5 learning and development strategies that contact centers should consider to improve agent performance, and (spoiler alert) why you should automate them.
Bring the force of AI-powered, automated role-play to your contact center agents by harnessing the power of SymTrain to guide your workforce, automatically.
SymTrain is a unique training solution that goes beyond just receiving positive feedback from learners. With a focus on measuring behavioral changes that impact your business, employees can practice job functions while learning, resulting in improved outcomes at the behavior and results level, ultimately achieving levels 3 and 4 of the Kirkpatrick Model.
Although it was first developed in the 1950s, Donald Kirkpatrick’s Model to evaluate the effectiveness of training and learning programs remains one of the most commonly used standards today. Most experts will agree that it offers the most complete assessment of training’s impact on individual performance. By evaluating the learning program on four different levels, it offers a more complete review and a step-by-step process that breaks down each step into manageable segments with actionable items for improvement. It starts with a thorough look at learner engagement, knowledge, behavior, and ultimately the long-term effects on their job performance.
What Are the Four Levels of the Kirkpatrick Model?
The assessment criteria of the Kirkpatrick Model rates training and learning programs at four different levels: reaction, learning, behavior, and results.
Level 1 – Reaction
The first level measures the reaction of the learners. It focuses on data pertaining to how training was received by the participants. At this step, you are determining if the content and delivery were relevant, favorable, and engaging. A simple survey following training will give strong insights into what people took away from it.
Level 2 – Learning
When you reach level 2, you want to determine whether trainees have acquired the knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment they need to use the content. There are formal and informal ways to assess this. For example, it may include written exams or evaluation of accuracy in their daily performance.
Level 3 – Behavior
Level 3 is one of the most important steps because it reveals the impact of the training on the participants. Looking at individual performance will determine if the information they gained through the training is being applied on the job. Ultimately, you want the training program to affect lasting changes in behaviors and habits that will help you achieve your larger performance goals.
Level 4 – Results
The last level looks exclusively at the direct results of your training program. This usually entails a comparison of your desired outcomes against key job performance metrics to determine if your goals were achieved through the training.
5 Ways SymTraining Aligns with the Kirkpatrick Model
Most training programs can effectively accomplish the first two steps. However, SymTrain has proven to be an important tool in taking training to the next level to help organizations achieve positive responses at all 4 Levels of the Kirkpatrick Model.
Traditional training provides the same content and criteria for every user while SymTraining provides targeted content for each individual learner’s needs. With unlimited repetition, each employee can practice their unique challenges with immediate feedback on how well they apply knowledge and perform.
2. Level 3 – SymTraining provides clear guidance to track the improvement in overall performance.
Supervisors can access performance data to track individual and group metrics to ensure that users are applying what they have learned to perform desired service levels. By providing valuable insights into individual and team performance, managers can easily identify where users are excelling and which skills need more coaching and specialized training.
3. Level 4 – SymTrain produces simulations based on best call outcomes.
Traditional training methods focus on knowledge while SymTraining focuses on situational learning developed from the best of your actual call outcomes. By automating role-play and coaching exercises that guide employees through performing actual job functions, employees learn 40% faster. Users consistently report that they feel more confident and better prepared to help real customers after using SymTrain.
4. Level 4 – Targeted feedback models the desired outcomes.
SymTrain utilizes AI and voice analysis to provide immediate, targeted feedback of each attempt, helping reinforce various learning objectives. By tracking the total number of attempts and evaluating the accuracy, concentration, and tone of each role-play exercise, employees improve their performance in conversations, soft skills, and screen navigation in less time.
5. Level 4 – Adding SymTrain to your training curriculum will have a direct impact on several of your business’s Key Performance Indicators.
Agents who complete SymTraining exercises demonstrate faster speed to proficiency, more confidence in their abilities, higher first-call resolutions, and lower handle times. These outcomes lead to greater customer satisfaction with fewer disruptions in service delivery. It also greatly reduces the time and costs of training, offering a greater return on your investment than any other product currently on the market.
