Slide #

Scene/Interaction

Narration

Slide 1

Introduction

Deborah’s Office

Deborah: Hello! Welcome to Taormina. We are a leading company in the electronics industry, and we’re glad to take you on as a new employee for our training department.

My name is Deborah and I have served as the Director of Training and Development here since our company was founded in 2007.

My role is to guide you through your new position as a Training Specialist.

I will start you out by giving you a ten-week long project to work through from beginning to end.

We will meet on a weekly basis to review your progress and also offer any guidance.

For your first project, I need you to address a sales issue with our call center employees. Sales have reached an all-time low, and I have reason to believe that it may be a training issue of some kind. You will investigate the issue and report back to me about your findings.

Come with me, and I’ll introduce you to some of the employees you’ll need to work with to complete this project.

Slide 2

Scene 1

Call Center

Ron: Hello! My name is Ron, and I’m a manager here at Taormina’s call center.

I’m in charge of all of our call center employees. I track sales and resolve difficult issues. I look forward to working with you!

Alex: Hi there! I’m Alex, and I’m a call center employee.

I’ve worked for Taormina for four years. The other employees often ask for my advice.

Justin: It’s nice to meet you…my name’s Justin, and I’m the newbie here in the call center.

I’ve been here for two months. I guess we’ll be learning about the company together, huh?

Slide 3

Scene 2

Call Center

Deborah: Now that we’re all gathered together, let’s talk a little bit about what’s been happening at the call center.

What exactly is the issue?

Ron: Our sales are slow again. Another month and our sales revenue is under the expected organizational performance.

We recently bought a new software program that will track sales for my employees. This program is meant to save my team a lot of time and effort while working in the call center. This would allow them to focus more on the sales themselves.

The software was very highly recommended as a tool for the sales industry. However, the new software is not helping my team members as projected.

I don’t understand! (sounding frustrated)

My friend told me that the sales at his company have improved tremendously since he bought that software.

We both work in the same industry and I really don’t know what’s wrong. A lot of money was invested on that new software and it just isn’t helping us.

Alex: I know! I thought your idea was great, Ron.

Actually, I like the software a lot. It makes my job easier by tracking my sales. But some of my other team members are not quite convinced about the benefits of it.

Justin: I have to admit… it feels like just another new thing to learn. Like we don’t have anything else to do!

I’m supposed to improve my monthly sales, call all my clients, and enter the information in this new software all in one day!

I’ll try (hesitant), but I can’t guarantee anything….we don’t only need new software…we need something more in order to improve our sales.

Ron: Seriously? The software is supposed to be a helper, not a stressor element.

Alex: Well, the problem is probably not the software. We need something else, just like Justin said.

Ron: Deborah is here to help us get to the root of the matter.

My conclusion is that we should hire more employees. That’s probably what we need, don’t you think?

Deborah: It’s an interesting idea, Ron.

We’re going to have to analyze a few things before we tell you anything for certain.

Slide 4

Scene 3

Deborah’s office

Deborah: Now that I’ve introduced you to the issues Taormina is experiencing, we will need to complete a needs analysis.

A needs analysis starts with the identification of the organizational gap. This is the difference between the actual organizational performance and the expected organizational performance.

Based on the conversation we had with the call center employees, let’s complete an activity to help us identify the call center’s organizational gap.

Slide 5

Test your Knowledge Slide

This slide will be presented to students as a drag and drop interaction.

What is the main problem affecting Taormina’s sales revenue?

·
The new software :
Incorrect! Businesses must assist employees in improving daily processes through adding new technology. This is a way to remain in competition. However, the business current technology is not always the problem.

·
The poor advice given by “the friend”:
Incorrect! Obviously, managers cannot count only on friendly advice. Each organization has its own culture and needs. But, experienced advice could offer managers an effective shortcut.

·
The lack of training before implementing the new software:
Incorrect! Employees need to be trained before implementing any new procedure. However, a proper identification of trigger events is the right starting point to address any Organizational Gap Performance (OGP).

