Successful Adoption of eLearning in the Call Center

eLearning in theory is an incredible tool for businesses and especially the call center.  But as you know, tools are only as useful as you make them.  We’ve spoken to customers and prospects and come up with 6 keys to successful adoption of eLearning and Coaching in the call center.

1.    Introduce it on day one: Introduce agents to your eLearning system on their first day in the new hire class. By integrating the system into your culture from the beginning, agents will be more likely to use eLearning on the job. Provide the same foundational training to supervisors with additional time spent on the coaching reporting and agent adoption techniques.

2.    Get supervisors involved in content creation: Create a culture of supervisor-empowered adoption by getting team leaders to use the system and buy-in to its benefit on their teams.  Involving supervisors in the content creation process drives adoption as they tend to be subject matter experts and are equipped to contribute valuable content in the eLearning system.

3.    Make courses short and sweet: Use visually engaging and interactive course interfaces that require users to click on different parts or uncover hidden information before they can progress to the next page. Features such as drag and drop also drive engagement, which in turn increases adoption.  Courses that require no more than seven minutes to complete will suit the average attention span of users and allow for time to review or complete additional activities.

4.    Use games to relay critical information: Games are an excellent off-phone activity for agents and supervisors because users tend to play them multiple times. Tina Bjork, Coca-Cola Refreshments, said they use different casino-themed games to convey critical information. Typically, users will take a course once or twice until they achieve the desired score, but they will play games hundreds of times, trying to improve their score and advance on the leader board.  

5.    Require individual accountability: Creating a partnership provides the ownership needed and establishes a framework for creating and sustaining improvement.  Without a mechanism to take ownership for increasing performance, agents may be left adrift, becoming dissatisfied with the prospects for improvement and/or advancement.  

6.    Make coaching consistent, measurable, and frequent: The demands on a supervisor's time are many. And often the lower performing agents take up a disproportionate amount of that time. To meet the needs of all agents, time must be made for both agents and coaches to interact on performance problems as well as enhancement opportunities.  Because most coaching happens on an ad-hoc basis, similarly performing agents can receive very different types and levels of coaching. Embed a measurement system that shows how much, who and what is getting coached as well as its link to performance.

For more tips on eLearning adoption, check out Knowlagent’s Coaching All-Star Playbook.

Matt McConnell is chairman, president and CEO of Knowlagent. When he isn’t taking an eLearning course, he can be reached at

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