An inside look at how Trainual customers use Trainual

Puppy-dog eyes can’t save you from poor documentation 🐶

Hot off the SMB press this week: 

• A template that outlines your company's work-life balance philosophy.
• Delegation could be the solution to your biz’s bottleneck problems.
• How this Trainual customer introduces their new hires to the industry.
• Tips for finding the sweet spot between your work and personal life.

STARTER PACK

Template of the week: Work-Life Balance Philosophy

Ten days into 2024, and that means you’re still going strong with your New Year’s resolutions (...right?)! You’ve probably been buckling down on work, determined to hustle and hit your business goals — as is the rest of your team. And while that hard work is crucial for success, there’s something very important that you may be leaving to the sidelines: work-life balance.

It’s likely you’ve encountered articles, podcasts, and social media that highlight all the benefits of having a good work-life balance. Here’s a reminder: Prioritizing the needs of your personal life alongside your career is important for your health and personal well-being, as well as your productivity and job satisfaction. 

And it’s not just important for you as a business leader. You need to ensure that your employees are also doing their utmost to manage their time with work so that they still have the energy to enjoy their personal lives. Helping facilitate this balance will leave you with a healthier, happier, and more productive team — and that means you need a way to encourage your people to find a work-life balance that best suits them.

👉 So, set up your documentation with this Work-Life Balance Philosophy template, which outlines your company’s commitment to your employees’ well-being and how you can support them in maintaining a healthy work-life balance. All it needs is your personal touch to reflect your business’ unique company culture, and it’s ready to share with your team! 

‍Want more templates to help you build your business playbook? Check out our entire template archive of free, multimedia-enhanced, and customizable policy, process, and role starters. New to Trainual? Get a demo.

TASK TRAFFIC

Are you a bottleneck boss? Here’s how to tell. (And how to stop.)

As a manager, it’s important to avoid becoming an obstruction to your team’s productivity and growth. This can happen due to excessive micromanagement that slows down progress, not communicating goals and expectations, taking too long to make decisions, ignoring feedback, or — and this is a big one — failing to delegate.

How can I tell if I’m a bottleneck for my team?

Here are some telltale signs that you could be causing a productivity traffic jam for your team:

• Your business can’t run on its own (without leadership stepping in).
• Employee engagement reports reveal low feelings of autonomy and empowerment across the org.
• Your calendar and task management systems are overstuffed (because you’re not delegating those pesky responsibilities that bog you down).
• Leadership is burdened with maintaining client relationships, while sales and customer experience teams feel undervalued.

What can I do if I’m experiencing some of those signs?
If you’ve fallen into the trap of becoming a bit of a bottleneck boss, the most important thing you can do is delegate, delegate, delegate. After all, delegating more of your responsibilities will fix each of the issues above. That means your business can run without you, employees will feel a sense of autonomy and empowerment, your calendar can declutter, and leadership can step out of the day-to-day tasks that frontline workers should be handling. 

So what should I delegate (and to who)?
First, identify your high performers. With the right instruction and guidance, these natural go-getters can take on the new tasks you distribute to them (and may even level up existing operations). 

Then, write down all your duties and roles and divide them into two categories: those that are revenue-generating and those that aren’t. Anything that doesn’t generate money for your business is something you need to get off your plate ASAP.

Finally, you need to document the training and best practices your high performers need to take over the responsibilities you’re saying goodbye to. (Doing this in Trainual makes it easy peasy.) And there you have it! Brush off your hands because those responsibilities are out of them.

👉 Learn how to measure the results of delegation efforts.

TRAINUAL TIPS & TRICKS

Setting the standard for a model customer account: Repli

We love to see our customers become documentation whizzes — but we know that you love to see it even more. Being able to review other Trainual accounts can often help you find any gaps in yours and get inspired to jump back in to make some updates. So we’d like to present to you: a close look at customer Repli’s all-star Trainual account.

As a leader in their industry, digital marketing services agency Repli (with 40+ employees and growing) needs their team to stay on top of the training and operations that have made their business a success. So they prioritize Trainual to train and retain employees, perform knowledge checks, and stay compliant with industry standards.

Siobhan Park, Repli’s head of training and marketing, says that she doesn’t expect new hires to memorize everything they get trained on — her goal is that they walk away from their first week knowing that they’ll find the answers to all their questions in Trainual as they ramp up. According to Siobhan, they’re not just getting a leg up with Trainual as their industry evolves — they are staying one step ahead of the curve, always. 

And all of that is easy as pie when your Trainual account equips your team with everything they need to streamline training, reinforce hands-on learning, and push your team forward during accelerated growth phases. Peek inside Repli’s Trainual account.

“You can see it in our performance, in our optimized processes — Trainual is transforming the way we work.” 
– Siobhan Park, Head of Training & Marketing at Repli

BALANCING ACT

What you should actually do to find work-life balance

Is achieving work-life balance truly possible?
It’s a tough one to figure out, for sure. Especially when you have huge, lofty goals for your business or career, or your personal life demands more of your attention (like when managing a household or having kids). There never seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do at work and in your personal life. 

But just because it’s tough doesn’t mean it’s impossible. And the benefits of managing a good work-life balance — like reduced stress and better well-being — are worth figuring it out.

So, what’s the secret?
Ultimately, there’s no “perfect” work-life balance (that's why some people call it work-life integration). You can’t separate your days into 12 hours of work and 12 hours of personal time (when would you sleep?!). Finding the best schedule for you depends more on your ability to be open and flexible than setting a rigid hour-by-hour guide of what you need to do and when. 

A realistic schedule balances over time rather than day-by-day. That means that some days, you’ll work more, and other days, you’ll prioritize your personal life. If your business structure allows it, try to escape the traditional 9-5 structure and give your team flexibility to work at alternative times (like at night or over the weekend). That can free up their time during the week for things like childcare and medical appointments.

Here are a few more tips for you and your team to manage work-life balance:

• Make health your main priority. Health — whether it’s physical, emotional, or mental — should always be your main concern. Overworking or pushing yourself to ignore health concerns can be far more detrimental in the long run. Taking the time to rest and recuperate will leave you happier and better equipped to tackle anything that comes your way.
• Set work boundaries. Have your entire team set — and follow — specific work hours, and unplug from all work devices and notifications outside those hours. It can be easy to answer just one more email or respond to one last request, but boundaries set realistic expectations for your team about when work stops and ends. This gives everyone the chance to actually relax and avoid burnout.

👉 Find more ways to improve your work-life balance.