Crystal was puzzled. I had thrown her for a loop. We had been talking about her training program for inbound phone operators. The training wasn’t working, but she was looking in the wrong place.

The skill was simple. Enter the data into the computer during the phone call, not after the call. They had the software in place, the training program was clear, with exercises, repetition and interaction.

The problem was after the training. Following the training, the operators were literally abandoned. They had been introduced to the skill, even performed the skill two or three times during the training, but afterwards, NOTHING. Only one day later, all the operators had abandoned the new process and were back to taking notes on paper during the call.

“Crystal, I want you to develop some practice sessions following the training. Create some scripts based on the ones used in training. Then have the operators practice, practice, practice.

“And you are going to have to take off your training hat and put on your coaching hat. Your training is only intended to get this process started. Before you let them go, you have to bring them to a level of competence. Competence comes through practice and coaching. Training comes before the behavior. Coaching comes after the behavior. That is where you will find traction.” -TF