TRAINING for a new SHARED SERVICES division.

Shared services training

Although I didn’t get involved in the training, I worked on a project alongside the set up of a SSC and the issues which were somewhat overlooked were around preconceptions and the role changes.

The team members weren’t always sure who was doing what nor why some tasks were segregated and some shared; some found the shift to more or less sharing difficult – mainly because no one told them why. The people they were there to support were given little information about how the SSC would ultimately function and why, so they had gripes and questions and the SSC staff didn’t know how to answer them.

As with many similar issues when managing any Change – lack of Context and Communication were the problem.

On the plus side, they took the opportunity to move into newly designed premises which were far more fit for purpose than the old building. Whilst this isn’t always possible, the work involved in specifying this and getting opinions and views from the staff helped to overcome some of the issues above.

Sue

2 Responses

f1girl says:

October 1, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Similar project

Hi,

I did some work a few years ago in a credit control department, which provided training for managers, supervisors and call handlers. The sorts of things were covered were pretty standard really (I’m happy to provide a list, but am short on time at the moment), but the most important thing I think you need to do is two-fold:
- Work with the managers of the SSC to get them to define what good looks like in their department, and their objectives for the SSC as a whole. If they define the vision, they will be committed to making it happen.
- Do a full TNA to find out what’s essential, and what’s ‘nice to do’, where the gaps are, and what your priorities are.
It may be worth getting someone external in to help with this part, even if you have the skills and capacity to do the rest in-house.

Got to go!

Sheridan Webb

http://www.keystonedevelopment.co.uk
scohen says:

October 7, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Shared services training

Hi

Although I didn’t get involved in the training, I worked on a project alongside the set up of a SSC and the issues which were somewhat overlooked were around preconceptions and the role changes.

The team members weren’t always sure who was doing what nor why some tasks were segregated and some shared; some found the shift to more or less sharing difficult – mainly because no one told them why. The people they were there to support were given little information about how the SSC would ultimately function and why, so they had gripes and questions and the SSC staff didn’t know how to answer them.

As with many similar issues when managing any Change – lack of Context and Communication were the problem.

On the plus side, they took the opportunity to move into newly designed premises which were far more fit for purpose than the old building. Whilst this isn’t always possible, the work involved in specifying this and getting opinions and views from the staff helped to overcome some of the issues above.

Sue