Keep Call Center Training Alive…Without the Budget

Frequently, we hear that the reason for contact center agent training slowdowns -- or disappearance! -- is that centers started adjusting to tight times with headcount cuts -- leaving little time for personnel to be off the floor in training. But there might be a different reason: "Perhaps, as managers, we have been unable to show the value of  growing ourselves and our staff," says Deborah Monroe, president of Ignite Achievements International Inc. and a support services training faculty member for the Help Desk Institute

With that in mind, it's up to managers and directors to make the case for ongoing training. "During the slow and hard times we all should be investing in our people so that they are sharp and ready to hit the ground running when our businesses pick up," says Monroe. "It is a simple paradigm shift and the return on investment will be plain to see and measurable through our KPI’s."

This is also a time when getting creative helps. Consider e-learning, where agents can have training delivered to their desktops and access training modules during down time on the contact center floor.

But the key, says Monroe, is to keep it fun and keep it simple. "Keeping training alive is easy!  Make it fun and take the responsibility on yourself as a manager.  Hit a couple of important areas that you want to improve and create competition among the ranks to learn those areas."

Keeping call center training simple -- streamlining, really -- comes down to setting priorities. No matter how much needed improvement you see before you, you have to start somewhere.

"Managers can help themselves to set priorities for the training by initially knowing what their top 10 issues are," says Monroe. She also recommends managers ask themselves the following:

1.      What calls do we get over and over? This will help determine where the learning needs to begin

2.      What issues do we face with our customer service and satisfaction?

3.      Do we know what how engaged our employees are and what is the motivator for each employee?

4.      How do we develop our employees? Look at these four critical areas: Their own Industry (like banking, Insurance, Health care); Call Center (customer service, certifications), Professional Development (Emotional Intelligence, negotiation skills, vocal skills, business writing), Personal Development (Stress Management, Time Management, Interpersonal Skills).

"This is a good beginning!" says Monroe. "Once they have this information, they can then prioritize the 'need to improve' list and figure out what part of the budget they are able to spend on each item. The manager will realize that there is much that they can do themselves and by engaging employees to take on a couple of the subjects." Then, should you expand training and decide to invest in formal training -- with our without outside assistance -- you'll have more confidence that you're investing wisely. 

Evaluating Training Effectiveness

Call center training requires precious time away from handling customer contacts, so it is important to ensure that the program meets the objectives of

the call center. A thorough and systematic evaluation process is needed to assess the effectiveness of training.

At a basic level, evaluation consists of defining objectives, specifying those objectives measurably, and then assessing the extent to which learners have mastered those objectives. Evaluation should result in:

• Determining the effectiveness of the training program

• Deciding whether to change, stop or expand the program

• How to improve the program for future delivery

Four Levels of Evaluation

Training programs should be evaluated on four levels:

Level 1 – Reaction: Reaction comes primarily from evaluations filled out by attendees at the conclusion of the training program. In survey format, it usually covers such items as program methodology, group and individual exercises, quality of materials and media, facilitator capabilities, facilities, etc.

Level 2 – Learning evaluation: This is the process of collecting, analyzing and reporting information to assess how much the participants learned and applied in the learning experience.

Level 3 – Application to the job (also called transfer): This step assesses the degree to which the knowledge, skills and abilities taught in the classroom are being used on the job. It includes identification of enablers and barriers that facilitate or inhibit successful application. 

Level 4 – Evaluating the impact and ROI (also called results): This is the process of determining the impact of training on organizational productivity,

improved customer satisfaction, and the organization’s strategic business plan. There are two aspects to Level 4 evaluation:

• Impact: What is the change in business metrics attributable to training?

• ROI: What is the return on the training investment (calculated by dividing the net dollar value of the benefit by the costs of training)?

Identify the Performance Metrics Required for Success

To determine the results of training, management must first establish baseline performance metrics based on the needs assessment. That is, “What measurement is used to identify the gap?” The measurement could be adherence to schedule, accuracy of information, compliance to policies and procedures, etc.

Decisions from Evaluation Information

Managers should make changes to the training program based on feedback from the evaluation process. Key issues include:

• Effectiveness of the facilitator to determine if a change in instructors or additional training for the instructor is required (from Levels 1 and 2).

• Effectiveness of the materials to see if content, sequence or priority need to change (from Levels 1 and 2).

• Effectiveness of the instructional/learning strategies to see if they reinforce the content and allow for practice and application (from Levels 1 and 2).

• The extent of the use of new knowledge and skills on the job to determine if there needs to be a change in the content, instructional/learning strategies, delivery method – or whether training should continue (from Level 3).

• The environmental factors that support or hinder the use of the knowledge and skills on the job, to decide if changes in system support tools are     needed (from Level 3).

• The extent of the impact on the business or enterprise metric to determine if training should continue (from Level 4).

• The ROI to determine if training should continue (from Level 4).

Source: Creating a Training Strategy and Evaluating Effectiveness

Additional resource: Contact Center Training: Designing Effective Training for Agents

 

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Hear More On How to Keep Training Alive At ACCE 2010

Deborah Monroe will be presenting at ACCE 2011, where she'll focus on sharing ideas for motivating your staff and creating competitions that will increase teamwork, buy-in and production. Don’t “spray the training on and pray that it sticks” – learn how to keep it alive with ideas and exercises that are cost effective, motivational and fun. 

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Layne Holley is Director of Community Services for ICMI. lholley@icmi.com