Service with an e-Learned Smile
As the generational demographic in the workforce has changed, so has the employee approach to professional development. It isn’t all about just the technology and youth nexus, however. The Baby Boomer generation was the first large scale college educated generation and they changed the face of labor forever. Prior to the 1970’s, having a B.A. or B.S. degree almost guaranteed an upwardly mobile career and employment direct from college. There was also little need to continue one’s education after employment unless a career change was desired. Those days are gone. Higher education has become the standard and not the exception. The good news is that the current generations are indoctrinated to the concept that continuing education is a necessity and they, typically, possess the interest and motivation to want to continue their learning and development. Millennials, in particular, are not prone to cruise control when it comes to their performance and career growth.
Professionals of all ages are very aware that their B.A./B.S. or Master’s degree isn’t the golden ticket it was once and markets and consumers are evolving at the speed of light. Today, continued professional development is a necessity to be competitive. Service professions have seen work and business hours become longer, companies leaner, and the competition to get ahead for both employers and employees has become increasingly fierce. So where does a company, and its employees, find the time, outside of quarterly or annual training to gain the competitive edge in advancing their knowledge, skill sets, and service capabilities? E-Learning is increasingly the answer in a time crunched world experiencing rapidly changing service/client dynamics.
How often does a company have the time or resources to commit to hours and even days of training? While it is still important to gather teams in a learning environment, learning can’t afford to stall in between quarters. E-Learning not only bridges the gaps between in person training, it also provides the ability to more rapidly deploy new ideologies, reinforce company cultural identity, and provide frequent ad hoc skill based intelligence to employees. E-Learning is a welcome and heavily utilized tool that has a proven high rate of positive return for service industry organizations and their employees.
Five short fifteen-minute modules delivered via an e-Learning platform are not only far easier for an employee to schedule into a busy month, but they also can be far more surgical in their targeted delivery. Does your company need to improve sales force personnel engagement with clients? Maybe your sales force front line has realized they could use enhancing their ability to approach and engage customers in more natural conversation. A sales and service e-Learning module from SGEi could be the directed and concise instruction employees need to polish their performance when classroom hours are not available and the ability to literally go from online to front line improvement in minutes.
The market trend is overwhelmingly in support of rather spectacular growth in e-Learning development and delivery. Among the many reasons are accessibility, vibrant content, and anytime/anywhere access. Maybe surprising to many is that it isn’t just about cost effectiveness for companies. It’s actually about overall efficacy and employee interest, enthusiasm, and retention. It’s not so odd really when you think about it that a learning delivery system that can be taken in bite sizes, entertains, engages, and is skill specific is popular with employees and they actually want to do it!
Content, when developed by knowledgeable, proven, e-Learning professionals like SGEi can be kept fresh, relevant, and absolutely provide the competitive edge both service industry employers and employees want and need to stay ahead of the curve.
To learn more about SGEi’s e-Learning programs please contact us at connect@sgeinternational.com