Back to the Drawing Board

I have always said that when one lives within his comfort zone, he either dooms himself to failure, or he becomes stagnant by not growing any wiser.

I feel that as a trainer, I have not achieved much.

Yes, I know that I am loved by the trainees whom I passed; remembered by those whom I failed; and probably hated by the others whom I may have failed to fully develop or acknowledge.

I have gained tenure as a trainer for 2 years and 4 months as of this writing.

But I have trainees who resign right after my class. For whatever reason, I feel that I have a hand in it. Did I really baby them too much? Did I not set their expectation about production? Or, did they just intend to attend the training, make money out of it, and leave right after?

Honestly, these are the trainees that can be most upsetting. They use up your energy, the company’s resources, and then leave without us getting the return to our investment.

Call center hoppers, so they are called. They very well can, but they choose not to. Oh boy, I’ve had a lot of them!

Then we also have trainees who have the heart and soul to do the job, but the skills needed to keep the job, did not seem to have the heart for them. They want and need to, but they can’t. Some would have navigation issues scarier than black flying roaches. They didn’t know how to open a new tab, or what a tab is, to begin with. There are also some who, despite your daily dose of coaching, still wouldn’t distinguish the difference between pill and fill. Sometimes you laugh at their rawness, but sometimes it gets to your nerve, too.

For me, the worst kind are those whom you know wouldn’t really make it, and yet won’t even try. A bad combination of skills (or the lack thereof), behavior and everything in between. People who can’t multitask and would absent themselves from class; people who can’t construct a grammatically correct sentence but would sleep in class; and people who just couldn’t understand the logic of billing but would refuse to be coached. Oh God, where did recruitment get them, and WHY???

The best type of agents are those who have the skill, are very eager to enhance what they have, are receptive to coaching, has an immaculate attendance and would never show attitude. Oh, such an A1 student. Every trainer’s dream.

In my musing cum depression, I have come up with an illustration, and yes, I know it’s simple (but still, it’s a product of my thinking!), but it very well summarizes the types of learners / trainees that I mentioned above.

As trainers, what can we do about these 4 types of learners? Sometimes, we don’t have the luxury to choose. So, what do we do with them?

My action plans, in the next blog. (I’m still debating with myself if I should share them, LOL).

So for those of you who are reading, which type of learner are you? Have you been any of the four above?

For other trainers and mentors out there, would you like to share your thoughts? Maybe we can share some notes =)

Game planning mode on =)