Welcome to the final part of my 3-part blog series about creating an effective collector training program.
The first two blog posts outlined some very important steps in the process of creating a training program, and without the actions you take from those posts, the steps I teach you here won't have the same effect.
Now at this point, you’ve outlined some content and split it into small, digestible stacks of information to promote learning retention. You’ve also created roleplaying challenges and learned how to deliver them to remote teams for the best results. What you’re going to learn here will tie it all together and maximize the quality of your training program.
In this blog post, we’re going to talk about coaching to supercharge your results, whether you’re working with team members on Zoom, in the conference room, or one-on-one. This step will ultimately take your training to the next level.
Let's dive right in, starting with the basics.
What Is Coaching?
Coaching is scheduled mentorship meant to up-level your team's motivation and give collectors the chance to ask questions and reflect on what they've learned with their colleagues.
Coaching can come in many different forms. For example, if you have a larger team, you may want to have small-group coaching so everyone on your team has a chance to share their thoughts. If you have a smaller team, simply meeting in the conference room or hopping on a team-wide Zoom call will do the trick.
What To Include In Your Coaching
As I mentioned before, coaching is to give your team a designated time to process what they've learned in a group setting. This allows them to reflect on what they've learned, which promotes retention. The great news is that you really don't have to prepare much to create effective coaching.
One important factor to include is an ice breaker question so your team will feel much more comfortable participating. Participation is the most important factor of coaching.
You can also ask your team for any questions they have the week leading up to scheduled coaching so you have time to prepare answers. Other than that, you want the coaching to be relatively laid back so your team feels comfortable sharing their thoughts, so don't spend too much time trying to create an agenda; you don't want the coaching to be too rigid.
When To Schedule Coaching
My recommendation is to always schedule coaching the week after your team has completed a roleplaying challenge. That way, the content is fresh in their minds, and they'll be ready to share any wins they had during the challenge or pain points that may have come up.
When your team members bring up pain points that arose during their challenges, try to work with them to troubleshoot what they could have done differently. It may even help to write scripting together as a team so everyone is on the same page and handles that challenge appropriately in the future.
Other Coaching Options
When I created The Collection Advantage online training program, I implemented a coaching option for my students to utilize. While internal coaching is definitely effective, getting coaching from an outside source can have a tremendous impact on your team.
Think about it: your team members are used to hearing you discuss the concepts they're learning. That said, hearing a fresh voice can actually encourage and motivate them to apply what they've learned even more.
If you're interested in investing in The Collection Advantage and utilizing my coaching services, I'd love to chat. Book a call with me today so we can get started.