How to Coach Yourself and Others How To Perform On The Job Coaching | Page 26

Contrast #1:
"In this business, you need to be outgoing. I tell my trainees to 'get a personality!'
Contrast #2:
"It's almost impossible to teach customer relation skills. It's not like teaching printing. You don't
have anything physical to point to or compare to something else. Role playing isn't an answer—
nobody ever takes it seriously.
9. Be creative in your communication with trainees
Narrative of a good OJT:
"If somebody is 't getting it in a reasonable amount of time, I try to say it a different way, or to
demonstrate what I mean in a different way. Or I’ll just ask them how they think I can do a better
job of helping them to understand. Sometimes this works, but sometimes you need to help them
figure out what the problem is."
Contrast:
"I must have shown her how to notice when the film was about to jump the track at least 10 times.
Each time, I showed her exactly the same way. She just couldn't get it, so I gave up."
10. Make Learning Fun
Narrative of a good OJT:
"Everyone wants to know how we develop employees with so much initiative. It’s simple. If they're
not afraid to try things, if they know they're allowed to make mistakes, they'll take initiative. I tell
them, 'There's only one irreversible mistake you can make: sending the film through the wrong
developing chemicals. We train and train and train on that, so you probably won't ever make that
mistake.
Everything else is fixable.
If you have a dissatisfied customer and you can't please them, pass them on to someone else. That's
our rule—please 'em or pass 'em. We've all passed 'em from time to time.
If you print the negatives out of balance, well, print them again.
If you're having too much paper waste, we'll figure out how to help you get it down.
If your sales are low, we'll practice your 'pit ch.'
This is what I say to trainees, and these are the things we talk about in our store meetings. This stuff
is important to all of us, all the time."
Contrast #1:
"When I'm at the counter, I listen with half an ear to what my employee is saying to a customer. If I
don't like what I'm hearing, I butt in. I know I shouldn't do this, but I just can't help myself. It's
especially bad when I do it with a trainee."
Contrast #2:
"You can't teach some people to print, and you can't teach some people customer relations. You find
out who's good at what, and you just keep them on that position."

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