What challenges do service desk managers face when developing training programs?

Service desk managers should be fully aware of the customer environment and should calibrate his teams accordingly. Regular training and skill assessments should be carried out to ensure that team's skills are always updated. Same mistakes should not be repeated in the team hence team should have regular lessons learnt and awareness sessions.

Ideally, enough time is allocated to training the service desk appropriately ahead of any change or release so they aren't overwhelmed when a call comes in. In less than ideal circumstances, it's important to guide the service desk on what questions to ask so they can have some context around an issue when training does occur. Exposure is critical. In my last role, I purchased a Udemy Business license for everyone in my organization, and their senior leaders created individualized training paths based on current skills, job requirements, and career interests. Additionally, you have to ensure that the service desk leaders have a seat at the table, and are not treated as an afterthought.

My recommendation for service desk managers grappling with training program challenges is to proactively address the skills gap. Regular competency assessments pinpoint areas for improvement, allowing tailored training programs aligned with service desk goals. Continuous evaluation ensures tangible impact on overall performance, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This strategic approach enhances the service desk's efficacy, making it a pivotal asset within the organizational framework.

The two major areas are the Business skill for handling service desk and the Process understanding. The Service desk manager should focus on the concepts and the expectation of service desk agent and keep a small refresher training on regular basis. For the process training, an updated handbook and process training to be done as and when the changes happen. It is not just the training that produces quality staff, but it also depends on how you transition them seamlessly from a trainee to full-fledged ServiceDesk agent. Regular review and feedback in an informal way can also make a big difference

Systems normally keep being enhanced, but the service desk may not always be involved in the design review or user test, so they have to look for information in the last minutes right before the system release. At least, they need to have a chance to join UAT to learn the changes which gives them enough knowledge on the enhancements.

Training should be delivered via multiple channels and methods. Analysts/agents learn in different ways and at different speeds; offer them alternatives such as text documents, videos, interactive slideshow, etc. Set deadlines, but offer as much time to complete the training as possible, and build that learning time into the work schedule.

As a service leader, selecting the most effective training delivery method for our team is a key challenge. The shift to remote work during COVID-19 required us to adapt quickly. We transitioned to online courses and webinars, ensuring continuous learning despite physical constraints. This change highlighted the importance of flexibility in training delivery. Additionally, our training department now tailors programs to individual preferences and learning styles. For one team member, this might mean hands-on simulations, while for another, it could involve one-on-one coaching sessions. This personalized approach ensures that each team member receives the most beneficial and engaging training experience.

Service desk managers, consider these concise, impactful methods for training delivery: AI-Driven Personalization: ?? Tailor content to individual learning styles. ?? Real-time feedback for adaptive learning. Gamification for Engagement: ?? Interactive scenarios and simulations. ?? Rewards for module completion. Microlearning Approach: ?? Short, digestible lessons. ?? Mobile-friendly, accessible anytime. Method Blending: ?? Combine online and offline formats. ?? Supplement with mentoring for depth. Feedback & Application: ?? Regular feedback mechanisms. ?? Quizzes and tasks for skill reinforcement. Integrating AI, gamification, and microlearning creates an engaging, effective training environment that's both flexible and interactive.

Choosing the right means of delivery can make all the difference in training effectiveness. Simple updates to existing procedures can effectively be delivered by on-demand video or slides. More significant changes - especially to well-established processes or new rollouts - are more effectively delivered live by instructors (in person or virtually). In all cases, it's absolutely necessary to include post-training knowledge assessments to confirm that trainees fully understand the content. In the interest of inclusiveness, it's also important that training delivery methods be made available to those who are differently abled.

It's vital to align the team with the organisational strategy. In my view, training delivery is a two-way street, and it's imperative to ignite a 'self-paced' learning mindset. As we all know, everyone has a unique way of learning and upskilling, so it's important to implement a blended strategy encompassing in-person and online elements, focusing on relevant topics and shared goals. Data insights and staying up to date on tech trends will underpin success.

Knowledge sharing and retention require time and commitment. Service desk managers must foster a collaborative learning culture. In the past year, organisations have begun accelerating service operations, enabling differentiated support channels aligned with emerging tech trends, such as chatbots and AI/ML for instant assistance. This allows support teams to focus on complex problem-solving rather than low-level tasks. I truly believe the digital transformation for learning has just begun - explore VR/AR for immersive training, and be sure to add it to your strategy. Continuous ideation is critical for service desk teams, not only proficiency and serviceability for their user/customer base but also adaptability to remain relevant.

Knowledge retention is probably as important as the training itself, but unfortunately the 'retention' part is frequently overlooked. One of the approaches is found most effective is to have training systems that include retention learning. These systems prompt questions a few weeks or months after a training program, and ask participants questions to see how welll they remember certain topics. If participants fail many questions, the 'retentions score' in de LMS drops, and you would need to rewatch some of the modules again. Since it is tailored to individuals, I find this a highly effective approach.

