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Thursday, January 22, 2015

We're Off to See the Wizard - The End of Onboarding

The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine who is an operations leader at a contact center. The discussion focused on the challenges of new agents.  New agents are wonderful, enthusiastic, usually eager to please, but sometimes they lack confidence.  Our talk lead me to think of a simple evaluation method for new employees.

Think of the end of new hire training as reaching the Great Wizard of Oz.  Remember from the story: the Scarecow was looking for a heart, the Tin Man a brain, and the Lion lacked courage.  Each of these elements are necessary to work in the service industry.

Take a look at your new team.  If they can evaluate the emotional tension of a customer, they have a good heart.  If they know the policies of the organization, they have the right knowledge.  If they need less reassurance, they have courage to make decisions and trust they learned what they need to know in training.

If one area is deficient, focus coaching conversations to develop it.  If two are missing, that could be poor training or a poor hire.  We won't even go there if three are missing.

Like in Oz, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion were shown they already possessed what they believed the lacked.   Perhaps your new hires do too, and it is your job to get them on the yellow brick road of success.

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