Ask yourself if you are "sheep dipping" your employees - do you put every employee through every training course? Every employee does not need to take every course (those that are good at listening skills don't need to take a course in listening). The management team should be skilled in evaluating which employees need what courses and then have the most cost-effective training available. For example, if a lot of employees need listening skills is it more cost effective to run a class, to coach individually or to deliver it electronically?

Also, employers need to be skilled at identifying the skills they are going to hire to versus train to. Will their potential new hires need to be able to type at 30 words per minute and already be familiar with a Windows based environment and know how to use a mouse? Or will new hires only need to be able to type at 20 words per minute and the company will train to the rest once the person is hired?

All of this requires that companies invest in developing a full performance management infrastructure with training properly linked to all other performance management components (i.e., to job description, skill evaluation, etc.)

Companies must also evaluate and implement enabling technology and appropriate integration. The technology might include such things as electronically delivered training, learning management systems, knowledge management database, quality monitoring equipment, and workforce management. Depending on what technology the company installs then it can consider "If I link my quality monitoring to my workforce management to my eLearning will I gain efficiencies (e.g., targeted skill lessons delivered to the person's workstation during low volume call times)?

RDC can help you design each component of your performance management infrastructure. Contact us for more information.