What a cowboy, a scared kid, and a very windy mountain taught me about training new hires.
We went horseback riding on top of a mountain in Colorado. Gorgeous views, real cowboys leading the way, and wind like I have never felt. Normally the breeze up there runs 10 to 15 miles an hour. That day we had 40 to 60 mile an hour gusts. Dust in your eyes every time you turned your head, and so loud you could barely hear the person next to you.
Here is the part that matters. Horses are prey animals. They keep themselves safe using their sight and their hearing. When the wind is howling that hard and they cannot hear, they go on high alert, scanning for whatever they cannot pick up by sound. So picture sixteen already-big animals, all a little on edge.
We got my son Hudson up on his horse. He was nervous but doing great, and I kept telling him how proud I was and how brave he was being. Then a gust ripped through and spooked one of the horses. It nipped at another, that one jumped, and it bumped Hudson’s horse. Barely. Just enough that his horse shifted, and just enough for Hudson to know something was off.
The tears welled up. “I don’t want to do this. I want to get off. I don’t want to go.”
And here is a truth about horses that is also a truth about people. They are living, thinking animals with minds of their own, and when you are on top of one and you are not confident, they feel it. They feel the nerves, and they figure out pretty quick that they are the one in control. Hudson’s fear was real, and the horse could feel it.
Then the cowboy did something simple
He did not tell Hudson to toughen up. He did not throw him on and wish him luck. He walked over, calm as could be, and said, “Would it make you feel better if I grab the lead and take you on the leash the whole way? And if at any point you decide you want to go on your own, you can.”
Hudson said yes. The cowboy clipped on the lead and guided him the entire ride, right alongside him.
And I sat there on my own horse thinking, how often do we do the exact opposite to our new hires?
Sink or swim is not a training plan
We bring someone on, tell them “you’re going to do great, we believe in you, we trust you,” and then send them out to pass or fail on their own. Do we actually guide them? Do we show them what good looks like? Do we show them it is safe to make a mistake, that we will work through it together and figure it out? Or is it just “go do your thing, you can clean,” and then we blow up when they miss something?
That is the whole reason I am building the training I keep talking about. So much of what actually works is mentoring, not training. We are even changing the words we use. Our trainers are becoming mentors, and our trainees are becoming apprentices, because they are learning a skilled trade. They are learning chemicals and mixes and a real craft. That is not “just a trainee out cleaning.” Our job is to be the cowboy: grab the lead rein, take them out, show them the path, and show them they are going to be okay.
We love to say “they’re just cleaners, you just have to be good at cleaning.” But they are starting a brand new job, with brand new people and brand new management, and we do not know their background. That guide had no idea whether Hudson had ever been kicked by a horse before. He did not know his history. He came over and guided him anyway.
The part that actually made the difference
Here is what got me. That cowboy never once got impatient. Hudson asked him a million questions, and I could hear every single one. The guide answered all of them, calm and kind, every time. For Hudson, it was the first time he had ever asked those questions. For the guide, it was probably the five hundredth. He never let that show.
And that patience is exactly why, when we got off, Hudson said, “There were so many things I was nervous about, and I just asked, and he kept giving me good answers, and I felt better.” Now my kid wants to ride again.
So think about your own team. Are you getting short with a new hire because they are not learning fast enough? Frustrated when they miss something? Tired of going back over it again? Now think back to the very first time you cleaned a house, or did whatever it is you do. Was it easy? Did you pick it up instantly with nobody showing you a thing?
In our industry, training is often five days to two weeks. That is a lot to learn in a tiny window, and we cram in a lot. Which means the mentoring cannot stop when training ends. It has to keep going, with quality checks and with real effort to make people feel like part of the team. That matters even more when your cleaners work solo all day, because camaraderie and connection do not happen by accident when someone is on their own. So what are you doing to build it?
One last thing
If someone is a genuine core value fit but not yet your strongest cleaner, ask yourself how much time you are willing to invest to keep them and train them right. Because here is the trade I will make every time. We can train cleaning. We cannot train someone to be a good human.
Be the cowboy. Grab the lead rein. Walk beside them until they are ready to ride on their own.
The mentor-and-apprentice system I am building is exactly this, turned into a real, repeatable program with videos, reading, and quizzes so no stone is left unturned. I want it to be the most thorough training out there. If you want in the day it opens, get on the waitlist.