By
Rose Polchin
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Date Published: June 17, 2013 - Last Updated August 22, 2018
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Comments
Continuing my series, Make Training Count: 10 Tips to Increase ROI, here is my fifth tip:
Make sure refresher training takes place, as needed.
Example: Training agents on adherence and other performance metrics in new hire training is great. However, they are often overwhelmed with information and performance is not one and done; they may need refresher training.
The key words in this tip are “as needed.” I say that because, as a trainer, I have often gotten requests for “refresher training.” Almost as often as I get requests for training. So what do you do when you get that “refresher training” request?
If you’ve read tips one, two, three, and four, I suspect you already know that my response to those requests looks a lot like my response to any training request with a bit of a twist.
My first action is to assess the situation:
- Revisit the expected performance.
- Identify current performance.
- Determine if there is a performance gap. If there is a gap, we need to do some root cause analysis. Here are a few questions to ask to try and identify the root cause(s):
1. Does the performance gap exist due to will or skill? (can they do it and just don’t want to? Or is it truly a skill deficiency?)
2. Are there conflicting objectives (see Tip # 4)
3. How were/are the skills reinforced (or not?)
4. How are the skills assessed and measured?
5. Are there system, process, procedural issues that are causing the representatives to develop “workarounds”?
After some more analysis, we can then determine if “refresher training” is the answer or in fact the answer is anything from a new procedure, a job aid, metrics that don’t conflict, coaching support and reinforcement, a new technology application or something else.
Bottom line: By responding to a request for training or refresher training by performing a needs/performance analysis to determine the right solution(s) you’ll become a training consultant and business partner rather than a “training order taker”!