💸 That training room cost a fortune to set up.
But it sits empty most weeks.
When it is used, managers resent pulling agents off the phones. Agents dread the backlog waiting for them. And deep down, everyone knows…👉 whatever gets taught in that room won’t stick.
Yet contact centres keep booking the same training programmes. Keep hiring the same external providers. And keep wondering why nothing changes. That’s the problem training was meant to solve. Except it won’t.
🎭 The Problem: Training Theatre
You’ve seen it. Agents practising lines from training notes – nodding, smiling, saying the right things. Maybe it’s empathy this week. Next week it’s call control, or active listening, or objection handling.
Different topic. Same script. Same outcome.
Three types of people sit in every session:
- 🌟 Naturals – already great at it, learning nothing new
- 😓 Frustrated ones – know their gap but get no support to close it
- 😐 Oblivious ones – who don’t see the point
Meanwhile:
- Performance drops with people off the floor
- Attrition stays high (UK average: 26%)
- Retraining one agent costs ~£7,500
It’s a loop of learning theatre – lots of effort, little change.
🧠 The Real Issue: Logic vs Emotion
Traditional training targets logic. But 80% of behaviour is driven by emotion. When a customer’s angry, the amygdala triggers fight or flight. The brain doesn’t reach for the training notes – it reaches for survival.
That’s a biological mismatch no two-day course can fix.
💬 The Solution: Change the Conversation
Real behaviour change doesn’t happen in training. It happens after it – in the daily conversations that reshape beliefs.
Start here 👇
- Use your data – Quality, call, and sentiment analysis reveal 3-5 key behaviour gaps.
- Empower team leaders – Give them half a day on conversational leadership.
- Embed guided conversations – One focus behaviour at a time, for two weeks.
- Coach and repeat – Share success stories. Celebrate small wins.
Over 12 weeks, you’ll see the shift. 💡 Engagement up. 💪 Productivity up.
Because change happens in conversations – not classrooms.
🔁 The Better Way
Stop renting capability from training providers. Start building it inside your contact centre.
When team leaders become your development engine, learning becomes a habit -not an event.
If you’re ready to move beyond training theatre and build genuine capability… 📩 nathan@ndassociates.co.uk