Employee & Team Relations

As a Lead Trainer you’ll have Dog Pro’s under your leadership. In the principles section we go over why the LT job is so crucial concerning your team. As a leader, from time to time you’ll have to deal with team not being on track, going against policies, not getting their lists and tasks done in a timely manner, etc.

There are a number of things that will pop us as you lead and guide people, but below we list some of the main things you’ll have to address during your time leading a team.

It’ll also be your job to handle concerns that your team has as well and make sure they are good to go!

Employee Challenges, Discipline, Etc.

OUTLINE FOR EMPLOYEE CONCERNS & CHALLENGES:

Note: It is important to not be upset when you talk to them. So if you need some time, take time before addressing the concern.

Note: Also, remember from the “Cultural Tendencies” section in Cert 1 that we Assume Positive Intent as part of the culture here. They aren’t probably doing wrong intentionally. Normally it’s a time issue or a forgetfulness issue. BUT, it may be an ignorance issue. They don’t see the importance so they skip it and don’t do it. Most of the time though, it’s important to note it probably isn’t intentional.

1) Bring up the issue and let them know what the error is

2) See why it happened

  • Time or forgetfulness? Ignorance to the error?

3) Explain why it’s important to do it

4) Get their buy-in that it won’t happen again OR do the disciplinary action that corresponds to the error and your previous conversations with them

5) Document conversation in the proper place

COMMON DISCIPLINE STEPS:

Note: These do not have to be in order if the mistake is big enough. If it’s a big one, jump to a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or Write-Up.

Note: Before administering 3-4 bring in a higher up to consult you on the matter. You are NOT allowed to fire people without permission first.

1) Verbal warning: 1-2 strikes. Conversation and documentation of the conversation.

  • Email them and have them reply agreeing that the conversation was had.

2) Write-Up & formal meeting: After multiple conversations and warnings, call a 1-on-1 meeting and issue a write up. Bring in a higher up if needed.

3) Write-Up & Minor Discipline Action: Call a meeting, bring a higher up, write them up and give minor discipline action.

  • PIP - A plan designed to get them to improve.

  • Unpaid time off

4) Termination. After multiple meetings, warnings, write-ups, PIPs and minor actions, it’s time for them to go. See firing list and training before termination. Make sure you have a plan and it is executed properly. If we don’t do the pre-firing steps the employee can mess things up very badly for us. Note: You must consult a higher up before doing this. You can NOT fire someone without approval.

TIPS:

1) Let your team know during these conversations that by them doing poorly, that effects you and messes with your job performance.

COMMON EMPLOYEE CONCERNS & CHALLENGES:

1) Not doing daily/graduation lists, admin, cancellation checklist, etc.

  • It may not be that they aren’t doing it all together, it may just be that they are not doing some of it, or missing particular stuff from time to time.

    • Bring it to their attention what they missed and tell them WHY it is important that the task is done.

      • Example: If they don’t do the client cancellation checklist when an appointment gets cancelled, it may come back on them and that wouldn’t be good.

      • Example: They don’t do the client cancellation checklist intentionally because they don’t see why it’s important. Teach them why it’s important.

        • If the thing in question really is stupid and makes no sense to do it, consult a higher up about changing company policy.

2) Calling in & attendance

  • Sometimes the reason people call in will be real and they may actually be sick, have a sick kid, etc. But sometimes team will try to take advantage of the policies we have in place and their attendance record shows.

    • The best thing to do here is to follow the HR manual and points system to keep track of their attendance. Communicate clearly with them and let them know about their point balance and what happens at X amount of points.

3) Saying wild shit at lessons.

  • Sometimes without supervision and after watching other trainers online, DPs will start to say things in lesson that doesn’t line up with our training ideology. The best thing to do here is explain what WD says and go back to Cert 2 and the corresponding section. And explaining WHY what they are saying isn’t the best.

    • The best way to avoid this is by doing YOUR list and doing in-person QC with your team.

      • Example: We had a DP once who was in college for sociology and she was giving out the same advice for a puppy that you would for a human child.

4) Not staying at appts the whole time

  • Fortunately this doesn’t happen often, and you likely won’t hear this from the DP but rather the clients if they feel like they are/actually are being cheated out of their time.

    • This is a pretty serious issue and deserves very serious attention.

      • You can check for this by looking at the time the homework texts are being sent to people. If the lesson is supposed to be ending at 1:30pm and the text is sent at 1:10, that is clearly a problem.

5) Gossiping & Disputes between team

  • If we do a great job as leaders and promote a great and healthy work culture, this won’t happen often. BUT if it does, it is your job to squash it immediately and let the team participating know that gossip is toxic for workplace culture and a fireable offense. We do not play games when it comes to toxicity in the work culture.


6) Addressing & Dealing with Mental health

  • Mental health is one of the most crucial aspects of the overall picture of someone’s health. As LT, you’re the one who is in contact with your DP’s the most and knows them the best. This means you’ll be the one who can most accurately assess the pulse of the mental health of the people under your leadership.

    • Ideas For Addressing Mental Health:

      • If you pickup a teammate is struggling, just start by asking “Is everything okay?” They may brush you off and then follow up with, “No really, is everything okay?” And try to get through to them.

