I have been given the opportunity to develop a Learning & Development function within a call centre. Historically the training has only been induction training as the attrition rate is very high.
Any ideas as to how or what I can do to develop a L & D department that will keep the attrition low and morale high and anything I should avoid?
Any help whatsoever will be greatly appreciated.
lee cooper
7 Responses
In theory…
You should start with a proper training needs analysis. You could check their appraisals (presuming anyone has stayed long enough to have one!), ask a question in exit interviews/ questionnaires (what further training would have been helpful to you), or if you are really brave ask the team members what they would like via a suggestion box!
If you have time and money to burn you could do a motivational day and hire someone to teach circus skills. I have yet to convince a business its a good idea, but you may have further success. I personally still think it would be enormous fun and maybe they could juggle between phone calls?
Having worked in several companies whose training courses are dictated to from the top it is refreshing to hear of a case such as yours.
Best of luck!
Nikki
Needs Analysis
Have you got a team appointed to take on learning and development roles? I have done a lot of work in developing in-house work based coaches who do a lot of the training on a one to one basis using materials which have been designed by the learning and development manager.
Avoid doing lots of sheep dip courses, try exploring other ways of learning. If often suggest “The Handbook of Work Based Learning” by Ian Cunningham as a good starting point.
If attrition is high and morale low it may also be to do with the way that employees are being managed so you need to be careful that you are not just providing a sticking plaster over a management issue.
Good luck, it sounds a challenging project. Do feel free to get in contact if you need any more information
Best wishes
Christine
Start by listening to calls
I agree with the other respondents in that you would benefit from firstly doing a needs assessment. The best and most targetted way of doing this in a call centre is to sit and listen to some calls. Record them as well if you can. This will indicate where agents are strong, and where they need extra help and confidence.
having provided training for a number of call centres I have found this to be a good starting point, and then training workshops can be arranged to suit specific needs. You can ask anets what they think they need but in my experience they don’t know what they don’t know!
if you would like any more information feel free to email me, or call me on (0118) 9875683.
Call Centre Science
Indeed a challenge is in front of you and good luck with it. In my many years in experience in call centre’s is they are never the same. I would recommend you get to understand the culture and the values/vision of the company. Do they match? High turnover of staff can be due to a number of things. Can you identify any trends? is it due to high targets? Call related stat pressure? Interview leaves etc. Are the managers lacking people and motivation skills? You can do all the training in the world but if line managers and supervisors are not engaging staff and do not buy into the practice it will fail. Depending on the types of calls being handled, what room for incentive/friendly competition is there? Motivate the motivators!
This may help…
Hi Lee,
I am just begining to do the same thing!
I have an outline plan and would be happy to share it with you.
give me a call 0121-568-1704 to discus.
Sarah
Motivation through learning
Lee, Attrition can be due to a number of reasons and may be found out through exit interviews. Have you considered looking at developmental training over a period to reduce the attrition rate. Please contact me if you would like further information [email protected]
Call Centre
Hi Lee
I agree with members who have mentioned listening in to the calls. Ensure you have a structured way of assessment though. Break down the stages of the call from Preparation through to Close.
When working in a call centre environment handling customer service queries, we developed a call monitoring document that broke down the stages of the call and suggested different levels of standards for each stage, from ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’. You can download a copy from http://www.abctrainingsolutions.biz. From home page roll over the ‘Free Trainer Stuff’ on the top tool bar and click into ‘Telephone Skills’.
Hope that helps
Happy Days!
Bryan