Strategic Organization
After working at the Presentation Practice Center for about a year, I was promoted to a position where I helped with the hiring and training process. It’s always an adjustment learning a new job position, but I had little resources to teach me what I should do. Each semester when we’d hire new employees, training them was done differently every time. Things we thought new hires should know were sometimes forgotten. I decided to streamline the training and development process for the Presentation Practice Center.
What did things look like before?
Before I started this project, training was done using an Employee Handbook which was very outdated. Things had changed throughout the years and it was time for the handbook to be updated. New tutors would meet with the Student Director during the first week of school for special training, but there were so many logistics to go over, sometimes it would take the new tutors a while to feel ready to begin tutoring.
My Solution
I created a 4 step process to make sure every new hire was properly trained. Here is a list of the Training and Development Process for tutors:
Step 1: Send Hiring Email
Rather than rewriting this email each semester and often forgetting important information, I wrote an email template that can be copied each semester for each new hire. This email asks for information regarding new hire’s availability and gives them instructions for filling out their I-9 paperwork so they can work legally.
Step 2: Orientation Videos
To help get new hires better acquainted with what the PPC is and some important logistics, I made three orientation videos that new hires will be asked to watch before their first in-person training with the Student Director.
About the Presentation Practice Center
How to Use Workday
Using Microsoft Teams (for tutors)
Using Microsoft Teams (for secretaries)
Step 3: PPC Tour
After watching their orientation videos, new tutors will schedule a time to visit the PPC for a brief tour. I felt that this would help ease them into their new position and also allow us to show and explain how things work in the office.
Step 4: New Tutor Trainings
Throughout the semester, new tutors will receive training from the Student Director. Many of these trainings are based off of content from the Employee Handbook. Because the handbook was so outdated, I revised it and redesigned the front cover. I also decided to update and print a secretary handbook that had been written, but wasn’t being utilized in training new secretaries. Finally, I wrote a Head Secretary Handbook (my current position) so that there would be a resource for the next Head Secretary. This was something I wished I had when I was promoted. Writing and revising these handbooks took a long time as I researched and collaborated with Brother Haacke, the PPC’s Faculty Director, to make sure it met his vision and included the necessary information. Here is Tutor Handbook, Secretary Handbook, and Head Secretary Handbook:
Principles from Communication Classes
I love many aspects of communication, so I was happy to use many different communication skills in this project.
- Visual Design through designing graphics in the orientation videos and the Employee Handbooks.
- Video and audio editing through recording the voiceovers and editing the orientation videos. This included proper sound mixing and finding music that was fair use.
- Strategic organization through creating a specific strategy and process for training effectively which included making a new PPC mission statement that I included in the orientation videos and the handbooks.
Conclusion
I was pleased with how this project turned out, not only because of the experience I gained and the skills I was able to put into practice, but also because my “client,” Brother Haacke, was also happy with the new training process for the Presentation Practice Center. This project felt like the perfect summary of the things I’ve learned here at BYU-Idaho.