Why aren’t my customer-facing teams putting their learning into action: Everything you need to know about the learning-doing gap
Are you tirelessly publishing learning content for your customer-facing teams, only to find that they never put their learning into action?
Are you becoming frustrated by their lack of commitment, and you aren’t sure what steps to take next?
It sounds like your business is suffering from the dreaded ‘learning-doing gap’.
What is the learning-doing gap?
The learning-doing gap refers to the difference between what individuals know and what they actually put into practice.
In other words, it’s the difference between learning something and applying it in real-life situations.
This gap can occur due to various reasons, such as a lack of motivation, resources, or support, or simply a lack of understanding or skill to apply what has been learned. For example, an employee may attend a training program and learn new skills, but may not be able to implement them in their work due to a lack of support from their manager or a lack of opportunity to practise those skills.
Closing the learning-doing gap requires a concerted effort to not only provide learning opportunities but also to create a supportive environment that encourages and enables the application of what has been learned.
What are the possible reasons why my customer-facing teams aren’t putting their learning into practice?
As mentioned above, there are a huge variety of reasons why your employees aren’t putting their learning into practice.
So with that in mind, let’s discuss in more detail the things which influence the learning-doing gap and how you can overcome them.
Lack of relevance impacts the learning-doing gap
If your customer-facing teams don't see the relevance of what they are learning to their job or career, they may not be motivated to apply it in practice.
This happens when you publish bulk content which is too generic. Perhaps a third of the content is relevant to your customer-facing team, but the rest is targeted towards your stockroom employees.
If your employees get the feeling that the training isn’t for them, they’ll jump straight to the conclusion that it’s not that relevant and subsequently, they won’t apply what they’ve learnt.
In a recent survey, employees were asked how their employer could make their training more effective; 38% said align training with job responsibilities, whilst 32% said update training content more frequently.
How to overcome this?
To overcome this issue quickly, you can;
Ensure that the training you provide is aligned with their job responsibilities and future career goals.
Take a large piece of training and replicate it but tailor it to each role, changing certain words can have a huge impact on how much people engage with it.
If only a small section of the training is relevant to a certain team, take that section out and turn it into a short step-by-step guide. This saves employees from having to trawl through content which isn’t applicable to them or their role.
If you want to approach it a little more extensively, follow the steps below:
Conduct a needs analysis and start by identifying the specific skills and knowledge that are required for each job role. You can do this by conducting a needs analysis, which involves reviewing job descriptions, speaking with managers and employees, and analysing job performance data. This will help you to understand the specific skills and knowledge that are required for each role, and to tailor your training content accordingly.
Use job-specific examples and examples and scenarios that are relevant to the job role to help employees connect the training content to their day-to-day work. This can help to make the training more engaging and practical, and can help employees to see how the content applies to their specific role.
Incorporate job-specific tasks and activities into the training to help employees practise and apply the skills and knowledge they are learning. This can help to make the training more interactive and engaging, and can help employees to see the immediate value of the training content.
Involve subject matter experts from each job role in the development and delivery of the training content. This can help to ensure that the content is relevant and accurate, and can help employees to see the value of the training.
Insufficient feedback will affect the learning-doing gap
Feedback is an important motivator because it holds employees accountable for their behaviour and actions.
If employees don't receive feedback on how they are doing or how they can improve, they may not be motivated to continue putting their learning into action.
They’ll soon start to realise that no one takes notice of whether they do or do not put their learning into action, and they’ll start to wonder what the point is.
How to overcome this
By providing regular feedback, both positive and constructive, to help your employees understand how they are progressing, it will motivate them to carry on putting their learning into action and thus closing the learning-doing gap.
Our customers use Ocasta Review for this. A behavioural observation tool which makes it quick and easy to monitor employees’ actions. You create an audit report based on the actions you want to see and score the employee based on how many of those actions they perform.
For example, let’s say you published training content on customer service which teaches employees about the importance of being kind and courteous. The actions you may want to score against in your Review report could be:
Does the employee greet the customer
Does the employee ask the customer if they would like any help
Does the employee ask for the customer's name
By scoring their actions, it makes it easy to measure the learning-doing gap and keep track of how much you can minimise it over the course of the year. Learn more about how Victoria’s Secret uses it to minimise its learning-doing gap here.
Poor leadership impacts employee behaviour more than you think
“When you were made a leader you weren't given a crown, you were given the responsibility to bring out the best in others.” - Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric
A lot of managers think their role is to delegate training tasks and make sure that they’re completed, but this isn’t entirely true.
A great leader should continuously motivate employees and recognise them for their hard work and dedication to the role.
When you have poor leadership, it can dramatically decrease motivation, causing employees to feel less motivated to learn and put in their best effort. This will eventually lead to poor performance and unsatisfactory customer service standards.
Poor leadership will also leave employees feeling confused about what they should focus on because there is no clear direction for them to follow. This lack of direction causes frustration among employees and results in no action being taken.
How to overcome this
Employees want inspiring leaders who can motivate them whilst providing them with structure and clear guidance.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward, author
Leaders can inspire their customer-facing teams in several ways.
One important strategy is to lead by example, demonstrating the kind of behaviour and attitude that they want their teams to exhibit. By showing them how to put their learning into action and displaying the desired actions, employees will eventually start to mirror those actions.
By showing their passion, drive, and positive attitude, leaders can set the tone for how their customer-facing teams should behave to succeed in their roles.
Leaders can also motivate their teams by recognising and rewarding exceptional training efforts. Our customers like to do this by using our quick and simple employee engagement app, where they select a digital badge and ping it to employees with their own personalised message.
These will be sent directly to the employee, and their badge of recognition will be displayed in the company's hall of fame.
