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CI-CD Centre for Inter-cultural Development
Customer Service training for IT / BPO
Contact Centres in
Full range of Services - consultancy,
research, training materials and metrics - for Advanced Intercultural
Communication (AICC)
The
services below are available from CI-CD,
Our Clients
for Intercultural Communications in Customer Relations/Management include
BAE Systems; Bank of America; Barclays Bank; BP; British
Council; British Telecom; Cable and Wireless; EDS, Dallas Texas; HCL
Technologies, Noida; Hewlett Packard; Honeywell; Infosys BPO, Bangalore; Lucent
Technologies; Lloyds Marketing Association; MBNA; Merck; National Rail
Enquiries; Nortel Networks; WWF
See below for AICC training
methods.
1. Diagnostic Consultancy: Half-day confidential briefings and / or
review of needs
Available in
§
Review of
current symptoms of
§
Advice on
metrics for accurately monitoring CSR skills training impact in
§
Briefing on the
AICC research findings from linguistic analysis of hundreds of customer service
calls, 2007;
§
Briefing on the
content, method, rationale of AICC, plus evidence of effects of piloting in
Indian IT/BPO companies, 2007-08;
§
Sampling AICC
training exercises + documentary DVD case-studies;
§
Executive
Briefings and Handouts on Intercultural Communication as a training need for
(a) Indian CSRs (b)
2. Executive Briefings Available
from CI-CD as part of consultancy:
§
A: Summary
‘mini-course’ on the nature of
intercultural communication as the main (mostly unwitting) source of
damaging misunderstandings, and misperceptions of intentions, in all
international work settings – whether in offshore customer service, in
negotiating outsourcing partnerships, or
in joint change or project management
§
B: ‘What is AICC for and about?’ – copy of
the full 30-page Introduction to the AICC Training Handbook. This is addressed
to senior managers both in
§
C: Summary
account of the latest global research on
recruitment methods that best predict candidates’ aptitude and
‘trainability’ for customer service ‘tele-talk’
[As origianally commissioned by Infosys BPO, 2007]
§
D: Summary paper
on the research base, rationale and evidence of piloting effectiveness of AICC
formal group training methods
§
E: Summary paper
on tried and tested methods for
maximising AICC skills improvement in individual
coaching of TLs/CSRs
§
F: List of tried
and tested topics and materials for more informal
‘DIY’ team workshops (or
‘huddles’) organised by TLs
§
G: Steps for accurately measuring the impact of
communication training or coaching skills improvement in CSRs/TLs
§
H: Steps for accurately measuring customer satisfaction
rates achieved by Indian call centres
§
I: Full data
report of consultative survey of Indian
CSRs and Supervisors (2007)
§
J: Full data report of evaluations by Indian
Trainers, TLs and Quality staff of pilot AICC workshops, Noida and Bangalore
2007
§
K: 3-page
article on ‘Offshore Intercultural Communication skills’, published in Customer Management (2007)
3. Research
§
Customised diagnostic audit
and analysis of Indian service calls
Expert
linguistic analysis of recordings of your company’s current customer service
calls, with confidential report of the extent and nature of communication
difficulties encountered by Indian CSRs in meeting needs/expectations of
§
Recruitment methods
Review of the latest global research on ways to
assess job candidates’ actual and potential competence for providing customer
services, plus their ‘trainability’ in communication skills for a specific job
function, plus creation of recruitment tests customised to your company
needs.
§
Results of survey of Indian CSRs and Supervisors:
full data findings
Copy of independent consultative report (2007)
showing how Indian CSRs experience and perceive their work, their communication
difficulties with
4. Customised DVD training aid
Creation
of a customised DVD documentary training aid, made professionally to international
broadcast standard, built from your company’s own recorded calls, and encrypted
for internal confidentiality. Accompanied by print analysis of the calls and
detailed guidance for trainers in how to use the DVD interactively in group
training of CSRs, TLs and Quality
Controllers.
Such a DVD training aid is the ‘gold dust’ of training. It brings the
power and credibility of real-life to the training room – because it features
only genuine calls (not actors in artificial, over-simplified and stereotyped
drama scenes); and because relevant to the specific
needs of the client company’s customers. On-screen case-studies show not only
‘mistakes’ for analysis, but examples of ‘good practice’ for
tackling/preventing difficulties, and as inspiring role-models.
5. AICC – in customised individual E-Learning
format
The complete AICC scheme in interactive e-learning
format for self-development by Trainers, Quality, TLs and CSRs at their own time and pace, either as
individuals or in pairs.
This complete AICC self-learning version, built
around a company’s own calls, can be licensed for down-loading to company
Intranet across relevant floors.
6. AICC Training for Trainers and Coaches
A
5-day course for existing or new in-company Trainers/Coaches (UK-born;
Indian-born; or for both jointly). Course conducted in-company, or at CI-CD, in
(a) Receiving the complete set of AICC modules and
materials and practising how to deploy them to achieve maximum impact in
up-skilling CSRs, TLs, Quality staff - through both formal courses and informal
team workshops in
(b) Receiving detailed criteria, for co-ordination
with any UK-based ‘Call Observation’ teams, for assessing the quality of customer
service calls from India, and for ensuring that feedback formatively helps
Indian TLs and CSRs to develop their due communication skills
(c)
Ways to diagnose CSRs’ needs, and to measure qualitative skills improvement through training over time
(d)
Ways to accurately measure quality and quantity of C Sat improvement over time
(e) On-going support option: one year direct telephone
back-up and confidential consultancy by John Twitchin, Director of CI-CD, to
handle all queries or to create additional exercises to meet changing
needs.
