Elearning - September/October 2008 - (Page 16)

highimpacttraining a series of virtual mentors, all drawn from Wachovia employees. The information communicated by these mentors, who hold positions such as teller, teller manager and regional manager, comes from expert interviews conducted by Allen Communications. In fact, in some the virtual mentors’ dialogue is drawn straight from actual transcripts. “We wanted our mentors to look and act like real people new tellers would meet and work with,” says Debbie Gill, area vice president of human resources and curriculum project owner. “We’ve incorporated into dialogue what employees experienced when they were new to the job, what they wished they had known, and how they have grown with the company.” All settings and composites used in the course are based on actual places and people, designed to portray daily life in Wachovia’s financial centers. Wachovia’s marketing organization also had a hand in the training to ensure that all branding guidelines — from fonts to colors and music — applied to the design and treatment. Course design followed the ARCS model, which prescribes the following: >> Gain learner’s attention in a compelling manner. >> Illustrate how this topic is relevant to real life. >> Demonstrate to the learner proven methods for accomplishing the required task, and build confidence that he or she can apply these methods on the job. >> Provide opportunities for learners to practice and obtain a feeling of satisfaction for accomplishing the training objectives and mastering the information. The course illustrates a variety of customer experiences, while also displaying the system screens and documents that the teller would be working with in the course of serving the customer. Learners choose from multiple responses and, accordingly, hear different outcomes. For instance, in a section of the course that covers the cashing of Social Security checks, a new teller learns how to examine checks and verify ID — with images of actual Social Security checks and drivers’ licenses displayed. Learners can enlarge document images and even turn them 16 September/October 2008 Elearning! over to examine the backs. In addition to teaching the learner how to best deal with customers, the course also instructs when checks can be cashed or deposited, how to make deposits and solutions to problems. The learner interacts with a realistic customer and, through a simulation, practices using the bank’s transaction processing system to actually make a deposit. The online course covers all basic transactions typically encountered by a teller — as well as those that are exceptional. For example, another section of the course instructs the learner how to handle a customer request for a major cash advance on a credit card after the teller has already closed his or her workstation. The online course, taken by new hires in the first several weeks of their employment, is supplemented with instructor-led practice labs where students get hands-on experience with the bank’s transaction system; observations and mentoring; and onthe-job practice with mentoring. POSITIVE RESULTS Wachovia rolled out the Teller Team Academy by geographic region. The mandatory new-teller training is now used enterprise wide. The results have been pos- itive. Evaluation data captured on several levels have shown training has had a positive impact in several areas, most significantly in the reduction of teller turnover. In fact, during the program’s pilot, turnover in the first 31 to 60 days of employment dropped 1.2 percent; turnover in the first 61 to 90 days of employment dropped 3 percent; and overall turnover in the first 90 days of employment dropped 3.6 percent. Wachovia has the potential to save approximately $1.16 million annually for every 1 percent reduction in turnover, so initial pilot results are encouraging. In addition, new tellers in the pilot program out-performed new tellers throughout the rest of the company. This included a 15 percent reduction in times-out-ofbalance, a 19 percent improvement in sales credits, a 14 percent reduction in total policy violations, and fewer policy violations per people month than new tellers in the rest of the company. New tellers who feel that the culture and job are not suited for them are able to selfselect out early in the training process, thereby reducing Wachovia’s overall investment in the employee, while those who elect to continue on with the training are provided with a sense of belonging and inclusion (in part through the extensive use of mentor characters in the course). The course also prepares new tellers to work with corporate systems and customer service. The simulated workstation and customer interactions received rave reviews from both new tellers and company executives. Because the course was built in XML, it can be easily localized, translated into other languages, and updated as systems, policies and procedures evolve. “Wachovia’s teller program is an outstanding example of high-impact learning,” says Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates and one of the Learning Leader judges. “The program is carefully aligned with business goals, built on a well-executed needs analysis, and blends learning techniques into an engaging and relevant experience for learners.” Says Jageler: “Wachovia places great importance on a partnership approach to business. The reason this program is so successful is that we had the input, help and support of so many people and organizations throughout the company.”

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - September/October 2008

Elearning - September/October 2008 Contents Editor’s Note News IBM Goes Green Green Resources Deals Trendlines Learning Leader Up to Speed Cover Story: Going Green The Green Mindset? Cutting Down Turnover Tips: EET Case Study: Pacific Pulmonary Services Case Study: British Telecom Case Study: Allianz SE Case Study: LXR Case Study: St. Elizabeth Tips: Green Initiatives New Products LMS Tools Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - September/October 2008

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