·
Lack of recognition of real trigger events :
Correct!: An organization that has recognized an Organizational Performance Gap (OPG) must identify the real needs to be addressed before investing on equipment and/or training efforts. Sometimes, personal feeling can distort the real needs and make inaccurate decisions.

Slide 6

Scene 4

Deborah’s office

Deborah: Okay! Now that you have assessed the scenario, what’s the next step?

As the Training Specialist, you need to identify the actual organizational performance of the call center and compare it with the expected organizational performance to determine the organizational performance gap.

So, let’s review their sales for the past six months and make a comparison of sales per employee.

That might give us some good clues about the gaps and then we can figure out how to address them.

What do you think?

Slide 7

Scene 5

Deborah’s Office

(Ron enter’s Deborah’s office)

Ron: Hi, Deborah! Sorry to interrupt. Are you able to hire more employees for me?

I need them as soon as possible.

Deborah: Well, Ron, I we are working on finding some solutions for you and your team.

We will be developing a needs analysis to find out the trigger events affecting your department’s sales performance.

Give us a chance to work on this and we’ll get back to you in a week. Is that okay with you?

Ron: Thank you, Deborah. I know you and your team will help me.

Slide 8

Scene 6

Deborah’s office

(speaking to the student)

Deborah: Okay… Let’s interview Ron’s team members and find out what is causing such stress on the job When I met with them, the employees expressed that they were stressed.

Go ahead, interview all of them, and ask about their daily routine.

Make special note of their facial expressions when they are narrating their stories. The information you collect will help you organize your needs analysis.

Slide 9

Scene 7

Call Center

(This will cut to different shots where the student interviews each employee in turn.)

Ron: Thank you for helping us out with this sales issue.

As you know, our sales are not doing very well. I’ve heard that the new software isn’t really working as expected.

I have met with HR and they are working on finding some alternatives to help us in improving our performance.

I think if we’re not going to hire new employees, we need to at least look into getting more tools for my employees.

Alex: Well, you know we really want to perform as expected.

It’s just that we have a lot of responsibilities in order to make these sales.

I’m not sure throwing more money into the problem is going to fix it.

Justin: Well, I think people here complain every day about everything.

They feel overwhelmed because they don’t know what is really expected from them.

I keep feeling overwhelmed, too.

Slide 10

Scene 8

Deborah’s Office

Deborah: Great job conducting the interviews!

Based on these interviews you had with the call center employees, let’s complete an activity to help us identify the trigger event.

Slide 11

Check your Knowledge

This interaction will be presented in two parts. One will present the information in a creative, tabbed format. Then the student will be asked which possible trigger is the correct one.

Which one of the following trigger events is causing the performance gap?

Team members are not performing because they are burnout:
Incorrect!
Certainly, burnout might cause lack of performance. However, the stress that causes it could be the real issue. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. Burnout is a consequence, not a cause.

Team member are not performing because they do not count with the right tools: Incorrect!
Employees need to have access to the right tools (software and hardware) to performance as expected. In this case, Taormina has provided the tools needed to improve their sales performance. This is not the real trigger event. Please try again!

Team members are not performing because they need more training and development to perform as expected. CORRECT! Employees need to first be informed about organizational performance expectations. Thereafter, training and development opportunities must be created to assist them in improving their performance, thereafter, the organizational as a whole.

Slide 12

Scene 9

Deborah: Now that you have completed the interviews and analyzed the trigger event, please participate in this week’s discussion.

During this discussion, you will identify two potential needs that are present within the company, and then determine the best course of action to take in order to address the Organization Gap Performance.

Well, now you are able to identify when do to a needs analysis.

You can assess a situation to find the actual versus expected organizational performance to determine the organizational performance gap.

Also at this point, you know how to look for a trigger event. These skills will be invaluable to you as you move forward with training and development.

See you soon!