You want to build a service culture. Naturally, you think of training.

This guide shares everything you need to know to get started. It includes step-by-step instructions for designing and delivering your training program.

I've also included my best advice on who should do this training and when. And, I'll also explain why you should never hire an external trainer to deliver the training.

Contents:

What is service culture training?
Defining objectives
Creating a training plan
Reinforcing the training
Who should deliver the training?
When is the best time for service culture training?
Conclusion

What is service culture training?

Before diving in, let's identify exactly what "service culture training" means, starting with these definitions:

Culture how people in an organization collectively act.
Service Culture: a culture where employees act in service to customers.
Training: helping employees build the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do their jobs.

Put them all together:

Service culture training is a process for helping employees know how to act in service to customers.

This goes deeper than a few tips, tricks, and best practices. Service culture training helps employees understand your organization's unique culture.

That means service culture training must always be specific to your organization. Let’s talk about how to build a program that’s customized to your needs.

Defining objectives

The first step in building any training program is to define your objectives. What do you want employees to know and do after completing service culture training?

Clear training objectives help you do a few essential things:

Focus the training on what's important
Eliminate unnecessary fluff
Ensure people are actually learning

At minimum, your employees should be able to answer three questions after completing the service culture training program:

What is the customer experience vision? (more info)
What does it mean?
How do I personally contribute?

You might have additional objectives that focus on other elements of your service culture. Examples include:

Upholding the brand promise and other guarantees
Writing to customers using the brand style guide
Following service standards when assisting customers

I like to use the A-B-C-D model to create clear, observable learning objectives:

A = Audience: who is being trained?
B = Behavior: what do they need to do?
C = Condition: how will I assess their ability?
D = Degree: how well do they need to perform to be fully trained?

Here’s an example:

Customer service reps [audience] will share three examples of how they contribute to the mission [behavior] during an in-class discussion [condition] with 100% accuracy [degree]

Toolkit --> Learning Objectives Worksheet

This short video provides some additional guidance:

Develop learning objectives from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

Creating a training plan

A training plan is like the blueprint a construction team uses to build a house. It helps you visualize the entire process and make sure the plan is sound.

One shortcut is to use a previous training program as a template.

Think of something else you had to train everyone to know or do. It could be a new process, updated software, or anything else that employees had to incorporate into their daily work.

You can save time by following that plan to design your service culture training.

What if you don't have a template?

That's no problem. Just keep it simple. I really like to use the Tell, Show, Do approach to create straightforward training.

Tell: Explain what you want employees to know, and why.
Show: Share an example so employees can see the concept in action.
Do: Have employees demonstrate the knowledge or skill.

Key point: Incorporating the "Do" portion in your learning design gives you an opportunity to observe whether or not employees understand each concept.

Page 10 of The Service Culture Handbook Toolkit contains a template you can use to create your training plan.

Get the Toolkit --> Service Culture Handbook Toolkit

This short video provides more information and ideas:

Design a training program from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

Reinforcing the training

Training is use it or lose it. You must reinforce the service culture training or employees will quickly forget what they learned.

Think back to when you were in high school.

You probably had a locker that required a combination to open. At the time, you could open it in seconds without even thinking.

Now, imagine you're standing in front of that locker today. The combination is still the same. Could you open it?

Most of us couldn't.

You can use the 70-20-10 rule to reinforce service culture training so employees don't forget about what they learn.

The term "rule" isn't entirely correct. It's really more of a broad guide that explains how employees develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities they use at work.

70% = Daily Work

Most learning comes from our daily work, so it's important that processes, procedures, and policies align with the service culture training.

Let's say your company has a brand style guide. It includes a section on writing to customers in your company's brand voice.

Employees probably won’t follow the guide if you introduce it in training and then never mention it again.

But what if you aligned their daily work to match guide? Here are a few ways you could do that:

Re-write email templates to match the brand style guide
Update the quality assurance process to include adhering to the guidelines
Re-write knowledge base articles so they follow the brand style

All of this would make it easier for employees to follow the guidelines in their daily work. You could even assign these as projects to various employees to help reinforce their knowledge.

20% = Boss or Mentor

Leaders have a huge impact on employees' understanding of the service culture. The best leaders talk about the culture a lot.

Here are a few ways to help you talk about the culture more often:

Incorporate it into team huddles
Hold daily quick review meetings (could be part of a huddle)
Use these tips to prevent employees from tuning you out

You also have to walk the talk. Remember that you serve as a role model for your employees.

Guide --> 7 ways leaders can model great customer service

Who should deliver service culture training?

Your service culture training should be facilitated by an internal employee. This could either be a leader or a training professional who works for your company.

It should not be an external person like me. Two reasons:

You know the culture better than anyone
You will have much more credibility than an external person

That doesn't mean you can't tap externals resource for help. There are two specific ways an external trainer can help you.

Review your plan. Contact me for help with this one.
Design the training. I recommend Idea Learning Group for design help.

When is the best time for service culture training?

One of the easiest ways to sink a service culture training initiative is to launch it before it's ready. Make sure you complete all of the above steps before you start.

The final step is preparing your employees. You want them to begin the training excited about the culture and ready to help it grow.

This involves careful messaging and a clear plan.