Get your turbine cranking as soon as possible

Power plants are obsessed with something called ramp rate.

It’s the speed at which their turbines can get up to functional temperature and start creating output. This number depends on various factors, like generating unit capacity, operating conditions, technologies, number of units and configuration.

Those words may mean nothing to you, but for a company, there’s a larger principle.

Every new team member at any given organization has their own personal ramp rate. It’s the speed at which the company begins to receive value from their work. Multiple studies have been published on this topic, reporting numbers ranging from six weeks to sixth months for a new hire to get up to speed.

Sounds lovely if you can afford it, but when you’re a startup or a small business, frankly, you don’t have an entire quarter to spend in rigorous training sessions and shadow staffing without any actual output in sight.

When resources are lean, there’s no time for training wheels. The company can’t afford to have new team members milling around unproductively trying to figure out their project role and responsibilities.

My friend who runs a tech startup asks his potential sales reps, how long will it take for me to know if you’re a good salesperson?

He told me the best answer he ever got from a candidate was, one week.

And not surprisingly, that guy worked there for many years and produced impressive results.

That’s the nature of a modern small business. The mere idea of taking thirty, sixty or ninety days to know if you’re is going to be successful gives the executive team hives.

Lesson learned, don’t wait for someone to ramp you up. Get your turbine cranking as soon as possible. Contribute early and often, and the team will breathe a collective sigh and think, whew, we found the right guy.

What’s your personal ramp rate?