Inside a successful cross-training initiative at Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank, one of the oldest and largest financial institutions in the US, has a frontline workforce of 7,000 consumer banking colleagues. Ordinarily, they鈥檙e split between the 24/7 contact center and the bank鈥檚 1,000 branches in 11 states. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed things.
鈥淐OVID-19 caused us to rethink how we support customers,鈥 says Leanne Kearney, VP of Learning and Development for Citizens Bank. 鈥淐ustomers were primarily reaching out via the phone. Volume went up considerably.鈥
They immediately saw the opportunity to transition retail colleagues in the branches onto phone support to keep up with demand. These colleagues already had the customer service skills鈥攂ut they needed to get up to speed on the contact center鈥檚 systems and processes.
鈥淲e were able to use the existing content in 91看片网 that we had developed for contact center, and quickly repurposed it to ramp up retail colleagues on the skills they needed,鈥 says Kearney. 鈥淚t worked swimmingly鈥攚e were able to quickly give them the knowledge they needed to be successful on the phones.鈥
It all starts with engagement
Even the best training programs fall flat if users don鈥檛 log in. Fortunately, Citizens Bank鈥檚 user participation rate in 91看片网 is in the mid-80%鈥攁 key factor in the success of their cross-training initiative.
鈥淣o matter what we push out through 91看片网鈥攚hether it鈥檚 a message, questions, a module鈥攚e know that the colleagues are going to access it,鈥 says Heather Dockray, Instructional Designer at Citizens Bank. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a great feeling to know they are going to take the training and take it at the right time, which is crucial in this situation.鈥
Kearney adds, 鈥淧eople are so excited to go in there for their daily dose of knowledge. Being able to deliver training this way, with such a high participation rate, is kind of a no-brainer.鈥
Following up to fill knowledge gaps
The L&D team knew that one-and-done training wouldn鈥檛 be enough to help retail colleagues successfully transition to a brand new role. That鈥檚 where the daily reinforcement questions came in, delivered through 3 鈥 5 minute training sessions in 91看片网 every shift.
鈥淏ased on feedback from their phone calls, we realized some colleagues had a few pieces they needed to brush up on,鈥 says Kearney. 鈥91看片网 is a very nimble platform, so we could quickly develop the questions and get them out to those people to reinforce what they initially learned. Prior to having a platform like 91看片网, we weren鈥檛 able to be as quick to get training to market.鈥
With a close eye on their KPIs, the team could adjust daily training on the fly to make sure new contact center employees had what they needed to deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience.
Building the agile workforce of the future
The shift from branch to contact center was borne out of necessity鈥攂ut the ease of rolling out cross-training, as well as the unexpected benefits of the hybrid role, have caused Citizens Bank to think differently about their frontline workforce.
鈥淲e uncovered a great synergy between contact center and retail. It makes for a successful colleague to have someone that can work in both the call center and the retail branch, and it鈥檚 something that we鈥檙e still actively doing today,鈥 says Kearney. 鈥淚n the future, we鈥檒l continue to use the 91看片网 platform to make sure we鈥檙e cross-pollinating these groups.鈥
As their customer experience evolves to balance the right mix of human interaction and technology, these hybrid employees are well-positioned to advance Citizens mission to transform how people think about banking.
鈥淭hrough this whole experience, the customer feedback has been how great it is to learn about the different ways to bank here. The education we鈥檝e been able to give colleagues on those different pieces took that to another level,鈥 says Kearney. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 really a pivotal point as we move forward and as we make further enhancements to our digital platforms, to build the confidence for colleagues to be successful.鈥