There is a question in all corporate training, all industries, every professional position, “What is the value of training?” Generally followed by “How do I know there is value in training? and the incredibly astute question, “Where is the value in training?”
Leadership is looking sideways and helping those who follow climb up, thus empowering the leader to climb to the next level. Yet, the lingering doubt remains, “How do I measure success in training?” Long have I advocated that the leader is a teacher and a learner, which are fundamental to success. Whether that teaching comes from delegating authority, empowering people to act, or directly teaching someone struggling, the leader is always learning through teaching so they may learn more perfectly.
As part of my research into call center training, it has been discovered that those who receive official training, and those who learn their duties on the fly, have precisely the same chance of being successful; this is an indication of not the power of training, but the motivation of the learning adult. There is a difference between adults, and the difference is the individual propensity to learn, discover, dig deeper, ask questions, and apply the results pursuing why. Thus, one would naturally ask, “What is the difference between a learning adult and an adult who actively chooses not to learn?” I think I know the answer, I have anecdotal evidence that supports my conclusions, but I would like to test these conclusions.
The Invitation
As part of my doctoral degree program, I must conduct research and report the findings. I am inviting your American-based, English-speaking call center to help me test the assumptions and conclusions for my research. The business will not be named, the individuals participating will not be named, and the study will occur online and outside regular business hours. I want to interview 10-15 of your call-taking/front-line contact center employees using online interviewing software. I want to interview 10-15 call center trainers, also employing online interviewing software. Finally, I would like to take the information gleaned from the first two groups, sit down in a focus group, discuss what was found with 5-7 senior call center leaders, and glean their information, conclusions, and ideas.
I would ask that those participating in the research have a LinkedIn profile as a tool to verify years of experience. No single participant would be featured in more than one of the participating groups. All names of individuals will be hidden behind a participation code, and any identifiable business information will be deleted from the transcripts. All findings will be reported in aggregate to avoid any identifiable information from potentially leaking into the published research.
As a bonus, those who help through participation, if they are interested, can receive a copy of the finished dissertation via email or physical copy, depending upon their preference. My purpose in researching the call center is to dynamically review the adult learner in the pressure-cooking learning environment of call centers. I have worked as an agent and a leader of agents spanning formal education. The degree does not make the person, nor does a degree make a leader. What makes the leader is their commitment to learning and teaching.
Please, join my research. Entering the study is possible through emailing msalisbury1@my.gcu.edu. If you would like to verify my credentials, don’t hesitate to contact my chair Professor Dr. Susan Miedzianowski in the College of Doctoral Studies at Grand Canyon University, via email: Susan.Miedzianowski@my.gcu.edu.
© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to 
In researching the history of professional training, the model employed has not changed since a master taught journeyman who led novice instruction. Yet, with technology, global populations, cultures, language, and globe-spanning organizations, the role of the trainer seems to continue to take a back seat. Yet, if a corporate trainer profoundly influenced you professionally, would you not want that experience for another person?
Important to note, your name and business will never be mentioned in my dissertation! I am not collecting any personal data beyond education and years of experience. Any direct quotes employed will carry no connecting data, and no one will see your details.
I am a doctoral candidate under the direction of Professor Dr. Susan Miedzianowski in the College of Doctoral Studies at Grand Canyon University. My name is Michael D. “Dave” Salisbury. I am conducting a research study to explore the trainer’s specific influence on employees’ development in an English-speaking call center based on a clear understanding of the trainer’s role.
Gagné’s Instructional Design Model, is a conceptual model for moving organizational goals into organizational behavior, referred to by Gagné (2018) as a “motivational model of organizational goal pursuit,” (p. S98-S99). Gagné’s instructional design model collects the curriculum, the organizational goals, needs, desires, managerially acceptable behaviors, and supports the trainer in the training environment. Important to note, Gagné (2018) stated a known truth, the trainer, and training department, are dynamic influencers in the business organization, and any learning organization will gladly take the trainer and training department and make the importance of learning observable from the first moment a visitor enters to the last impression as the visitor leaves.
The importance of making the shift from training being a singular activity for the extent of the employee working in a role and making training a regular event where learning is ongoing as a competitive advantage, represents a major hurdle for call centers to overcome. However, it cannot be more emphatically declared, training is an event, and the training events can be replicated for lifelong and lifewide learners to enjoy. Let us take the individual events and break them down into specific actions a trainer uses to plan and execute training in call centers:
How does a trainer know they have achieved success using these events; “Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world, it beats money, power, and influence; it is nothing more than faith in action” – Henry Chester. Faith in action involves trust and reflects confidence in the trainer by the learner. Are the students excited to perform; if so, the trainer has achieved success. If there are reservations, address them on an individual student level. If there are hesitations; assure the student, the trainer is still there to aid and encourage. Experience will be the new instructor and the trainer will now be a mentor and advocate. Explain these roles and show how the trainer is still there through technical means and physical visits; ensure each student remembers that the trainer is still learning and is willing to learn with the student.
End the silliness of five different methods for evaluating training. Happy sheets are ambiguous and do not reflect reality. Measuring learning is uselessly inefficient for judging how much has been learned, mainly because the person taking the test is not applying in real-life the principles learned. Worse, only a small percentage of the population can adequately take tests and have that test-performance reflect real-life application in using the principles learned. Measuring just through application is a time-wasting event. It takes time to setup, time to take down, time to score, and still only a small percentage of the population can adequately show application when under testing requirements. Speaking of time, using business results or returns on investment as the stick to measure training effectiveness requires long-term time commitment and resource investment which do not reflect the ambiguity of market conditions.
On a final note, give training an actual budget. Too often training is an unbudgeted expense that absorbs costs unrelated to actual training. This method of paying for training produces unrealistic costs for trainers to explain or to precisely track. Changing how training is evaluated, and budgeting the costs of training, without all the garbage of untrackable expenses, will improve the call center immeasurably. Call center leadership can, and should, be actively learning in the call center. Learning represents a commitment to changing personally, then professionally. Change is the key to competing in the current global marketplace, and the company that can change and adapt is the company focused on learning.
DNC-Consulting 