ARM in ARM

In this episode, Debra Ciskey shares tips and insights into how to build lesson plans for training that will help employees remember that is being taught. Discussing the concepts of repetition (how to use repetition without being repetitious), primacy, linking, and cliffhangers, Debra offers a number of great ideas to help trainers and employers make sure employees retain more information.

Mission statements are more than just posters that go on the wall to cover up holes. They are a roadmap to help everyone in a company understand how they are going to get to where they want to go. In this episode, Cortney Fleming of the Wilber Group talks about how to craft a mission statement so that it -- and your employees -- will be successful.

Do you know if your new employees know how to log into your system? Do they know how to turn the computer on? What they will learn in their training classes is the information you decide to teach them. Building a strong lesson plan is paramount to developing a strong training program. In this episode, Debra Ciskey talks about how to build a lesson plan that is memorable and easy for your employees to learn.

Different people, especially adults, learn differently. Some prefer hearing the material they are being taught, some prefer watching it, and some prefer to learn by doing. Trainers and collection agencies need to understand the different ways that people learn and make sure to include opportunities in their training to give people the material in their preferred method of learning. In this episode, Debra Ciskey shares the different types of learning behaviors, how to spot those types, and how to develop effective training and continuing education materials to those different types of individuals.

In the absence of values, employees will simply create their own, so it is important for collection agencies to create a series of documents that detail their overall approach and foundation to collections. In this episode, Cortney Fleming talks about mission statements, vision statements, and core values.

While we all may speak the same language, how people interpret what we say and how they choose to respond is different. Understanding how people need to hear information is a critical component to being an effective communicator. In this episode, Cortney Fleming of Wilber & Associates talks about how to speak the language of your team members and introduces us to the DISC test. This is the first in a series of webinars with Cortney about effective communication techniques.

Kelly Parsons-O'Brien wants to create lifelong learners when she hires staff for her collection agency. To accomplish that takes an understanding of where a new employee came from, where he or she is now, and knowing where he or she wants to go in the future. In this episode, Kelly shares her approach to training collectors and the importance of making sure you are teaching to a new employee's head, hands, and heart.

Being a great collector takes a lot of skill. Part psychologist, part financial advisor, part bill collector -- they all need to be part of the collection agent's toolkit. But what's the most important skill that separates effective collectors from the rest of the pack? In this episode, Kelli Krueger from CBE Companies shares her thought on the most important skill that makes a good collector and then talks about how to develop and hone that skill to be effective in your job and in your life.

Not all employees are going to be great right out of the box. Sometimes, employees may need some additional coaching to help get them over the hump. And even the best players go through slumps. In this episode, Greg Ruffino, the director of training at Williams & Fudge, talks about the process of helping employees on an individualized basis. Developing a repeatable process will help agencies address situations like this in a consistent manner that covers all possible issues.

While a lot of attention is rightly focused on training new employees, offering continuing education to employees is also an effective growth and retention tool. In this episode, Greg and Mike talk about some of the important components to an effective continuing education program, as well as ideas to add to your continuing education resources.