There comes a time for every business owner when they realise one person cannot do everything. This is when you need to find another you. We all know there are some tasks that we are just not good at. Or tasks you put off because they inspire you the least. These are the tasks that should be outsourced to someone with the right skill set who will thrive while completing them. Those who know me well are aware of my support for outsourcing. I’m listening to my own advice right now and have been training a new virtual team member to take over some of the bookkeeping tasks I have previously been handling for clients myself. My love of systems means I’ve been able to single out exactly which steps within the bookkeeping process I do not need to do myself. Here is how to train someone to be the new you:
- Work out exactly which tasks you can hand over to someone else
- Determine whether the person needs training in the specific online systems/programs you use
- Send them links to the training pages for the program so they can read all the relevant training manuals and watch the training videos
- Create a step-by-step recording of yourself completing each set of tasks to accompany their own online research and add this content to a training folder they can access online
- Set up a time to watch how they work at completing the tasks assigned. I use Teamviewer and get the trainee to drive as presenter so I can see what they’re doing. You can record this process to create a video of each task so you can highlight areas that need more training or emphasis
- Watch back the videos and document with words the training for each set of tasks as a process so you can see any gaps. I’m getting my trainee to do this for me.
Spend the time at the beginning providing support, training well and making sure your trainee understands every step of the process. This means less time for you down the track in answering questions or fixing up mistakes and more time to work on those tasks inspired to do. And the added bonus is you will have clear process documents for each outsourced system so it’s easy to hand them over to additional new trainees or amend as your systems develop. How do you train others to replace yourself?
