The assistant called on behalf of her boss.
Ashley (not her real name) had been instructed to round up some quotes for customer service training. She had dutifully performed an internet search for customer service trainers and discovered some of my courses on LinkedIn Learning.
The boss had given Ashley simple instructions. Find some trainers, learn about their standard training program, and find out how much the training costs.
I asked a few questions to learn more about the training request and what problem the company was trying to solve. It was quickly apparent that the biggest problem was Ashley's boss was being lazy.
He was falling short on one of his most fundamental responsibilities as a leader. The manager failed to provide a clear vision to Ashley. He had also failed to provide a clear vision to the employees he wanted trained. In fact, he wasn’t sure what he wanted—he just hoped that hiring a trainer would make it better.
Here's how I knew the manager was being lazy, and how you can avoid falling into the same trap.
Questions to ask before requesting training
There's a list of questions I like to ask potential clients who contact me for customer service training. Here are the questions I asked Ashley along with her answers.
Why is this project important?
"I don't really know. I think it's because some employees have lost focus. We recently rolled out a new accounting software program that's caused some internal challenges, so that might have something to do with it."
How will your boss evaluate success?
"I don't know. He just told me to get some quotes."
What do people need to do that they aren't doing now?
"We have some rules of conduct that some employees haven't acknowledged. I guess they should be following those."
Are there any factors besides training that might impact performance?
"I'm not sure."
Notice Ashley gave vague answers to all of these questions. It's not her fault—her boss gave her this assignment without giving her complete information.
Leaders need to provide clear direction, but clarity often takes time. Time to clarify what good performance looks like. Time to observe employees and talk to them. Time to identify the root cause of an issue. Time to articulate a clear vision.
Ashley’s boss was being lazy when he tried to skip all that.
Let's look at how another customer service leader answered those same questions. This particular leader clearly spent much more time getting clarity about what she wanted.
Why is this project important?
"Our team doesn't have the best reputation, and we're trying to change that. Frankly, my boss has given me a mandate to improve our survey scores and reduce customer complaints. We're working on a comprehensive initiative to improve service. This includes improving processes, upgrading our self-service technology, and giving our employees new skills to better serve customers."
How will you evaluate success?
"Two primary ways. One is by observing customer interactions with our employees to see if there's been a change in behavior. The second is from feedback shared on our customer service survey. My boss gave me a target score to achieve, and I'd like to achieve it."
What do people need to do that they aren't doing now?
"My team often gets flustered when there's a line of customers waiting, which often leads to more customer complaints. Our survey results indicate wait times are our biggest source of dissatisfaction. I'd like to give my team skills to help prevent customers from getting upset."
Are there any factors besides training that might impact performance?
"We're working on ways to reduce the lines, or get more staff when the line gets too long. We've also invested in new self-service technology that should help us serve customers faster. And we are implementing some new procedures to make our service more convenient for customers."
Notice how much more clarity this leader had about her team's training needs. And she's not leaning on training in isolation. Her training request was one aspect of a multi-pronged approach to improving service.
How do you know if employees need training?
Training is fundamentally about solving problems. Employees are given training to help them overcome a challenge so they can improve their job performance.
The trick is knowing whether or not training is the right solution.
Training can only fix gaps in knowledge, skills, or ability. This means an employee is lacking one or more of those things thats needed to get the job done.
Knowledge: the information needed to do the job.
Skills: the techniques needed to do the job.
Abilities: the degree to which employees can use their skills.
A leader should clarify that the reason employees aren't performing is one or more gaps in knowledge, skills, or abilities, before requesting training. At minimum, the leader should engage a training professional to help identify the specific gap rather than prescribe a generic training program.
Here's more information on diagnosing when an employee needs training.
Ashley's boss hadn't yet determined what performance needed to improve, or why employees weren't already performing at the desired level. Without that information, it's difficult to know if training will have any impact, or just be a waste of time.
There have been many occasions in my career when I've been asked to conduct training, but the real problem turned out to be something else. It takes extra effort to find those answers, effort that lazy managers try to avoid.
Additional Resources
You can avoid being a lazy manager like Ashley’s boss by putting in the effort to achieve clarity for yourself and your team. Start by answering these questions the next time you are considering training.
Why is this project important?
How will we evaluate success?
What do employees need to do that they're not doing now?
What factors besides training might impact performance?
What are the gaps in knowledge, skills, or abilities?
Feel free to contact me if you get stuck. I'm happy to schedule a call and walk you through these questions.
You might discover that you need some training on how to find the answers to these questions. One option is my needs analysis course on LinkedIn Learning, which has been taken by more than 35,000 people. It can help you identify whether employees need training, and if they do, what training they need.
The course follows a training request from a senior leader and highlights various techniques for investigating the root cause of the problem. You'll see how an analysis can be done quickly, and how this upfront effort can save time and money.
The course is free with your LinkedIn Learning subscription. A 30-day trial is available if you’re not already a subscriber. Here's a preview of the course: