Case study: Onboarding Property Manager

Summary of case study

This case study showcases my first real-life training problem I was successfully able to solve as an entry-level L&D professional. I had the opportunity to exercise my problem discovery skills while I was serving my notice period before I left my job as a property manager in England. I was asked to train a new hire who would be my replacement.

Just like me, she had no previous experience working in a property letting and management agency. As this was a 10-employee small agency, they had little systematic training in place. I was asked to show her what I was doing and hand over tasks as she learnt them. I learned in a similar manner when I joined two years ago. The problem was I had only a month to teach her what had taken me several lengthy months to master myself.

Coincidentally, I had been learning about problem discovery and action mapping around this time and was successfully able to bring her knowledge and skills at par with mine in a month's time. In this case study I will explain how I went about the problem discovery process to get clarity of what the problem was, its root causes, define the goals and justify the most effective solutions.

Findings

Problem discovery process: I started by trying to define the problem with accuracy and as much detail as possible. I did this by asking meaningful questions and charting them on a mind map. The map summarizes key points. A briefer discussion is as follows.

I started with recalling my own onboarding and training process and the training received by others that came after me. The training resembled an apprenticeship, where I was given brief explanations where required, observe and learn what my seniors were doing, take notes, and then gradually take over the tasks as I learned them. Over the years, I gradually took on more tasks as I gained a more comprehensive understanding of the job and developed key skills.

For the purpose of a comprehensive root cause analysis, I calculated how long it had taken me to reach proficiency. A rough calculation revealed that it had taken me approximately 285 hours. In terms of cost, this would be approximately 3,000 GBP. Note that I did not factor in the cost that comes with loss of productivity while training, and administrative costs. If we factor these in,

the total cost would be well over 3,000 GBP. I then considered how long I had to train the new hire. I had only about 128 hours, or 1,300 GBP, before my notice period ended, which is less than half the time I had. This also meant that I had little time to create any training material.

To highlight the urgency and importance of the training task, I carefully considered the consequences of not completing the training on time and the potential fallout from providing inadequate training. The existing staff was already under strain due to new legislative changes, and the burden of training a new hire could exacerbate their workload. Past challenges in retaining new hires emphasized the need to improve the onboarding process swiftly, a task the existing staff lacked time for. It became evident that time constraints were my biggest challenge.

Discussion

The goal

The emphasis of my goal was to find ways to reduce the hours it took to train a new hire. In other words, I needed to make training time efficient. The following statement breaks down the goal more precisely:

Reduce the number of hours it takes to reach proficiency as a property manager by ~157 hrs from the current time it takes, ~285 hrs, by making training time efficient.

The colors represent the following information:

What success looks like.

How this success will be measured.

The gap between the current state and the goal.

How success will be achieved.

Progress beyond onboarding

Continuous learning is integral to professional growth. As long as the new hire remains in the company and profession, the potential for growth is endless. It was, therefore, useful to decide where we want to set the ceiling for the onboarding process. What level of proficiency should we aim for?

Training during onboarding

Clarification of the proficiency level I aimed to achieve for the new hire is instrumental in providing further clarity on the overarching goal. My objective was for her to proficiently handle the more straightforward cases of renewing tenancies and resolving maintenance issues – tasks that are not overly intricate. The aim was for her to navigate these tasks with minimal guidance, effectively accomplishing both client and company goals, and showcasing business acumen, a comprehensive understanding of the job, and the relevant negotiation skills.

Establishing this proficiency ceiling ensured that other staff members did not need to divert time from their busy schedules to assist her. As highlighted in the earlier findings, the primary consequence of inadequate training before my notice period ended was the strain it would place on the already busy staff. Consequently, it made practical sense to strive for a level of proficiency that enabled her to work with minimal assistance.

Recommendations

The primary tasks for the new hire, revolving around renewing tenancy agreements and addressing maintenance issues, may seem straightforward, but their nuances demand careful handling, considering the potential consequences of errors. The solutions also had to be ones that could be implemented quickly as we did not have much time to dedicate to creating them. The following solutions were chosen to address these challenges:

A nuanced workflow of the tenancy renewal process:

The workflow took away the need to remember every step of the process, freeing up headspace to focus on more important information.
It also freed up precious time to focus on building key skills.
It reduced the number of errors the new hire would make as every nuanced step was included in the list.

Pre-written emails for routine communications:

Having pre-written emails saved time, both, during training as well as during the routine process of renewing agreement beyond training.
It saved her headspace because she does not have to remember all the information she is legally required to communicate anymore.
It also ensures uniformity and professionalism when formal written communication skills are lacking.

A list of helpful links and documents:

The job requires keeping abreast of the constantly changing legislation. A list of websites and documents she will need to access the latest information was provided for future reference.
She will be able to refer back to these links if she needs further clarification or just needs to refresh her memory.
The list also includes links and documents she can refer to troubleshoot any property maintenance or tenancy renewal related issue.
These materials also served as reading material in the absence of formal training modules.
The list will also facilitate further professional development beyond the onboarding period.

Developing negotiation skills:

Real-case scenarios were effectively utilized to hone the new hire's negotiation skills.
The new hire was tasked with gradually taking over cases, starting with easier ones and advancing to more challenging ones as confidence was built.
Despite being the most time-intensive solution, this method proved to be the most effective in skill development.

Outcome

The above-mentioned solutions hardly took any time to prepare which meant we were able to implement them without any delay. The workflow helped her keep track of progress on each tenancy renewal and property maintenance issue. While the pre-written emails helped speed up the process. Some key documents, such as the How to Rent Checklist and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, served as useful reading material for her to familiarize herself with while she was not actively training with me. Throughout her training, she took handy training notes to refer back to.

The trainee was able to work on renewing agreements independently after just one month of training and was able to troubleshoot easier cases on her own. Applying the above time saving solutions, we were able to dedicate more of our time on going through each tenancy renewal together, and offering learning opportunities around how to suggest developments to the properties, understanding landlord's mortgages and other costs to better negotiate with them, etc. And although the whole process felt a bit rushed, she was able to gradually take over the renewals as she felt more confident, until she had taken over all the tasks I was doing.

Using the time saving solutions mentioned above helped us reach our goal of getting her to a level of proficiency where she is able to handle most cases without assistance from other staff members in a month’s time. She also has direction on how to further enhance her proficiency beyond the onboarding period, in the form of helpful documents and links that would require more time to read and understand.