I was watching my favorite football team on TV a few weeks ago-and the third string quarterback was forced into the game due to injuries to the top two quarterbacks. Once I saw the third-string QB I assumed the game was lost as I figured this guy was third-string for a reason, right?
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To my surprise he came in and rocked the house! He threw for a couple of touchdown passes, made some nice plays, and led the team to a come-from-behind victory.
In the post-game comments one of the things that his teammates said was that he was prepared for success. Even though he wasn’t the starting quarterback (and often didn’t make the game-day roster) he was prepared to step in to the role when needed.
The same is true for you when you bring on a temporary associate!
In my experience many managers expect their temporary associates to know everything about everything the moment they walk in the door and spend very little time preparing associates to succeed. That is a mistake! In the customer’s eyes they see NO difference between the “starters” and the “backups”….to them you’re all on the same team.
So here is what you can do to maximize the performance of your temporary associates:
One: Properly welcome your temporary associate to the team
We all want to feel connected and engaged-and the fact is we perform better when we feel connected and engaged with the people around us. When your associate arrives, no matter how stressed or preoccupied you are, carve out five-ten minutes to make sure that you’ve equipped your temp for success.
Give your associate a tour of the office, where the bathrooms are, lunch room, and break areas. Explain how lunches and breaks work in your community and when you’d like for the associate to go to lunch.
Two: Prepare a “Temp Book”
One of the most effective tools I created for our temps was a “Temp Book” filled with the information that they would need. In the book we had:
Current availability listing
Names of everyone on the staff
Information sheet for the community (name of management company, name and phone numbers of staff members, number of units, floorplan information, website and anything else I thought would be helpful.
Availability listing
Phone script
Sample guest card
Site map
Brochure
Three: Show Grace and Honor Your Boundaries
I know these two things may seem opposed, but they’re really two sides of the same coin. A temporary associate is going to make mistakes-when they happen, show grace and patience. It’ll keep your blood pressure down and will help your associate relax and settle in, which will increase his/her performance.
At the same time it is important that you set your expectations and boundaries for associates. If you don’t want to be bothered unless something REALLY bad is happening, let them know that you’ve got a full plate and that you’re not going to be very social-and that your door is open for questions, comments and concerns. If you have a specific way you want an associate to answer the phone, let him/her know (and put that in your “Temp Book” too.
Don’t wait until you’re ready to cause severe bodily harm to enforce your boundaries-and don’t pounce on the first mistake either!
Temporary associates are an important part of your operations … set them up to succeed!