7. Testing levels of AICC achievement
(a)
for company accreditation as an AICC training provider
(b)
for individual CSR/TL Certificates of AICC achievement
Service
available from CI-CD,
8. Recruitment of
UK-born
and recruited expert trainers and /or coaches to spearhead whole-floor AICC
roll-outs, who are
- long experienced in
- qualified in TESOL and intercultural
linguistics
- trained to deploy AICC methods/materials by CI-CD
- supplied with complete Handbook, Exercises +
bespoke DVD training aids
For
Delhi-based services, contact info@konduco.com
9. Consultancy and design of customised tests
for recruiting CSRs
- bespoke
predictive tests of Indian Agents/CSR job candidates’ actual and potential
‘tele-talking’ competencies. These are critical for CSR recruitment process in
order to reduce attrition rates.
10. Cultural Orientation courses for
-
handling ‘culture shock’, and developing the professional skills for
functioning cross-culturally as trainers or in joint project management in
à See sample workshop
agenda, as provided for BT, National Rail Enquiries; MBNA;
Barclays Bank; UKIBC.
11. Enhanced ‘
Set
of Briefings on
12. British-English idioms
for fresher or in-service training
The
AICC list of idiomatic expressions as
used by
Available
as
(a)
‘The AICC comprehensive
OR
in a shorter selection
(b)
‘The AICC most common
13. Workshop Briefings for Indian Trainers,
Quality managers, TLs or CSRs seconded to
14. Management Consultancy
on operational conditions of success for ‘soft skills’ training and/or coaching projects
generally, and for maximising ROI of whole-floor AICC roll-outs in India in
particular.
15. Tools for measuring impact of training to
improve communication skills
Customised analysis and design of metrics for accurate results of CSR
training/coaching in communication skills.
16. Tools for measuring
comparative levels of
Customised
consultancy on design of metrics for accurately
comparing UK/Indian call centres C.Sats.
The AICC
materials can be licensed for ‘Do-it-yourself’ in-company use – but in most
Indian companies an initial project of Training Trainers is likely to be needed
for sustained success of AICC roll-out. Trainers need to be on top not just of
AICC content, but also method.
Most local
trainers in India are themselves ‘Indian-English’ speakers; their expertise comes
usually from conducting process training rather than language/communication; and
most are accustomed to lecture presentation – good for information, bad for
skills development.
During trial
piloting in India, it was found that to maximise
ROI and effectiveness of a whole-floor roll-out, AICC works best when customised to a company’s real calls and
when given managerial ‘performance support’ at the following levels (a) –
(g)
(a) At recruitment
stage: shifting emphasis from written grammar tests to ‘situational’ verbal
testing of candidates’ cross-cultural communicative adaptability, ie to ensure
recruits have ‘trainability’ potential, and so reduce attrition rates. Also,
co-ordinating the recruitment process with Trainers’ work under (b) – (f)
below.
(b) At
induction stage: enhancing the content and methods of ‘Voice/Language/Culture
Communication’ training currently offered to new CSRs, replacing any irrelevant
general sociological information about UK/US by detailed specific cultural
explanations of Western telephone behaviour/expectations.
(c) ‘Top-up’
in-service training for those CSRs who need support to improve language-based skills: grammar,
intonation, relevant idioms/colloquialisms.
(d) Training
Trainers to conduct in-service training and individual coaching in linguistics-based skills (ie the
precise 19 competences for intercultural exchanges in ‘tele-talk’ services that
Indian CSRs need if they are to match C Sat rates of Western call centres), using
a range of participative methods and interactive use of customised training
DVDs or transcript exercises built from real calls (not only mock scenarios).
(e)
Courses for Indian TLs and Quality Managers/Analysts/Coaches in how to assess
the success or failure of service calls in terms of quality of communication;
in how to identify individual CSRs’ communication skills needs; and in how to
provide feedback that most effectively and constructively assists CSRs to
develop such skills.
(f) Encouraging and agenda-setting informal and
motivational TL-led ‘huddles’ or 30-mins workshops in which staff share
experience of specific intercultural skills (eg ‘UK Humour’ or ‘UK
Irony/Sarcasm’ or ‘How to pick up early symptoms of irritation/anger and
instantly resolve these’).
(g) Developing and applying accurate Criteria/Metrics 1. for auditing needs and Benchmarking
Language and Cultural Communication training; 2. for monitoring training
impact, especially progress of CSRs/TLs/Quality improvement in communication
skills; 3. for accrediting/certification
of competence; 4. for properly comparable C Sats results.
While
language-based training in India (as provided by BEC, Berlitz, British Council)
covers steps/needs (b) and (c) above,
AICC provides comprehensively for all of (a) - (g).
à Contact us at CI-CD Phone: (00 44) (0) 20
7431 1712 email: johntwitchin@diversityworks.co.uk