Assignment 4: HR Training Class

Assignment
John is a member of the Human Resources Department of Snazzy’s, a small retail company. Upper management has asked him to create a new employee customer service training class for all new employees. As he develops this class John will need to justify the use of a needs assessment of Snazzy’s proposed employee customer service training, stressing five (5) ways in which such an assessment would expose any existing performance deficiencies, develop a customer service training implementation plan and determine the method of training (i.e., presentation, discussion, case study, discovery, role play, simulation, modeling, or on-the-job training), justify why he selected this training method, propose two (2) ways to motivate an employee who has no interest in attending a training class and develop a survey to collect feedback from the employees who attend the training. As his first attempt to develop a training course, John will be expected to use quality resources to research the most efficient way to achieve a successful training class.
Justify the Use of a Needs Assessment of Snazzy’s Employee Customer Service Training
First, John is charged with justifying the use of a needs assessment of Snazzy’s proposed employee customer service training. The United States Office of Personnel Management explains that “The purpose of a training needs assessment is to identify performance requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by an agency's workforce to achieve the requirements. An effective training needs assessment will help direct resources to areas of greatest demand. The assessment should address resources needed to fulfill organizational mission, improve productivity, and provide quality products and services. A needs assessment is the process of identifying the "gap" between performance required and current performance. When a difference exists, it explores the causes and reasons for the gap and methods for closing or eliminating the gap. A complete needs assessment also considers the consequences for ignoring the gaps.” ("Training Needs Assessment," n.d, para. 1) To begin with Snazzy’s employees will be surveyed to assess the need of the customer service training. This survey would include questions that would clarify what customer service methods are currently being used and what the customer facing employees feel is necessary to make the customer experience better. John will analyze performance evaluations and review strategic plans to see were the gaps are that need to be addressed. Once this has been done John should have enough data to justify the need for the customer service training and what effect it will have on the organizations specific goals. This assessment will expose any existing deficiencies by allowing the employees opinions to be heard, defining performance problems/issues, describing critical behaviors needed to affect problems/issues, determining and clarifying why critical behaviors do not currently exist, researching integrated performance solutions and to determine the best training and development approach. ("Training Needs Assessment," n.d) Once the deficiencies are identified it will then be time to develop the training implementation plan.
Customer Service Training Implementation Plan and the Method of Training
Secondly, John will need to develop a customer service training implementation plan and determine the method of training. Developing this implementation plan will require John to compile the information he has gathered and assess the most effective way to proceed with the training. Kim Larkins, freelance training consultant with 20 years of experience in HR explains that the steps to implementing a customer service training plan is to “analyze your current successes and challenges in delivering customer service, focus on customer service attitudes, behaviors and skills within the training, review how your customer service standards are captured and communicated, involve and empower team leaders and managers and involve the staff in the ongoing development of the training.” (Larkins, 2013) John will need to ensure that he has efficiently reviewed and assessed the training plan and he may need to review this with the upper management to ensure he is covering all of the necessary areas of concern.
At this point the method in which the training will be facilitated should be established. There are may different ways that could be utilized such as presentation, discussion, case study, discovery, role play, simulation, modeling or on-the-job training. John has discussed with upper management how effective past training have been and what methods have been used successfully. He was given information on presentations, case studies with role play, with role play and case studies being the most effectual due to the hands on nature of the two. John decides to implement all three methods into this training.
Why Choose This Training Method
John has determined that he will use presentation, role play and case study for the customer service training. Business and Legal Resources defines these methods as follows:
Role-playing. By assuming roles and acting out situations that might occur in the workplace, employees learn how to handle various situations before they face them on the job. Role-playing is an excellent training technique for many interpersonal skills, such as customer service, interviewing, and supervising.
Case studies. Adults tend to bring a problem-oriented way of thinking to workplace training. Case studies are an excellent way to capitalize on this type of adult learning. By analyzing real job-related situations, employees can learn how to handle similar situations. They can also see how various elements of a job work together to create problems as well as solutions.
PowerPoint® presentation. Presentation software is used to create customized group training sessions that are led by an instructor. Training materials are provided on CDROM and displayed on a large screen for any number of trainees. Employees can also use the programs individually, which allows for easy make-up sessions for employees who miss the group session. This method is one of the most popular lecture methods and can be combined with handouts and other interactive methods. ("The most effective," 2014)
