It’s hard to deliver instructor-led training in support groups. First, there is the scheduling dilemma: you can’t very well shut down the center to hold training, and scheduling classes after-hours or on weekends won’t endear you to the team. Second, there’s the problem of small centers and home-based staff members: do you get them to travel to a large center? That’s costly and time-consuming.

Self-paced learning may help. Here are some options and guidance on when they should be used.

Many Nuances for Training Delivery

When you think of training, can you see exactly two options: the standard classroom delivery versus reading a book? Then you’re like most people: you remember what you went through as a student. The good news is that there are many other options, and furthermore you can mix and match to get the right fit for your needs, budget, and schedule. Let’s look at them from least interactive to most interactive.

Written, Static Materials
The learner can read a book or more likely a PowerPoint presentation or short document. Someone has to write the materials, but once they are made available to the learner they are static and there is no feedback loop to or from the learner.
Static written materials offer an inexpensive delivery method. They can be housed in your knowledge base system for easy retrieval. They allow the learner to schedule training at any time for ultimate flexibility.

On the other hand, most learners find it difficult to use static materials: they require lots of motivation. They also are weak when it comes to teaching practical skills that require practice. One can read about handling upset customers, but practice makes perfect.

Animated, Static Materials
Here we graduate to items such as recorded presentations or webinars: the information was put together once but the delivery includes voice or video. Although the initial delivery may be interactive, the recording is not: the learner can only listen and view it.

Static animated materials are fairly inexpensive to deliver and may be housed in your knowledge base system if it supports multimedia. Most learners enjoy animated materials more than reading, especially with a dynamic presenter.

Animated materials are harder to distribute than written materials, especially over low-bandwidth connections, and, like written materials, lack the practice element required for some skills. Learners who enjoy reading find that it takes longer to get through the same material in audio or video format.

Interactive CBT
Interactive CBT takes learners through the materials not by merely showing them facts, but rather by including them in the discovery through animations, quizzes, choosing learning paths, etc. Much CBT on the market today is little more than a page-turner. Interactive CBT requires learners to participate in the learning way beyond pressing the Next button.

Well-done, interactive CBT encourages active learning and makes for good retention. It’s very inexpensive to deliver, including to large audiences, and allows mass distribution in a very short amount of time.

On the other hand, interactive CBT, especially of the quality we are talking about, is very costly to create and requires skilled curriculum developers. It’s not appropriate for smaller audiences.

Interactive Webinars
An interactive webinar is simply training delivered over the internet in an interactive manner including not only standard slides but also tests and quizzes, and that allows for questions and answers. It’s very much like an instructor-led class, but conducted remotely.

Interactive webinars are much cheaper to deliver than the standard instructor-led option. With a skilled instructor the feedback loop works well, and since most support staffers work with remote customers it fits nicely with their everyday experience.

Interactive seminars are not self-paced: learners need to attend at a particular time. Also, unless the instructor frequently checks for understanding learners may disengage from a webinar in a way that’s not possible in a classroom.

Instructor-led Classes
We’ve all been in one: instructor at the front of a room, able to delivery information, check for understanding, and oversee practice.

Instructor-led classes are popular for a very good reason: the learning outcomes are excellent with an experienced instructor (and not so good with a poor instructor, as you undoubtedly have experienced).

Instructor-led training is expensive and difficult to schedule in support environments.

How do you choose?

With so many options, it’s not always easy to pick one. Consider these five factors when making a choice

• Objectives/content. If learners need to remember facts (e.g. the new features of the product) or to perform a standard procedure (e.g. entering a new case into the tracking system), a pure self-paced approach can work. If they need to perform a skilled process (e.g. calming down an upset customer), then you will need some kind of instructor-led practice.
  
  
• Timeframe. If you have little time to create the training, you probably won't be able to create a solid self-learning tool. And if you have little time to deliver the training (you need to train 500 people on 3 continents the week before you roll out the new bug-tracking system), self-learning may be your only choice since it scales well.
  
  
• Availability of skilled course developers. Self-learning requires skilled developers. Instructor-led training is a little more forgiving, at least if you have skilled instructors. It’s fairly easy to find good, experienced contract course developers but they will need appropriate access to subject-matter experts.
  
  
• Availability of skilled instructors. Instructor-led training requires skilled instructors to be successful. If you are considering a train-the-trainer approach, you will need significant investment both in creating better materials and time for the instructors to prep.
  
  
• Cost. High-end self-learning tools such as interactive CBT are very costly to develop but very inexpensive to deliver, so ideal for large audiences. Instructor-led training is much cheaper to develop, but expensive to deliver to large audiences.

Don’t hesitate to mix and match. For instance, new-hire training can be delivered in a standard classroom for your large support centers and via self-learning in smaller centers, augmented with some mentoring for the practical bits. Training for new products can be done via live and recorded webinars but the same materials can then be reworked into the new-hire training for standard classroom delivery.

One last piece of advice: you will never have enough time and resources to create a perfect training program, so do what you can and keep at it: a well-trained staff will work wonders.

About the author
Francoise Tourniaire is the founder and principal of FT Works, a consulting firm that helps technology companies create and grow their support operations. She is the author of “Training Programs that Work”, a practical guide to creating and delivering training for support centers. For more information, visit www.ftworks.com or call 650 559 9826.