Page 198 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

hiring and preparing great mobile talent � 177

how and when to seek advice from others and how to com-
municate in a specific environment where the connection to
knowledge at times can be very limited.
Are your workers trained well enough to make critical
decisions when they are needed in a crisis mode such as
insurance agents face often? That’s a lot of responsibility
placed on the training department. In each disaster event
that is faced, such as a hurricane, the need to control ex-
pense is very important to companies like these—but the
reaction time to provide recovery solutions to customers is
essential. Training for the entire mobile workforce is critical,
measurable, and rewarding to those who solve these often
desperate situations.

` deVelopIng trAInIng mAterIAls

Even though we can turn off the dings and buzzing for which our
mobile devices are notorious, we know that a barrage of e-mails and
text messages, alerts, and reminders—these urgent needs and priori-
ties of business—are awaiting us when we log back in. Your training
can get lost in the deluge.
Training people across time and distance poses challenges, per-
haps the biggest of which is connecting people and knowledge in a
way that makes training stick. The materials should be delivered with
clear expectations, as with any training. Motivate the mobile work-
force to engage in the training by scheduling time for it when they
are on the road; perhaps training can be done during a break, when
mobile workers can browse through the latest mobile presentations
you have created and sent to them. So, what is engaging mobile train-
ing content like?