The presentation portion will allow the visual learners an opportunity to receive the information as well as allowing a take along printed presentation for the participants. The case study and role plays will give the employees a chance to act out the information and to make real life situations and solutions available to discuss. Blended training methods can be very effective and adheres to many different styles of learning. Business and Legal resources states “Blended learning is a commonsense concept that results in great learning success. The blended learning approach is simply acknowledging that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to training. In a nutshell, blended learning means using more than one training method to train on one subject. […] Learning experts believe that a big advantage of blended learning is that it more closely replicates how people actually learn on the job, through experience and interaction with co-workers. This approach works well because the variety of approaches keeps trainers and trainees engaged in training. Blended learning simply makes a lot of sense.” ("The most effective," 2014, para. 52) John will use these methods of training to keep the participants engaged and to facilitate the most effective customer service training class that will excel Snazzy’s customer service rating once the employees have completed the course.
Motivation of the Employees
Now that John has completed the majority of the legwork behind preparing his customer service training class, he must now find a way to motivate the employees to participate in the course. Many of the employees have become mundane in their everyday employment and have no interest in attending a training session to teach them what they feel they already know. John is tasked with making every employee excited about the new course and to see to it that it is effective and implemented efficiently. Gale Lantz, President of WorkMatters, Inc, explains, “When companies think of employee development, they often search for training programs, educational seminars, coaching or the latest book that might offer ideas on what employees can do to sharpen skills or strengthen expertise. However, none of these programs will be effective if the organization lacks one critical success factor: individual motivation. An individual has to want to develop himself before any employee training and development program can be successful. Some say they're "too busy." Some say they're "already developed." Some blame the boss. Some like burying their heads in the sand, afraid of what they might learn about themselves.” (Lantz, 2014, para. 1) The customer service training class is developed to enhance the skills of every employee and is necessary to successfully succeed with the goals of the company. John has decided to hold impromptu sessions with individual groups of employee as a kick off to the course that he has developed. He will plan a meeting with these employees that will give an overview of the mission of the class and how it will enhance each individual. At this time the employees will be able to ask questions in a more personal setting prior to their training session. This will make them more comfortable and eager to learn more about what is new for the company and their roles. John has also decided to have every supervisor and manager choose one of the most highly motivated and enthusiastic employees to take the course first. They would them be asked to go back to their respective areas to spread the word on the effectiveness of the course and to give them reasons that they should want to attend. Although this will be a mandatory training, motivation of the employees to want to attend the class is critical to its success. Word of mouth from the other employees will help get the word out about the course and hopefully it will make the others more motivated to learn as well.
Feedback Survey Finally, John will need to have a survey to collect from every participant to assist with feedback for the class. This will be helpful in developing future training and measuring the efficiency of the class from the perspective of the employees. It will also allow the instructor to be evaluated as well as how John did with the planning and development of the class.
Customer Service Training Course
Instructor Name: ___________________________________
Date of Course: ____________________________________
Your Name (Optional): _____________________________________
1. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very satisfied and 1 being highly dissatisfied, overall how satisfied were you with this course? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very satisfied and 1 being highly dissatisfied, how satisfied were you with the content of this course? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very satisfied and 1 being highly dissatisfied, how satisfied were you with the instructor of this course? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very likely and 1 being highly unlikely, were the materials covered in this course pertinent to your job description and how likely are you to use them once you return to your position? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being very likely and 1 being highly unlikely, how likely are you to refer this class to an associate? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Please feel free to provide any additional comments or concerns you feel could enhance this course or make it more useful. Please use the back of this form if additional space is needed. ___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your participation.

In conclusion, John has completed the task of creating a new employee customer service training class for all new employees. He has developed a successful class as well as explored the training methods used to do so. He has also identified ways to motivate the employees and developed a survey to gain feedback form his participants. John is now equipped with the skills necessary to facilitate trainings within Snazzy’s organization and will be called on in the future to assist or spear head additional training. The customer service training course will remain his baby, and he will continue to develop additional enhancements to the existing course. Feedback surveys will be obtained and assessed as they are received to continue to make this course better.

References
Lantz, G. (2014). Motivate Employee Participation in Development Opportunities and Improve Performance. Retrieved from http://www.jobdig.com/articles/1539/Motivate_Employee_Participation_in_Development_Opportunities_and_Improve_Performance.html
Larkins, K. (2013). Developing a Customer Service Training Programme. Retrieved from http://www.ksl-training.co.uk/free-resources/customer-service/developing-a-customer-service-training-programme/
The Most Effective Training Techniques. (2014). Retrieved from http://trainingtoday.blr.com/employee-training-resources/How-to-Choose-the-Most-Effective-Training-Techniques
Training and Development PLANNING & EVALUATING . (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/training-and-development/planning-evaluating/