The Role of a Call Centre Trainer

I want to express my deepest gratitude to Call Centre Helper Magazine for the opportunity to advertise for my dissertation research. I once asked a call centre leader what a trainer does; their answer still makes me chuckle.

“A trainer trains!”

Kind of obvious, right. Now, what does a trainer train? How does a trainer train? How does a business leader know the trainer has been successful in training? What is the purpose of training? What does training do for those trained?

These questions and the business leader’s comment have inspired my professional and academic footsteps for several years now.

In early July 2021, I finally received permission to begin human testing for my dissertation.

I have posted several advertisements on social media for call centre workers, trainers, and senior leaders to entice 17 people willing to answer some questions about training in call centres, a call centre trainer, and what precisely a call centre trainer does.

The following is a brief description of the aims and intents of my research to increase interest and hopefully glean the needed participants to finish my study.

Consider for a moment a teacher who has influenced you professionally or personally, and why did they make such an impact? Could a different person have made the same impact? Why?

The above questions are the crux of my research; to date, the role of the instructor has not been considered a variable in corporate training.

As an adult educator, I find this gap very alarming. In academia, the teacher’s role has been extensively studied, and opinions abound regarding the role of the teacher. Yet, in a professional setting, no researcher has addressed this gap to date.

With the push to move all training to computer-based solutions in autonomous environments, if the trainer does not teach corporate knowledge and behaviours, who does?

In researching the history of professional training, the model employed has not changed since a master taught journeyman who led novice instruction.

Yet, with technology, global populations, cultures, language, and globe-spanning organizations, the role of the trainer seems to continue to take a back seat. Yet, if a corporate trainer profoundly influenced you professionally, would you not want that experience for another person?

Due to the restrictions on human testing in research, I cannot change the dry legalese of the advertisements. I know they are long, tedious, and challenging to get through. However, if you are interested, please get in touch with me directly using:

Msalisbury1@my.gcu.edu

Please note, to participate, you will need the following:

• Work in an English Speaking Call Centre with a home base in the United States.
• Have a LinkedIn account (This is for verification of professional qualifications only).
• Speak English like a native.
• Be willing to answer demographic questions, including time in the current role, education, and so forth.
• Be willing to elaborate upon your answers. I will ask you some questions about your experiences; please provide details, depth, and descriptions as your answer.

Dave Salisbury

Important to note, your name and business will never be mentioned in my dissertation! I am not collecting any personal data beyond education and years of experience. Any direct quotes employed will carry no connecting data, and no one will see your details.

Thank you for considering joining me in my dissertation research. I look forward to publishing this research and discussing the findings with you in later articles.

Author: Dave Salisbury
Reviewed by: Jonty Pearce