Knowlagent recently sponsored  the latest edition of the US Contact Center Decision-Makers’ Guide, describing it as “the major annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of US call center operations, conducted by ContactBabel (News - Alert).”

The  report’s methodology is to take a random sample of the industry, via means of a detailed structured questionnaire sent to 209 contact center managers and directors in Summer 2010. The entire 300-page doorstop of a report can be downloaded free of charge from www.contactbabel.com/reports.cfm.

Hardly just a dry recitation of call center operations facts and statistics, the report includes some best practices advice as well. As it says, the traditional method of training is to sit a number of people in a room and lecture them. That’s one way of doing it, certainly it’s easier on the presenter as they are in their comfort zone, but it doesn’t take into account the specific requirements of each employee.

Now if all you’re doing is passing on structured information, such as about a new product, then as the paper says yes, it is an effective training method. But for the sort of training you want to improve, the report notes that almost all respondents use the buddying technique, which it describes as “giving a current employee responsibility for a new starter, so that they can learn the ropes in an informal environment and have someone to discuss any of the hundreds of new tasks and situations that a new starter has to deal with.”

You’d think this sounds like a good idea, it’s certainly easy on the company’s training budget, but there is little quality control in the method. And there are other risks as well including the fact that, “Some organizations deliberately ask less motivated employees to be buddies, in the hope that the extra responsibility will help them to improve their own attitudes.”