarding process. It has two functions: 

• Day-to-day reference on a job site, showing new hires the steps of a task 
• Method for giving feedback and evaluating performance

Why do you need training checklists?

Training checklists have a bunch of powerful benefits, which is why it’s head-scratching that so few contracting companies use them. Onboarding checklists are proven to increase training effectiveness by 50% AND reduce turnover.

For more insights on how to reduce turnover within your contracting business, check out this episode of Contractor Evolution with employee retention expert Joey Coleman  and learn How to Never Lose an Employee Again.

For the reduced staffing churn alone, it’s well worth adding training checklists to your corporate toolkit, but in case you’re not convinced, here are even more reasons why you should use them:

✅ It’s virtually impossible to scale until you make your processes repeatable.

✅ They ensure that training delivered across different crews remains consistent.

✅ If proper training seems expensive and time-consuming, NOT training is even more so. 

✅ They’re just downright essential, even if you’ve snagged a top-notch hire.

✅ They give your new hires an impression of professionalism right from the start.

✅ They also make great sales tools, showing customers you care about quality performance.

✅ They provide enterprise value when the time comes to sell your business.

What kind of tasks should have new hire checklists?

Not every task necessarily needs a checklist, nor will it make sense to create them for absolutely everything your team does. 

When it comes to deciding which tasks to target, think about the following questions:

💡What high-time/low-skill things do you do every day that could be delegated?

💡What tasks carry safety risks?

💡What tasks are frequently forgotten?

💡What tasks have a high impact on customer satisfaction?

💡What tasks have a high impact on your net profit margin?

(If you don’t know what your profit margins are or how they rate compared to industry standards… you can learn more about them here.)

How do you make a training checklist?

The first thing worth noting is that while it certainly takes some thought, creating new hire checklists isn’t brain surgery.

But to make things REALLY easy for you, we’ve created a Training Checklist Tool that you can implement TODAY.

In the meantime, here are a few quick tips on where to start:

⬜After you’ve answered the questions in the previous section, pick out the tasks or processes that could benefit most from having a structured training checklist.

⬜Work out the logical steps in the workflow. This is best done with the process expert, so if it’s not you, collaborate with the staff member who’s currently carrying out the task.

⬜Use the template! It’ll save you mountains of time and help you organize the process so that it’s straightforward to follow.

How do you make sure your checklists are used?

The best way to ensure your efforts don’t go to waste is to place the checklists where the work gets done. Make them easy to find, whether it’s a print-out or an online resource. Add them to your standard operating procedures and stick them in your New Employee Onboarding Kit.

Also, keep them up to date. Things change all the time, that’s the nature of business. Don’t leave your checklists in the dust. When you adopt new best practices, incorporate those improvements.

By using training checklists, you pave the way for your new hires to become fully-integrated, highly-functioning members of your team, allowing your company to run smoother projects and generate higher profits.

Check.

Download the Training Checklist Tool now.

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