Fear of failure
Sometimes, employees may be afraid of making mistakes or failing when applying what they have learned.
The fear of failure can have a significant impact on the learning-doing gap because it can prevent employees from taking action and applying what they have learned.
When people are afraid of failing, they may hesitate to take risks and try new things. This can create a gap between what they know and what they actually do.
For example, an employee may know that they have to upsell every customer conversation they have, but they feel silly doing it because they’ve never tried it. If no one is there to tell them that it’s ok if they sound a bit silly or their words don’t come out right, they won’t feel like they have the opportunity to practise, and as a result, they never put their learning into action.
The fear of failure can also lead to a lack of motivation and confidence, which can further widen the gap between learning and doing. Employees may feel discouraged and give up on practising putting their learning into action, leading to a cycle of inaction and missed opportunities.
How to overcome this
To overcome the fear of failure and bridge the learning-doing gap, it is important to focus on growth and learning rather than just success or failure.
Adopting a growth mindset can help individuals view failures as opportunities for growth and development, rather than as a reflection of their worth or abilities.
Additionally, setting realistic goals and taking small steps towards achieving them can help build confidence and momentum towards success.
Create a culture that encourages experimentation and risk-taking, and reassure employees that failure is a part of the learning process.
Positive reinforcement is also essential when helping employees to overcome the fear of failure. If you hear someone stumble on their words or see them do something that’s not right, don’t rush over to tell them they’re wrong. Instead, recognise their efforts of putting their learning into action and tell them they’re doing a great job, then follow this positive comment with constructive guidance on how they can improve for next time.
This works incredibly well because instead of embarrassing the employee, you make them feel valued and recognised for the efforts they’re putting in, which probably feel very uncomfortable.
Give them a helping hand
Our customers like to give their employees support “in the moment” by equipping them with a handy knowledgebase.
This gives them everything they need to feel confident when putting their learning into practice because they’ll have all the information they need in the palm of their hand.
No more second-guessing their actions and worrying if what they’re doing is wrong.
Employee burnout can greatly impact the learning-doing gap
Burnout can be a major demotivator for employees.
If employees are overworked or feel overwhelmed, they may not have the energy or motivation to apply their learning.
Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that can result from prolonged stress and overwork. When employees are burned out, they may feel disengaged and lack the energy and motivation to apply new knowledge and skills.
Burnout can also affect an individual's ability to learn and retain new information. When someone is burned out, their cognitive functioning and memory can be impaired, making it difficult for them to learn and apply new concepts effectively. They may also have difficulty concentrating and paying attention, further impeding their ability to learn and apply new knowledge.
In addition to the impact on individual employees, burnout can also have a negative impact on organisational learning and growth. When employees are burned out, they may be less likely to participate in training and development opportunities, leading to a gap between what employees know and what they actually do.
How to overcome this
Acknowledgement
One of the first and most easy steps to reduce employee burnout is to acknowledge the stressful work demands that your customer-facing teams are up against.
Let them know that you recognise the strain they are under and you want to do everything you can to reduce stress.
This acknowledgement can have several benefits:
It creates a sense of empathy and understanding: When you acknowledge the stressful work demands that your team faces, you show that you understand the difficulties they are experiencing and that you care about their well-being. This can help to build trust and rapport with your team and create a sense of community and support.
It encourages open communication: Acknowledging the challenges that your team faces can encourage open communication and create a safe space for your team to share their concerns and needs. This can help you to identify specific areas where you can provide support and resources to reduce burnout.
It can lead to targeted interventions: By understanding the specific work demands that are causing stress for your team, you can identify targeted interventions to reduce burnout. For example, you may provide additional support for dealing with difficult customers, or you may adjust workloads or schedules to reduce stress and increase work-life balance.
Set realistic targets
Setting realistic targets can help to reduce the pressure on your customer-facing team and prevent burnout.
Make sure that targets are challenging but achievable, and provide support and resources to help your team meet them.
Foster a positive work environment
Encourage open communication, and as mentioned above, provide support and recognition for good work, and foster a culture of teamwork and collaboration.
Encourage work-life balance
Encourage your sales team to take breaks, use their vacation time, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. This can help to prevent burnout by allowing your team to recharge and refresh.
Provide resources for stress management
Burnout is often caused by prolonged stress, so providing resources for stress management can be effective in preventing burnout. This can include access to mental health support, yoga or meditation classes, or other stress-reducing activities.
How big is your learning-doing gap and what are you doing to fix it?
Companies with large learning-doing gaps are not only wasting money on training, but they’re more likely to suffer from;
Decreased productivity
Lower employee engagement and morale
Reduced innovation and competitiveness
Increased risk
Wave goodbye to those issues with Ocasta Review, the employee observation tool designed to close the learning-doing gap so you can rest assured that your employees are putting their all of their learning into action on a regular basis.
How does it work?
Step 1: You create your training
Step 2: Focus on the behaviours you want to encourage from your training and organise them into a review report.
Step 3: Give your managers access to your review report, and they’ll be able to access it from any mobile or tablet device.
Step 4: Choose how often you want the reviews to be carried out (we’d recommend monthly to ensure you effectively close the learning-doing gap).
Step 5: Get your managers to quickly score employees' performance based on the behaviours included in your review.
Step 6: Use the data collected from Review to assess what knowledge is being put into action and what’s not.
Step 7: Use this information to amend your training content and tailor conversations you’re having with employees (letting them know what they’re missing and how to apply it in practice.
Step 8: Repeat steps 5-8 until your learning-doing gap is entirely closed.
Sound like something you need?
Join the likes of Victoria’s Secret and Next who use our performance observation platform to close the learning-doing gap, improve customer service and increase sales.
Book a free demo below and one of our friendly experts will walk through how it works and how it can be used in your business.
