During a recent quarterly business review call, our retail client, who operates both online and in physical stores, expressed a desire for their new employees to reach proficiency faster and achieve better quality scores. Upon investigating their training curriculum, I found that it currently takes an agent one full year to become proficient.
This was a surprising revelation. I delved into their Learning Management System (LMS) and quickly identified the issue. The client was expecting new hires to memorize an extensive catalog of process steps during their training. Moreover, their assessment of learning outcomes was inadequate.
My recommendations and reasoning for the 10-day curriculum are detailed below.
Proposal 1: Complete Redesign
NOTE: Upon further inspection of the courses in the LMS, many courses have been developed by the client, and they do not follow discovery learning. They are bloated Storyline courses over 70 pages long and full of system process steps. There are client-created, self-paced courses with pages of scrolling and zero interactivity.
Rationale
The recommended option would provide the most significant improvement for the client. While Proposals 2 and 3 offer enhancements, the client will still face challenges. Specifically, new hires will continue to require a prolonged period to become proficient, and there will likely be ongoing issues with quality scores. This is primarily because the current content is overwhelmingly dense for new hires to digest and retain effectively.
It’s also essential to highlight a significant inefficiency in the client’s process. Their instructional designer (ID) is currently burdened with redundant tasks. Whenever updates are needed in the knowledge base, the ID has to adjust all the courses containing those particular process steps. This approach results in potential inconsistencies across the training content and weakens version control over the materials. Furthermore, agents who rely on memory instead of using their tools might make errors based on outdated or mistaken training content.
Course Structure & Content Overload:
There are numerous instances of multiple courses in one. Some of which have more than 5. This can overwhelm learners and dilute the effectiveness of each topic.
High page and slide counts can be exhausting, especially if they’re densely packed with content. A balance must be struck between providing enough information and not overwhelming the learner.
Interactivity & Engagement:
Many courses have too many words and too much scrolling with zero interactivity. This could lead to disengaged learners.
Assessments & Knowledge Checks:
A significant number of courses lack knowledge checks at all or have one question for 5 sections. As it is right now, there is no way to know if learners have learned anything from this curriculum. Without regular checks, it’s hard to ensure learners absorb the content.
Reliance on Process Steps:
Many courses contain process steps without direction to find these same procedures after training. They can become rote learning rather than genuine understanding.
A few courses direct learners to Knowledge Base (KB) articles instead of teaching them how to navigate and find relevant KBs themselves.
Design & User Experience:
Issues with “poor screenshots” can hamper understanding.
“TOC not updated properly” points to maintenance and update issues which can confuse learners.
Duration & Timing:
Concerns about the feasibility of completing certain courses in the time allocated are raised.
Branding & Course Creation:
Some courses are not branded consistently, such as the ones not aligned with the client’s brand colors.
Courses created by different entities like the client could have different quality and consistency standards.
Course Medium & Delivery:
Over-reliance on Storylines that look like PowerPoint (PPT) can make courses monotonous and less interactive.
The mention of linking to external sites (like Microsoft Forms) can be disruptive and might pose access issues.
Recommendations
Content Streamlining:
Break down courses with multiple topics. Offer them as separate, more focused sessions or modules. Pull out the process steps and direct the learners to the KB without telling the KB Article number so that they can succeed quicker after training.
Enhance Interactivity:
Incorporate varied interactive elements like drag-and-drops, simulations, and interactive videos.
Regular Assessments:
Introduce regular knowledge checks after each significant topic to ensure comprehension.
Practical Navigation Training:
Instead of telling learners where to find information, train them to navigate systems effectively.
Design Updates:
Improve visual design, font color choices, and update screenshots for clarity.
Review Timing:
Reassess course durations and consider extending them or breaking them into multiple sessions if required.
Standardize Branding:
Ensure all materials align with a consistent branding guideline.
Diverse Delivery Modes:
Use varied platforms and methods for delivery, such as interactive courses, Synthesia videos, sound clips to listen to potential calls, and move away from over-reliance on Storyline courses that look like PowerPoints.
Suggestion #2: Enhancement Only
Change the daily overviews to quizzes and update the end-of-course assessments.
Concentrate on the development of sandboxes which should replace the 70+ page slide decks and will reduce the duration of the courses for those areas.
RISK: Existing curriculum timing issue
The enhancements proposed by the learning solutions team add 8.5 hours to the curriculum.
30 minutes per Sandbox for the 12 sandboxes outlined in the pricing sheet will add 6 hours to the curriculum.
30 minutes for 5 BOTs will add 2.5 hours to the curriculum.
If we cannot remove the process steps from the courses and reduce the course timings, this option will not work because there is not enough time in the curriculum for this set of enhancements.
Suggestion #3: Unguided Sandbox and BOTs
Create an unguided sandbox based on the systems the learners can use in Nesting in conjunction with the BOTs.
Change the daily overviews to quizzes and update the end-of-course assessments.