The Five R’s of Ongoing Training

Refresh, Restore, Revitalize, Remind, and Renew

Ongoing training for experienced personnel is a disciplined, regular process practiced by industry leaders. Most companies put forth dedicated time and resources to prepare new hires for their jobs, but training should not be a one-time event. Our research shows that continuous skills development for experienced personnel is often neglected, especially for customer-facing representatives, because managers are reluctant to take their staff “off the phones” or “away from the branch.” Many organizations view training as a costly expense, but it makes more sense to view staff development as a long-term investment in your personnel. So how do you know the seasoned professionals on your team would benefit from additional training? 

Begin with a Training Needs Analysis that includes call monitoring and focus groups with your representatives to identify processes, issues, or concerns that are preventing them from reaching their productivity, effectiveness, and quality goals. Next, assign an annual budget, deliver ongoing training and implement regular surveys and needs assessments to determine the training content for your experienced personnel. For roles requiring customer interaction there are many options in the marketplace: live or virtual instructor-led seminars and workshops, e-learning modules, and webinars, to name a few.

The 5 R’s of training and staff development are:

Refresh your personnel on your company’s mission and business objectives. 

Restore the focus of your team on your customers, not only policies, process, and systems. 

Revitalize your staff: training is a proven motivational tool that increases employee retention. 

Renew enthusiasm in your departments’ goals and show how your representatives contribute to your company’s success. 

Remind your team of “tips and tricks” to increase productivity, effectiveness, and quality that they may have forgotten or seldom use. 

Viewing ongoing employee training as an investment is a win-win. To determine if your efforts have been successful you will need to set goals to measure the appropriate and acceptable rate of return. Measurable results are required to justify the cost/benefit of training. Select metrics that will demonstrate the results of your investment. You’ll have an easier time budgeting for future training when you demonstrate concrete performance improvements as a result of ongoing training.