This Tip describes the steps in designing call center training, beginning with a needs assessment and curriculum design decisions.
“Begin with the end in mind.” Stephen Covey
I recently had the opportunity to work with two wonderful employees in the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Our task was to design a 15-day training program for new hires for a new call center (lovingly named the ThunderDome).
Laurie and Barb served as the subject matter experts in all things programmatic, organizational and technical. My role was to guide the curriculum design process and create the training materials that Laurie and Barb would be using. These materials included a binder with separate participant packets for each day, plus reference information.
Steps in Designing Call Center Training
Needs Assessment Decisions
We first had to determine what types of calls the new employees would be expected to answer on their own and which would be transferred to more seasoned employees.
This involved answering such questions as:
1. What are the most common calls?
2. What policy and program information is necessary to handle these calls?
3. What software applications should employees use to handle these calls?
4. What constitutes the more complex calls that more seasoned employees should handle?
Curriculum Design Decisions
Once these questions were answered, we discussed the best way to order the training program.
Policy Before Software
We decided to teach as much policy and program information as possible first. Then we would teach the new employees how to access and use the specialized software.
The first modules would concern content that was the easiest to handle and the most likely to be familiar to the new employees. This would not require learning or using any software programs.
We developed the list of topics for each training day and then created each day’s learning goals. The goals identified what the employees would learn and why that would be important to them in their new jobs.
Main Topics
There were three main topics:
- technical program policies and procedures,
- the computer software and phone system, and
- customer service and handling difficult calls.
We wrote the learning objectives where the desired level of learning for each objective would be application- and in some cases, analysis.
Simple decision trees would make the technical information much more accessible in many of the procedural modules.
Learning Activities
There was a variety of learning activities, including: case studies, questionnaires, pop ups, scavenger hunt for information, simulation, hands on computer work, etc.
There was an activity to check learner comprehension at the end of each session.
We devoted two days to shadowing a seasoned call center employee.
We devoted three days to handling calls under the guidance of the seasoned call center employees.
After that, Barb and Laurie would provide coaching and additional on-the-job-training.
This training process was so successful that they both received rewards for outstanding achievement. They certainly deserved it!
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
