| | December 2020MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8Home's been my office for years, and for a long time this was unique. Not anymore. Now I'm only one of the millions of Americans dialing in from their living rooms, kitchens, or homeoffices.A survey by the Conference Board found 77 percent of human capital executives anticipate the number of remote employees will increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. And a Boston Consulting Group survey revealed that companies expect about 40 percent of their employees to work from home in the future.It's clear that remote work is here to stay.A remote workplace model has significant implications for how businesses recruit, onboard, and develop talent. We have a team of more than 6,000 remote call center agents at KellyConnect. We employ 421 team leads who manage up to 15 agentseach,and last year alone, we trained 200 leadersremotely. We've been focused on work-from-home for over 10 years. Given the current environment, I thought Iwill share some of our tips for developing leaders virtually.1. Create a Learning Culture FirstLeadership training--whether it's virtual or in-person--can only be effective if your organization is committed to learning.Before you put tools and processes in place, it's crucial management buys into your overall strategy for professional development. In practice, that means executivesshould instill a learning culture, and your head of training should sit at the table with other business leaders. This will foster conversations that align leadership development goals with business metrics andidentify training areasthat need special attention. This is particularly important when you're developing leaders who interact with customers, either directly or through their staff. An example of best practices comes from our call center solutions, where we support clients across industries. We've built a fully virtual supervisor training that wraps around specificcoaching developed by our customers. Sixinstructors administer both the Kelly and client training over a 15-day period to eligible employees who've been with the company for at least 90 days. Our 421 team leads all started as KellyConnect agents and have been promoted internally.2. Picking the Right Vendors and InstructorsDelivering impactful virtual instructor-led training (VILT) is tricky. You need the right tools, and that means selecting services ranging from simple to highly complex. How do you choose the right vendor?It comes down to understanding your desired training outcomes and the tools needed to get there. Here are some questions to ask before vetting a service:· Do you require multiple trainees to interact live on camera? · Will your training benefit fromroleplaying and problem-solving exercises? · What are the security protocols you need to consider? Other considerations include partnering with a company that shares your corporate culture and determining if there areadditional opportunities for collaboration. For example, I serve on the advisory board for one of our providers, which has made for a strong relationship that ultimately enhances the training delivery.In MyOpinionBEST PRACTICES FOR DEVELOPING LEADERS REMOTELYBy Jennifer Sutherland, Senior Director, Training & Development, KellyConnectJennifer Sutherland
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