      • Listen to team and just hear them out, take them to lunch, offer to help however you can, give a day or two off if necessary

      • Example: A LT felt a DP very stressed after a couple of short conversations. The LT decided to take the DP out for lunch during an open slot and got to hear the DP out. Turns out that the DP was super stressed with things at home (not work) because she was having family come to town and her house was “no-where near” of where it had to be. The LT decided to offer to come over on the weekend and help her clean and organize her house for her family who was coming to town. The DP was SUPER grateful and was able to bring her stress-level down a bunch. This showed that DP the heart of the team. She was able to work the following week more clear-headed and all it took was to show some grace and compassion. With that action, the client also benefits since the DP has less stress.

    • Note: The team member is NOT REQUIRED to tell us anything they don’t feel comfortable sharing but we are basically just letting them know that we are there for them & that we’d love to help if we can.

Concerns Team May Call You With:

Part of leading a team is not only you addressing concerns with them, but also YOU addressing their concerns. Below we’ve listed some of the main things you’ll get and deal with your team calling you about and how to deal with them!

Common Items Team Will Call About:

There are a number of things that team will reach out about and seek help with. It would be impossible to list out every thing here. Overall, ask them what they think they should do about the situation, coach them on the item at hand if they need additional info for the solution they came up with, document it, make trainings on the question it if it’s relevant.

1) Not being comfortable at lessons due to area or client

  • Ideally this won’t happen to too often, but it will from time to time. If its an area concern, see if you can move that client to a better time of day. If the client is strange, teach and coach them on what to do/say.

2) Clients upset the dogs not trained but doesn’t want to do the work (“not what I signed up for”)

  • Sometimes clients who are told multiple times in the sales process they have to do ‘20 minutes of homework’ per day don’t get the hint that they have to actually do 20 minutes of HW a day. They will tell the DP “this is not what I signed up for” when it is quite literally what they signed up for.

    • Solutions: Tell the Dog Pro to be more clear, YOU personally call the client and try to resolve for the DP, etc.

3) Upgrading/Downgrading Clients

  • Tell them to follow the protocol in the Team Hub and only do their part of the whole thing. The other parts will be handled by the teammate whose job it is to handle it.

4) Seeing things they haven’t dealt with before and not knowing how to handle it

  • When this happens, the first time, coach them on it and then if we don’t have a training on it, write down the scenario/question and either make a training on it, or pass it off to a higher up to make a training on it.

5) Dogs that don’t want to respond to the prong or remote collar or have shut down because of them

  • When this happens, the first time, coach them on it. Also, send them the training in whatever ever Cert 2 section this is in so they know how to handle it moving forward.

Strategies For When The Team Calls:

In an ideal world, your team will call as needed and implement the advice you give them. That is normal and healthy. If you’re getting calls ALL the time, there’s an issue in 1 or more of the following 3 areas. a) It’s a Dog Pro problem, b) it’s a training problem (DP wasn’t properly trained), c) it’s a YOU problem for not being clear enough.

1) You’re getting overloaded with calls

We had a LT one-time report that her phone was constantly being blown up with calls and texts from the team. She had 3-5 Dog Pro’s under her at the time. She reported that her phone rang non-stop and all the time.

We got on a call together and I asked her to go over what the team was calling her about and she gave the answer. I let her know that it was her fault they were calling over and over.

You either allow your reality or create your reality. If you find you’re always getting calls about the same things over and over or that it’s always something new, you have a problem.

Ideas:

  • Get their questions out in your morning call and check-in with them (as part of your daily list, you need to be calling each person under your leadership daily to check-in with them.)

    • Tell them to save all questions and non-emergency items for your check-in call the following day

      • Note: If everything becomes an emergency, then you have a Dog Pro problem

  • Set out a time of the day your team is allowed to call you to combat the call volume and you’re not slave to answering the phone

2) Same questions over and over again

If you find yourself getting the same questions over and over, you’re not doing what is mentioned in the section above and training the team on the questions. If you get a question from a DP and it’s a good and valid question, answer it for them and then it’s up to YOU to document the question and make a training on it. Then bring it up on Tuesday meeting OR the TTT meeting. Then it’ll be added to the cert.

Ideas:

  • If a Dog Pro keeps asking you the same thing over and over, after the second or third time, kindly remind them that you have answered this or a similar question 2-3x now. Then ask them, '“Do you have this moving forward?”

    • If after you do this, you continue to get the same question from the same person, you have a Dog Pro problem that needs to be addressed

3) Ramblers

Ideally, these team coaching calls where your DP’s call you will be to the point, you get them the advice and guidance they need and then you can move on. BUT, from time to time, you’ll get on the phone and the DP with ramble with all sorts of context. If this is the case, politely interrupt them and ask them, “What is your question in 1-2 sentences?”

Ideas:

  • Politely interrupt and ask, “What is your question in 1-2 sentences?”

  • When you pickup a call with a DP who has a tendency to talk for long periods of time, pickup the phone and politely say, “Hey Name, what’s going on? What’s your question or concern in 1-2 sentences?”