This also includes addressing diverse skill levels among staff, keeping training content up-to-date with evolving technologies, ensuring effective knowledge transfer, balancing training with daily operations, and fostering a culture of continuous learning amid tight resource constraints.

Knowdege sharing is key for the quality of service. Different approachs can be defined. There will be space for mentors, shadowing, knowledge base contribution, voting and others way. Professional who shares knowledge is great teamwork and learn with others too.

For service desk managers, key strategies to enhance staff knowledge retention include: AI-Enhanced Training: ?? Tailor training with AI for relevance and quality. ?? Focus on job-specific content. Varied Learning Methods: ?? Use diverse formats like videos and simulations. ?? Regular, brief refresher sessions. Practical, Concise Content: ? Direct applicability to daily tasks. ?? Clear, focused training materials. Hands-on Practice: ?? Real-world application scenarios. ?? Continuous skill reviews. Post-Training Support: ?? Monitor application in work settings. ?? Provide ongoing learning resources. This approach ensures training is relevant, engaging, and effectively retained by service desk staff.

As a service leader, creating a robust training culture is key, intertwined with our broader commitment to continuous improvement. The challenge is to cultivate an environment where continuous learning is not just encouraged but also recognized as a stepping stone for career growth. We've seen our team members enthusiastically embrace training, motivated by clear pathways to advancement and recognition for their efforts. To support this, our training department offers tailored one-to-one coaching, ensuring personalized development. This strategy not only enhances individual skills but also fosters a collective spirit of growth and excellence, with tangible incentives for career progression and recognition within the team.

Service desk managers can foster a positive training culture with these focused strategies: Value Communication: - Highlight training benefits and importance to staff. - Involve team in training planning and evaluation. Recognition and Rewards: - Acknowledge staff achievements in training. - Use incentives to motivate continual learning. Collaborative Learning Environment: - Encourage teamwork and peer support in learning. - Promote innovation and improvement through shared knowledge. By emphasizing the value of training, recognizing achievements, and fostering collaboration, service desk managers can create a culture that actively supports and champions continuous learning.

One of the biggest challenges in establishing a training culture within a service desk is balancing operational needs. It's necessary to regularly schedule agent training time through workforce management and adhere to training according to that schedule as much as possible. The challenge to doing so is that external factors may drive volume to a point that removing agents from support queues can significantly impair performance. It's therefore incumbent on senior leadership within the support team to make the final decision on postponing or canceling scheduled training sessions. Ideally this decision is informed by input from those managing the issue driving the volumetric spike (e.g.: the major incident manager in the case of an outage.)

If you're using a tool with an AI assistant, you can set event classifiers to ensure tickets get to the right people quickly. You can also curate answers to common questions, so that an AI chatbot can take care of low-level questions, like resetting a password, then continue training that chatbot to be able to contain more calls without escalating. You an integrate your knowledge base to provide JIT assistance to customers entering tickets, as well as agents answering questions. You can also curate which knowledge base articles display for each question. All of this reduces the number of agents you need, the time to train agents, and as with all AI, the replacement cost of agents.

Depending on the supported application. Higher education qualifications do not give you enough practical experience thus making you more likely to be lost in the new appointment making you second guess yourself and your choice of employment

Training effectiveness needs to be taken into account. Trainer effectiveness metrics have traditionally taken the form of agent graduation rate (which may not be fair if trainers have no input into the agent recruitment and selection process.) A better measure is Voice of Trainee - post-training surveys that provides feedback on the quality and applicability of training content and the effectiveness of the trainer and delivery method.

Content is key to develop a Generative AI approach for Service Support. Besides of people contribution, the transcripts and dialogues with agents can be part of the insights and planning new FAQ as well as new chat bot content.

Service desk team need to meet with the business units to review typical incidents and change requests, trends. Need to understand the business unit perspective. Are there induction training requirements? Has there been significant staff turnover? What type of training would fit best - online, lunch & learn, classroom? Are service desk personnel interactions with business unit pesonnel effective?

SLAs and key metrics are a great way identify process, tool, and training gaps. For example, if the number of escalations is growing, that oftentimes reflects something changing in the support environment that is not adequately reflected in the knowledge scripts or employee skillset. Track trends, identify anything that’s starting to move “out of spec,” and conduct a root cause analysis to figure out why. It won’t always be tied to training, of course, but oftentimes by using data we can get ahead of the trends and remediate preemptively.

In my view, training effectiveness should show up in job performance, so it is important to measure and reward performance improvements, providing feedback to the front line service desk workers so they can take pride in their accomplishments, and so that the supervisory/management team can adjust/refine training programs.