Technology has become
the cornerstone of many businesses during the past decade. The amazing
number of e-commerce businesses gives testimony to the advantages
technology provides in courting and keeping customers from throughout
the world. There is no doubting that the people behind that technology—affectionately
referred to as geeks and techies—are intelligent. They do,
however, in many cases require extra care when training them in
soft skills.
These techies are whizzes
at handling the technology necessary to keep your business running
smoothly but many of them are sadly lacking in soft interpersonal
skills. Most techies are much more comfortable dealing with things
than they are dealing with people. You must handle this group of
employees with great care and give them the tools they need to communicate—with
coworkers and customers alike. By doing so, you will be maximizing
the productivity and effectiveness of this talented group of employees.
That means you must
institute a training program that changes people’s behaviors.
By doing so, you will increase the effectiveness of your employees—and
your training dollars. A study by the Consortium for Research on
Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University found
that more than $9.5 billion a year is wasted on ineffective training.
Put another way, American workers get nothing in return for one
in every five dollars spent annually on company training and development.
“Too much emphasis
is placed on increasing knowledge,” Dr. Daniel Goleman, author
of Emotional Intelligence and co-chair of the consortium told a
writer for Incentive magazine. “That’s important, but
companies can get a far better return on training investments by
putting more focus on people skills.”
In another study, this
one conducted by Development Dimensions International, a human resources
consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, responding organizations
cited interpersonal skills as the second most important concern
in training programs. (Dealing with change was cited as the key
goal.) That’s not surprising. The inability to communicate
effectively with others can be frustrating and can hinder personal
and professional development.
If you do not take the
time and make the investment to train your techies in the soft interpersonal
communication skills, you are doing your organization—and your
employees—a great disservice. It can be as difficult for techies
to master these skills as it would be for someone like me to learn
technical skills. This group is extremely intelligent but, if they
can’t effectively communicate their ideas and concerns with
other employees in your organization, you are not tapping their
full potential.
Techies often feel a
bit like outsiders in an organization. You must bring them in to
the fold and give them the skills they need to feel as though they
are valued members of the team. I’m not saying this will be
easy, but it will be well worth every cent you spend on training.
It is important that
you are patient in these efforts. Remember: You don’t change
a lifetime of behaviors overnight. It takes time to build skills.
When designing or purchasing a training program, don’t try
to cram too much information into each session. According to recent
research, when you learn a new physical skill, it takes six hours
to store the memory permanently in your brain. If that storage process
is interrupted by learning another new skill, the first lesson could
be erased.
“We’ve shown
that time itself is a very powerful component of learning,”
Dr. Henry H. Holcomb, a psychiatrist who headed the Johns Hopkins
University group that studies how people remember, said in a 1998
article in Science. “It is not enough to simply practice something.
You have to allow time to pass for the brain to encode the new skills.”
He recommends teaching one task, then waiting five to six hours
before presenting a new task.
Interpersonal soft skills
are a key element in customer service. You must train your employees—all
of them—to communicate effectively. Give them the skills they
need to perform their jobs well and to help you distinguish your
business from your competitors with exceptional customer service.
Focus your training
efforts on developing the interpersonal skills of your techies so
that their ability and comfort level in dealing with directly with
your customers becomes a valuable component of your company’s
service.
John Tschohl
is an international service strategist and speaker. Described by
Time and Entrepreneur magazines as a customer service guru, he has
written several books on customer service, including e-Service,
Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service,
The Customer
is Boss, and Ca$hing In: Make More Money, Get a Promotion, Love
Your Job. John also has developed more than 26 customer service
training programs that have been distributed and presented throughout
the world. His bimonthly strategic newsletter is available online
at no charge. You can reach John at www.customer-service.com.
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