50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

113

Case 23

Don’t Let an Old Flame Die

Background Information

Brenda Dawson worked hard, liked what she did, and was good at it. Brenda was

the senior customer service associate trainer with American Products, Inc., a state-

wide retail service organization with over 90 branch outlets. Typically, there were

about four to six customer service associates (CSAs) in each branch office.

Brenda reported to Bill Abbott, head of the Training Department. Bill and Brenda

started working in the Training Department at about the same time two years ago.

Since then, Bill had noticed Brenda’s natural talent for training. In his opinion, she

had considerable potential for higher levels of responsibility, too—which was why

he became concerned when Brenda started showing signs of becoming bored,

stressful, and, in general, unenthusiastic about her work. Bill wanted to deal with

the problem directly, but was not sure how to do it.

Late one day, after everyone had already left the offices, Bill took a break from a

report on which he was working to recall some of the history and circumstances

surrounding Brenda:

Brenda was initially hired to work as a CSA and compiled a strong record of

performance. After three years as a CSA, she was promoted to a position as

a CSA supervisor in one of the busier branch offices. When the position of

CSA trainer opened up, Brenda was a natural choice. She took over the CSA

trainer job just a few months before Bill Abbott was hired. So when Bill

moved in, Brenda was still learning the basics of training.

During this period, American Products was undergoing a lot of changes

itself as it struggled to meet a variety of new competitive challenges in the

marketplace. For example, in the boom economy of the time, CSA turnover

was high. At one point, Brenda had to teach 12 people in classes that were

designed for 8. And even with this 50 percent increase in training output,

there was still a six-week waiting list to get into the training. Brenda would

teach the class in the usual three-week period, take tests home at night to

grade, use two days to finish up class records and order supplies, then get right

back into the next class. When Bill finally received approval for a second

trainer, Brenda had to train that person in addition to her hectic workload.

Small wonder, Bill thought to himself, that she’s ready to do something else.

He reviewed the current situation in his department. There were five people in the

Training Department: in addition to Bill and Brenda, there was the second CSA

trainer, Chris; a management trainee program coordinator; and the departmental

secretary. All reported directly to Bill, who was now swamped with other projects.

Bill thought about what he wanted: fewer people reporting to him directly, a rein-

vigorated Brenda with new, more challenging assignments, and the entire CSA train-

ing effort coordinated and managed at a lower level.