With SymTrain, you can provide your employees an immersive learning experience that will lead to better performance and a more impactful training program. Automated role-plays can help you effectively achieve each level of the Kirkpatrick Model and transform your training. Test it out for yourself today and register for a free trial to see how it can help you achieve lasting results.
Imagine a world where your best agent’s customer interactions are converted into a library of role-plays that can be practiced by all of your new hires and existing staff to upskill and build confidence. Welcome to SymTraining!
Your training facilitators have one of the most important jobs within your organization. Since they possess the skills necessary to create an excellent customer experience, they have been entrusted to pass their knowledge on to others. However, human learning is an imperfect process. Symtrain can help your training facilitators develop your CX superheroes by supporting their efforts and transforming your star performers into the next generation of mentors with our automated role-play platform.
The Transfer of Knowledge
The transfer of knowledge is an important component in the continuity of your business and a basic element of all training programs. But, it requires so much more than simple communication. You can tell your agents everything they must know. However, your training curriculum becomes much more powerful when you allow agents to learn a new skill by allowing them to do it for themselves.
Adding automated role-plays provides your frontline agents with hands-on experience in real-life situations they will face on the job. Not only does this help them internalize the information, but it also creates a more consistent and scalable model for transferring knowledge. And with Coach Sym listening and providing immediate feedback, it allows your facilitators to more quickly identify and offer support to struggling agents like never before.
Knowledge Is Power, Applying Knowledge Is a Superpower
Providing the information is only the first step. Your training facilitators must also show them how to apply it to raise the bar on performance. There is a multitude of training techniques that facilitators have used to do this. But now, symtrain offers a whole new suite of tools to help you achieve better results.
Utilizing call recordings from both the best and worst performers can demonstrate the best practices of your business. But with symtrain, you can now turn those calls into interactive scenarios in which trainees must apply the knowledge they have been given. And since your sym library is completely customizable, you can let your star performers and mentors lend their voice and have a direct hand in creating syms that address your greatest pain points.
Furthermore, the AI analysis provides more consistent feedback so your training facilitators can calibrate their methods and become more effective. They can put their superpowers to better use by zeroing in on particular skills and translating their knowledge for practical application using language that your agents can understand.
Empowering Training Facilitators to Develop Your CX Superheroes
Knowledge-based training is table stakes, so you must be able to identify the resources at your disposal, channel your abilities, and apply all the information and skills that you have to solve this complex problem. And as the gatekeepers of knowledge within your organization, training facilitators are in a unique position to do this.
While there are many talented individuals in the Marvel Universe, we see time and again how they struggle to understand and use their powers. However, when you have guidance from someone older and wiser, such as Professor X, there is no limit to what each person can achieve. Because as he said, “The first step in understanding one’s power is learning the extent of it.”
Although your training facilitators may not possess superhuman abilities, they do have access to digital tools that can streamline the transfer of knowledge and help them develop your agents’ CX superpowers. With the added support of Coach Sym, your agents will have guided practice through each scenario. And, your facilitators can focus more time on the active learning techniques that breed greater innovation, application of knowledge, and problem-solving abilities.
Those within your organization who already possess these superpowers must be put in a position to teach and guide others. Let us show you how symtrain can support your training facilitators, allow them to harness their abilities, and help your agents realize their full potential.
Every year, we achieve new innovations and advance technology far beyond what previous generations could have imagined. While these groundbreaking advancements have affected every aspect of daily life, they also have unlimited applications that will allow us to become more efficient in the way we train our employees and improve the overall customer experience. Although we are conceiving new ways to employ these technologies, here are a few ways that AI coaching programs will change the contact center environment.
What Is AI?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is a broad term used to define machines that give responses that are consistent with traditional human responses with the capacity to contemplate, judge, and act with intent.
