In the early days at Clearlink, before our growth spurt had begun, we fostered a culture of one-on-one mentorship and training. Managers could easily meet directly with one of their team members to help them learn and keep them updated on the needed skills for their position. Since Clearlink’s mission is centered around connecting people with brands, we felt that connection within our teams was just as important.
Maintaining these close one-on-one moments proved much more difficult after experiencing rapid growth for nearly a decade. Our headcount surged to more than 1,000, and managers couldn’t devote their attention to training individual staff as they had done in the past. We needed a more efficient way to increase knowledge transfer from manager to new hire as our personnel grew, and a training program that would scale to our overall company growth.
We wanted training to be more capable and less rigid than its classic design and structure. Using a flexible framework, the executive team and I envisioned a training program that would enable, not hinder, productivity and eliminate lag time between hire date and productive work. Our business was flourishing and we couldn’t afford any interruptions or miscommunications in our busy, multi-site call center environment. Because of our booming business, we wanted mobility, granting us anytime and anywhere training capacity.
Developing a New Training System
So we began the vetting process to find a prospective learning platform that would fit our dispersed, predominantly Millennial workforce. We identified our key three needs for our new training program:
- We needed something that had easy access to any device, including smartphones, laptops, and classroom monitors.
- We needed a platform with the ability to identify and track employee engagement and knowledge and gauge any possible skills gap.
- We needed a program that was fun and interactive to match our lively company culture.
In 2015, we selected the learning management system (LMS), Bridge by Instructure, that met our requirements. Because we were early adopters of this new LMS, we were able to collaborate directly with their design team to provide input to the product development process and request features our organization needed.
Effective Trainings Saves Time and Money
After a year of using this new way of training—through learning tools that enabled easily digestible courses on mobile and desktop—Clearlink’s training process became more learner driven, which has increased both engagement and retention rates.
Such a shift in training focus also can bring about cost savings. For example, Clearlink was able to provide just-in-time training events delivered to learner desktops, thus avoiding costly travel expenses, operations interruptions, and revenue losses. Agents were able to complete real-time trainings at their workstations and avoid missing out on making sales. This has allowed us to increase workforce skills without interrupting sales efforts.
Currently, our new training program extends beyond the onboarding process. Instead of wasting valuable productivity time on routine trainings, we delivered all routine and policy-related training through our LMS, freeing up managers from physically administering these sessions and freeing up employees to complete the training when they choose.
Course Creation Tools Build Training Capabilities
Our new training program also made it easy for Clearlink trainers to create specific training courses for their staff. Historically, much of the training was putting new hires on a live call and wishing them good luck. Using the capabilities of the new LMS platform, we’ve moved from the “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” approach to a simulation approach where agents can gain experience before engaging with real clients. We provide simulations with our brand partners’ own content, including AT&T and Dish. Our partners are very happy with this method, as it allows new hires to master the materials before live interactions. These simulations are easily constructed and delivered by Clearlink leaders to new hires and staff familiarizing themselves with new partners.
Training Impacted Our Business Model
Because our training has become so seamless and effective, helping us to connect and to learn faster and smarter, we’re planning on recruiting and training more of our future workforce to be work-at-home agents. We’re thrilled about this shift as it enables Clearlink to find and recruit the best talent wherever they are—regardless of our brick-and-mortar offices or their home address (not to mention saving us office space costs). New and seasoned Clearlink employees can access the training modules and upskilling information they want while working from their sofa at home.
This virtual workforce, powered by our effective online training program, is a crucial step in Clearlink’s business model. Now we can tap into talent nationwide to grow a rich skills base that will, without question, increase our productivity and bottom line. Our shifting business model is all because we found a simpler, better way to train our employees.
Chuck Melick is vice president of Employee Development at Clearlink, which helps brands create customers through a blend of marketing, sales, and technology. For more information, visit: https://www.clearlink.com/
