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It isn’t a simple task to train your employees, especially when you hire them in the middle of the project. And changing a team on an ongoing project comes with many challenges. Since they are in a new environment with people they have never seen before, it makes them uncomfortable and hesitant to blend with the group, ask questions, convey their problems, etc. If it continues for long, this prevents them from bringing out their potential, which isn’t good for them and the company.
So, it is the responsibility of the company to come up with ways to train new employees and make them feel comfortable as soon as possible.
So, what to do in such a situation? What are the ways to train new employees on an ongoing project?
13 ways to train new employees
Familiarize them with the company’s working process and workflow
One of the best ways to train new employees is to tell them about the company’s culture. Since they are in a new environment, they are unaware of the working process, values, missions, goals, how employees communicate and work, what standards they follow, etc.
Until and unless new employees are aware of what the company expects from them, they don’t give their best. Until and unless you provide the working environment they want, they will feel awkward.
Moreover, the time is limited since you are hiring new employees in the middle of an ongoing project, making them familiarize themselves with the company as quickly as possible is what your aim should be. It should also involve not only the company but the entire team to make them comfortable and create a friendly environment.
Delegate roles and responsibilities
When employees know their roles and responsibilities clearly, they do better. With clear direction and no distraction, they keep on doing their tasks sincerely, and with full dedication.
When a company trusts its employees and knows that they are accountable for their roles and responsibilities, the employees become more loyal and fulfill their duty. A company should have similar beliefs to their new employees.
Delegate roles and responsibilities to the employees clearly, trust them and be there when they are in a pinch situation. Doing this boosts new employees’ morale.
Furthermore, assess their strengths and weaknesses and accordingly give them the roles. When they are carrying out their job, monitor them, point out if anything goes wrong, and give suggestions to solve the problems. These are some of the best ways to train new employees and make them feel they are in the right working environment.
Assign a mentor
What would be better than assigning a mentor to train new employees? But, they should be someone who has been here for a long time because they know about the company more than anyone. This might be time-consuming and adds extra responsibilities, but it will help new employees to be familiar with the company’s working culture and environment quickly.
If new employees have questions about the project, the mentor will help them. About the project’s requirements, goals, progress, and everything related to it, the mentor will onboard them easily and quickly.
In an ongoing project, you can assign someone as a mentor from within the team. This way, it won’t hamper the project’s deadlines.
Create a handbook
You can create guidelines or ebooks, or a handbook, either print or digital form to make it easier for the new employees to understand the company. Plus, keep them somewhere everyone can access easily.
Additionally, notify them to document their daily activities, processes, etc., to make it easier for them and upcoming new hires in their work. This helps them improve their workflow and get used to the working culture quickly.
Organize a two-way interactive session
It is always not good to give instructions and make it a one-way communication. To help new employees feel motivated and comfortable, there should be a two-way interactive session. This way, they will share their problems with you and raise questions.
When new employees are hired for an ongoing project, they must be familiar with the project itself first. Then only they show their potential. And a company should always clear its employees’ confusion first.
However, some companies don’t understand that one-way communication builds pressure and workload because employees don’t get time to convey their problems. They feel like they are in a strict environment and are surrounded by robots who simply care about their work, making them uncomfortable.
Such a situation has to be avoided. Making communication two-way builds trust, loyalty, and coordination among team members and management.
Video presentations
Like handbooks, video presentation helps new employees learn more about the company. They are more informative than text.
Videos help new employees to get acquainted with your company fast. They will learn how it runs, works, employees do their tasks, its protocols, etc. They can watch it repeatedly until the company’s working culture is deeply engraved in them.
Plus, you can use the videos again and again for new hires in the coming days. Amazingly, everyone will get the same message and information, helping them to be on the same page. This way, they will work towards the same goals and objectives.
Encourage group learning
Group learning is one of the best ways to get to know team members and build trust. Further down, this helps everyone to coordinate seamlessly. New employees will be more familiar with the ongoing project.