AI is a wide-ranging tool that re-envisions how we integrate information. AI analyzes large amounts of data and uses insights to improve decision-making and problem-solving processes. However, when it is applied to various business models, computer-based programs can make decisions that would typically require a human level of expertise, help anticipate problems, and address issues as they arise. With the ability to operate in an intelligent, intentional, and adaptive manner, AI programs have the potential to affect every aspect of our lives and how we do business.
How Will AI Coaching Programs Change the Contact Center Environments?
With a more narrowed focus on the call center industry, adding AI coaching programs to your training curriculum has incredible potential to change the contact center environment for the better.
Improved Agent Performance
First and foremost, training platforms like SymTrain can vastly improve agent performance by analyzing each interaction with the AI. Our intuitive AI, which we call Coach Sym, is able to provide real-time, targeted feedback to the agent after each situational learning experience.
However, training facilitators and supervisors can also access this data to identify where individual agents are struggling and step in to offer additional coaching and support. Not only does this increase employee engagement, but it also ensures that each agent is better prepared for their roles within the organization.
Increase Overall Efficiency
In addition to improving individual performance, AI coaching programs can increase the overall efficiency of your entire operation. One client reported that adding SymTrain to their training curriculum greatly increased the amount of practice for each agent. Thanks to the implementation of automated role-plays, agents were able to complete 10-15 different scenarios in the allotted 30 minutes as opposed to only 1 or 2 when utilizing traditional role-play exercises. This ensures that every person has more opportunities to work through and solve common issues they will face when they are dealing with real customers.
Through the assistance of AI analysis, agents can adjust their approach to each problem and resolve customer issues more quickly. Having the ability to practice and attempt each situation will reduce the total training time from weeks to days. Agents who feel better prepared are more confident to tackle complex problems on their own. This increased confidence leads to reduced handle times while simultaneously increasing first contact resolution rates.
Reduced Training Costs
Another advantage that SymTraining will bring to your business is the drastic reduction in training costs. With the targeted feedback provided by Coach Sym, trainers can more easily identify which areas agents are struggling with so their trainers can provide the help they need. By addressing these issues while they are still in training, it will have a rippling effect by lowering the number of repeat interactions and escalations later on, providing valuable savings to your company’s bottom line.
Another recent customer who provides nearshore staff augmentation services experienced significant transformations in their speed to proficiency and an impressive reduction in their training costs thanks to SymTrain. Based on the data they provided, their employee onboarding training time decreased by 40% and eliminated $600,000 in hard dollar costs and even more in soft dollar returns through improved performance, readiness, and retention.
Enhanced Customer Experience
One of the most significant impacts AI will have on the contact center environment is by enhancing the customer experience through better service. When your agents are better prepared to handle any situation that comes their way, they will have more positive interactions.
Although it is impossible for anyone to have all the answers, AI technology provides one more tool for agents to find the information they need. In addition to the automated role-plays, SymTrain can also provide real-time coaching and support through the most challenging situations. Adding intuitive AI coaching programs to your digital toolbox will lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty to your brand.
How Can SymTrain’s AI Coaching Program Revolutionize Your Training?
Without a doubt, AI coaching programs have the potential to transform the contact center environment. Adding digital role-plays will improve your employee engagement and support your agents in ways you never imagined. With Coach Sym and the ability to create customized simulations, you can achieve greater focus on individual agent performance that will result in superior customer service. Contact us today to schedule a demo and see how we can help make changes that will positively impact your contact center.
If you want to make your remote onboarding process less boring, try symtrain’s approach to automated role-plays that provides an interactive, immersive learning experience to keep your employees engaged throughout training.
Nick Strober is a Senior Account Executive at Lean Solutions Group, where he is known as a jack of all trades. His contributions to marketing, HR administration, operations, and sales have helped Lean Solutions land on the INC. 500 list of fastest-growing U.S. companies for three consecutive years. His time abroad has given him the tools to understand not only the U.S. and Latin American markets but also given him a global business perspective. Nick’s passion for networking and eagerness to sell has connected him with incredible businessmen and women worldwide.
