Guest post written by Gary Sanders.
Does this scenario sound familiar?
A member of your staff gives their two-week notice, so you quickly post the open position, hoping to hire someone before the two weeks are up. If you’re fortunate, the ideal candidate can start immediately and spend a few days with your departing staff member to learn the position.
In reality, how much can a new hire retain after spending only a few days with an employee who is leaving? At best, the new hire only learns a subset of what the departing employee knew about the position.
Now imagine this is repeated a time or two, with each new hire retaining only part of what their predecessor knew. How much does the employee now in the position actually know about doing their job?
Relating this phenomenon to software knowledge, we have what I refer to as the funnel effect.
Imagine a funnel where the complete knowledge of a system is at the top of the funnel. Even a knowledgeable employee trained by an excellent trainer is unlikely to learn all there is to know about the system. Their knowledge level ends up partway down the funnel.
When this employee leaves or transfers to another position, the person they train doesn’t retain all the knowledge the original employee had, so their knowledge level is even further down the funnel. Repeat this a time or two, and the knowledge level of the employee currently in the position is at the very tip of the funnel.
Here’s an illustration of what I just described:
Now that you’re aware of the funnel effect and acknowledge it, what can you do about it?
My recommendation is always to contract with your software vendor to have a trainer who is well-versed in the application train each new hire, so you don’t fall victim to the funnel effect.
In a similar vein, I also recommend follow-up training for staff who have been trained by your software provider. Initial training, especially during implementation and go-live of a new system, can be overwhelming. Your staff is focused on learning day-to-day tasks to get bills out and payments posted. Most systems offer many more management and reporting features that are barely touched on during initial training.
In my experience, scheduling follow-up training three to six months after the initial training is an effective way to explore additional features of the system and address any follow-up questions that arose from the initial training.
Gary Sanders is a utility billing consultant with over 40 years of experience, specializing in helping utilities improve business office operations and better serve their customers. He publishes a blog and email newsletter at www.utilityinformationpipeline.com and can be reached at gary@utilityinformationpipeline.com.
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