The projects finish on time and the coordination and communication become seamless when everyone is in sync and trusts each other. Plus, this helps new employees to see how everyone works.
Group learning will encourage everyone to do their best because everyone depends on each other. Old employees help new ones to be familiar with the new working environment and culture. And solving problems collaboratively becomes much easier and more informative than working alone.
Allow learning from failure
Not everyone can learn quickly. They need time to assess their situation and environment. Hiring new employees in an ongoing project comes with risks, like extra responsibilities, time, delay, etc. That is why group learning and mentoring are crucial. Such practices help new employees to adapt to their new environment fast.
Everyone fails, and that’s a given. However, it helps them to get up and learn from their mistakes. So, give your new employees a chance to correct their mistakes and become more competent. If anything goes wrong, there are mentors, team members, and management to help them and stand on their feet.
Helping them to learn from their mistakes assists them in grasping their situation and weaknesses and improving themselves.
Create a friendly environment
As we have been telling from the start, creating a friendly environment is one of the best ways to train new employees.
Until and unless you create a favorable working environment, new employees won’t be able to adapt to the culture. They will hesitate to communicate with other team members. But, when they are surrounded by cheerful and collaborative people, they will quickly blend themselves with the company’s culture and working process.
And the best way to create a friendly environment is to welcome them on their first day, have all-hands meetings from time to time, etc. Making them feel like a part of the family is what you should aim for. Then only they will feel more motivated and dedicated to their work.
Open door policy
Most companies adopt a closed-door policy, where superiors are always inside their cabinet and rarely come out to see how their employees are doing. As a result, the new employees hesitate to knock at the door every time they have something to talk about. In this situation, the management itself is playing a major role in preventing them from adapting to their new working environment.
However, the open-door policy promotes healthy communication and relationships between superiors and employees. Solving problems becomes much easier. Most importantly, it enhances performance, boosting delivery time and the development process.
Motivate employees
Sometimes, when new employees are introduced to the company’s working culture and environment, they feel shy and uncomfortable in the initial stage. In fact, everyone goes through the same phase. However, during an ongoing project, this could prove fatal, as it may hinder the delivery time. So, the company must motivate them before it is too late.
Involving team members and communicating with new employees help get rid of their nervousness. Plus, the company can organize a meeting to introduce the team members and provide every information they need to get involved in the project immediately.
Help set up everything
When you are hiring new employees on an ongoing project, setting up everything, like frameworks, tools, technologies, etc., may take hours and hours, sometimes even days. Errors during installation are something to consider as well.
So, before new employees start their working day, it is better to help them set up everything they need for running projects priorly. This way, there won’t be any delay in the project. Plus, briefing them about the company’s working culture and the project’s requirements beforehand saves a lot of time, promoting faster development and delivery.
Keep communicating
Sometimes, new employees feel like isolation even when they are in the company. When everyone is doing their task, they don’t feel like disturbing anyone even if they face a problem. They pretend to work. As a result, this builds pressure on them.
So, not only the team members but the superiors should communicate with them constantly because they are in a new environment and they need as much help as possible in the initial phase.
And sometimes, new employees leave the company immediately because the working environment they expect isn’t favorable to them. So it is the responsibility of the company to take care of that as well.
Related article: 8 Best Practices for Remote Employee Onboarding
In Conclusion
When you hire new employees, it will take time to help them adapt to their new working environment. But, when you are hiring in the middle of ongoing projects, onboarding them will be challenging. So, to make it easier for you, we prepared these 13 ways to train new employees. These will help them blend themselves with the company environment in no time. So, give them every support they need to get going.
If you need additional support, then Truemark will help you. With 5+ years of experience in software development, we will help you with your dream project without compromising on quality. We have experienced development teams who are proficient in software development. You don’t have to worry about the delay in the project delivery or services we provide. So, contact us at any time if you have a great project idea.
Cover Image Credits: Pikisuperstar from Freepik