About Lean Solutions Group
Lean Solutions Group (LSG) is a nearshore and offshore service provider that focuses on expanding and enhancing its client businesses. LSG’s broad offering ranges from staffing to technology, marketing, sales, and BPO services. To succeed in the transportation and logistics business, 3PLs need to be able to hire and retain the very best talent while keeping a lid on costs. Since the competition for the best talent is fierce, companies need an edge that will help them win; LSG is that edge. LSG helps its clients set up and establish satellite offices in beautiful countries like Colombia, Guatemala, and the Philippines. LSG’s team consists of qualified bilingual professionals eager to take on new challenges and become a part of your company. Since 2014, Lean has worked with over 500 satisfied U.S.-based transportation and logistics providers. Lean ensures that your satellite office is staffed with highly educated, English-speaking professionals trained in your company’s processes and systems. The Lean approach is a low cost, low risk, low hassle, and they handle the entire process with their account managers.
About Melanie Flores
Melanie Flores blends an engineer’s mind with a teacher’s heart and a gardener’s hands. Her career path has been anything but linear, and every zigzag has blessed her with the chance to build a fun and bold idea from scratch. She graduated from MIT with a chemical engineering degree and a Theater Arts concentration. She started up Corning’s optical fiber factory in the Charlotte, NC area, founded a popular kindergarten engineering design workshop based on a famous MIT course, and led the STEM coaching team serving 48 Easter Seals teachers across metro Atlanta. In 2019, she and her teen son launched an e-commerce business, OctoGifts, that landed him customers in 25 states, two patents, and a spot on Atlanta Inno’s 25 Under 25 list. She joined SymTrain in 2021 and is excited to help businesses grow their people, impact, and bottom line through digitized role-play training and coaching. A two-time TEDx speaker, Melanie lives with her husband and two sons in Alpharetta, GA.
About SymTrain
SymTrain is an advanced AI-based training platform that is unlike any other. It simulates real-world coaching scenarios to prepare front-line agents for interactions with customers. Much more than a simulation, the platform is an immersive CX training experience that combines audio and visual elements for an all-encompassing approach to training which helps agents to better understand and retain the information. Benefits include improved quality, reduced training time and training resource costs, increased speed to efficiency, and an overall improvement in the key metrics that matter most to clients. SymTrain is emerging as an innovator in AI coaching and virtual training, and was recently awarded two International Stevie Awards for innovation in workforce readiness and corporate learning. Follow our journey at www.symtrain.ai.
Nick Strober is a Senior Account Executive at Lean Solutions Group, a nearshore service provider that delivers high-quality business solutions in staffing, tech, marketing, and sales for U.S.-based companies.
Melanie Flores is the Director of Solutions Consulting at SymTrain, an Immersive learning technology platform that gives employees real job experience by engaging them in authentic work simulations.
Lean Solutions Group and Symtrain have formed a partnership that enables transportation and logistics companies to use industry specific simulation training modules that were developed by the Lean Solutions Group.
LSG uses Symtrain to train their 8,000 plus employees and they are big believers in the technology.
Lean Solutions Group is a nearshore service provider that provide back-office, operations, customer support, and technology services to over 500 logistics companies – and they are experts in check calls.
Symtrain engages employees in simulated work experiences that feel “real” – working at their own pace, anywhere, anytime, on any device.
Employees are empowered to take charge of their own learning and success. As a result, they learn faster, retain more, build confidence, and master the skills they need to deliver the best customer interactions every time.
Symtrain is a simulated training solution that creates a hands-on experience for sales, services, and support employees within a safe space
By digitalizing the manual training and coaching processes, Symtrain enables companies to build employee attitudes, skills, and knowledge – faster, better, and cheaper.
Melanie Flores joins the “What the Truck?” hosts, Dooner and The Dude from around 21:28 to 33:30 to discuss her child’s entrepreneur journey and share a SymTrain demo which explains the power of role-play learning.
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Melanie Flores, director of solutions consulting at SymTrain, shares some business role-playing tips with us. She also shares how her 15-year-old son launched his own business, OctoGifts.
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