Handling staff is like slow cooking a roast, if you cook it too fast it will burn on outside, while inside it's not ready.
As the analogy goes, if you expect too much too fast out of employees( they look ripe on the outside!), you may end up releasing them too soon to the world and scaring off your best customers.
Consider the difference between information and knowledge. Through a short motivational speech you can impart a lot of information really quickly to employees but remember it takes years to translate that information to concrete wisdom and knowledge. Leadership conferences and other professional development opportunities help too.
Wisdom translates into understanding the context of a situation and how different responses to certain circumstances will affect outcomes. This only comes with slow and continual assessment, training and coaching. Time and experience builds character, understanding, problem solving capabilities and wisdom.
Simply handing employees a binder or dumping piles of information on staff is a recipe for disaster. Also consider different employees respond favorably to different teaching methods. Some are tactile ( hands on), some prefer to first digest the written literature while others are visual learners and need to observe others to learn best.
As a keynote speaker I often hear horror stories of abominable customer service that is the result of not enough staff training that results in poor decisions that impact customers.
Some tips to consider for the proper care and feeding of your employees...
Utilize a combination of learning methods in your training (tactile, visual, written) Start with explaining your training, next role play and consider different scenarios and outcomes involved ( to develop problem solving skills), watch employees in action, provide regular feedback and adjust your coaching.
I was a keynote speaker at a customer service conference recently presenting the motivational speech, This Would Be Funny if....
