Datamax Philosophy No. 4: 'To invest in the continued development of employees' skills and knowledge.' (Little Blue Book)
Perhaps never has a (little blue) book so small been so tightly packed with relevant, significant information. After all, decades of insight and expertise went into regarding employee training not just as a curriculum, but as part of a company culture. From an account rep to a collections specialist, embedding oneself into this philosophy is to remain relevant to the people we serve - right now, and for the forseeable future.
Cultural snapshots showcasing our educational focus can be found all across the Datamax organization: inside client offices, boardrooms, eLearning web portals, in Little Rock, Lufkin and even at a dude ranch in Bandera, TX recently.
School’s always in session at Datamax.
Training and Support Culture
Service Training Manager Henry Ledee is prepping busily for his next class.
Even amid a 30-minute "break" on the phone with the Rave Review editor, he's still simultaneously building plans and making notes. Ledee has spent many. many hours preparing for a new training group due to start the next day, and his attention to detail with such is extraordinary. The day-to-day regimen of his highly-customized class must be ironed out with careful precision. Ledee is determined of this.
And, besides, it's more than just "class." It's something he calls “training and support culture.”
The culture he describes is a continuous, never-ending journey of self-improvement professionally. It's a perpetual state of mind that is learned and, eventually, wholeheartedly embraced.
“The environment we’ve created here inspires individuals to WANT to be more and more as professionals, and they naturally want to contribute and help others,” Ledee said. “It’s not just the individual mechanics of anything. It’s all encompassing. It all comes back to culture.”
In what Datamax calls the “100 Day Plan,” Ledee, Director of Service in Dallas/Fort Worth Steve Kennemer, and others implement a training program that supports such an all-encompassing approach. Rookie technicians are given adequate time to both learn from the bench and get real playing time on the court as well.
“Our technicians don’t have to feel like they’re being thrown to the wolves,” Ledee said.
On his or her first day, a technician is given a book that details everything that will be covered in the first week and beyond: They tour the building, spend time with dispatch, parts, lead technicians and supervisors. Ledee also sits down with each individually to set criteira for what they can expect in training.
He also offers enrollment into eLearning, where they can actually begin, on their time, continued learning specific to their role.
Technicians then ride with lead technicians for a set period of time; not just shadowing, but actively engaging with the others out in the field. They might even pull a basic call and pursue it, under supervision, to begin to acclimate to the service environment.
“Usually, after a couple of months, I’ll bring them in for a second phase of machine training with specific models, hands on, and so on,” Ledee said. “We’ll often huddle three to four techinians and one supervisor together and highlight a machine that will help them in the field.”
At the end of each week, the technicians will have their book signed off. At the end of the 100 days, Kennemer and Ledee sign off and take the technician out to lunch.
But the training doesn’t stop there.
Valuable teaching lessons , far beyond the machine itself, include: How one greets a customer, the way he or she listens to that customer; are they enrolling the customer into demonstrating for them so they feel a part of the solution?; how to manage a territory; managing your car stock, and more.
“We want them to continually use their resources and also contribute to the resources. We don’t want you to just take. We want you to give,” Ledee said. “At first, you’re like a baby that needs nourishment. But at some point, we expect you to start giving some of those resources back.”
Along the way, Ledee monitors progress and offers continuous constructive feedback. Slowly, steadily, the technicians can see their box expanding, their potential growing.
“I love doing training, because I want to go in-depth and really listen to these technicians. In class, I’ll ask them, ‘what are three things you want out of here?’ And along the way, I’ll drill down, get in their heads a little bit, to see what’s important to them. And later I’ll ask them, ‘are we meeting this? How are we doing with those things you listed?"
The relentless pursuit – and attention to detail - have paid off for the team.
Datamax recently achieved the Association of Technical Service Professionals (ATSP) National Service Recognition Award for the 11th consecutive year from Canon U.S.A. Inc., the only dealership in the United States to do so. This decade-plus long streak confirms Datamax’s unique commitment to top-level training and ongoing education.
“Canon ATSP demonstrates our ability to perform. Not just talk about it,” said Ledee.
Relevance is Value
In Little Rock, VP of Sales David Holzhauer has his own version of a 100-day plan. When a new account representative is hired, he or she goes through a standardized set of internal training and Canon development courses in order to familiarize oneself completely with the office equipment environment.
This standardized, internal company training is unique to Datamax, Holzhauer said. The formalized approach outlines literally every day what the trainee will be doing and what is expected of them.
“What we wanted to do as a corporate entity was to set a standard by which everybody would have level training across the board. Let’s get the training set so that the opportunity is there for every individual and we can judge people fairly across the board,” Holzhauer said.
Once the initial “100 day” training is completed, reps are regularly scheduled for supplemental solutions training; not just hardware but a variety of software solutions. Imaging applications, solutions embedded into the machine, any relevant solution dictated by technology and workflow in today’s ever-changing marketplace.
“Relevance is value,” Holzhauer said. “Our position is to make sure everyone within our organization is relevant with current technology that customers integrate into their daily workflow. Without continually educating ourselves, we lose our relevance.”
A Postive 'Outlook'
Datamax East Texas Office Manager Mitzi Lloyd is just about to start a game of water volleyball. During her week of vacation last month, she and12 other family members met at a Dude Ranch in Bandera, TX, where the group’s doing anything a cowboy might do: guns, horses, hayrides and chuckwagon breakfasts.
But for time in between Western-themed activities, she’s brought with her a book on Microsoft Outlook.
“I’m reading it, just really to stay up to date with the program,” Mitzi said. “Everyday, there’s a mountain I’m trying to climb in gaining the necessary expertise.”
That attitude carries over to her team. In East Texas, over the past six months, Administrative employees have been tasked with learning a variety of new processes – and often programs – in order to run their department at full speed. The learning curve was steep, but continues to level out as the training persists.
“Part of my team – me included – has been learning eAutomate. It’s an ongoing process. Even those who know eAutomate, there’s learning new processes within the Datamax Way, implementing new flow charts, etc.” Mitzi said. “I think anytime we learn a new skill, or keep current with programs like Excel or Outlook, it carries over into our professional life as a whole.”
Mitzi encourages her team to utilize knowledgewave.com, an online training resource for Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, Office 365 and many more.
“It’s been a great resource,” Kaylee Batty, Project Leader for Datamax Inc., said. “I went from remembering almost nothing from Excel to plugging items in and familiarizing myself very quickly with the program… just in a few short videos.”
Formal or informal, new employee or Datamax veteran, at the office or on vacation; there's always an opportunity to learn more.
Just as Ledee says, it comes back to culture: A culture that exists primarily to provide relevance, in everything that we do.
