Four key steps for training your customer support team for AI
Every team's journey to getting comfortable with AI-first customer service will look different. Here are steps support leaders can take to set their teams up for success.
Adopting AI-first customer support looks different for every team.
Customer service leaders will experience a range of reactions, with some people on the team eager to try new things immediately, and others being a bit more apprehensive. Ensuring everyone has the right skills and mindset to make the most of what really is an extraordinary opportunity is therefore an important responsibility. Everyone’s approach to this will be different, but here are some foundational things you can do to help guide and support your team as they get comfortable with a new way of working.
- Make dedicated time for training
- Get help from the natural enthusiasts on your team
- Unpack hesitations with resistant team members
- Be transparent about measuring productivity
This post originally featured in our AI-first customer service newsletter,
The Ticket. 👉 Subscribe and join the 28K+ customer service professionals who receive industry news, tips, and career guidance directly on their LinkedIn feed.
Make dedicated time for training
This might be an obvious starting point, but it’s the most important. Almost all hesitation comes from the unknown, so be deliberate about creating space for your team to learn about AI. For all sorts of reasons, folks won’t take the initiative to read docs, learn processes, or try out new functionality without time being carved out for them to do so.
Our team went through a formal AI training program that we worked into our weekly schedule. We created training blocks on Monday and Tuesday, and rotated the team members who were training in a way that best suited our customers and ticket queues.
“Your agents being more efficient and confident in the longer term is worth it”
Taking a potential hit to response times is tricky for all CS teams to justify, but your agents being more efficient and confident about what they’re doing in the longer term is worth it. Plus, it’s crucial for helping your team upskill and pursue emerging career opportunities in AI.
Get help from the natural enthusiasts on your team
As with anything, some people are naturally more excited about AI than others. We saw this on our own team – when we rolled out AI Copilot, for example, there were a bunch of teammates who couldn’t wait to jump in and try it out, and others who were more comfortable with their old way of doing things.
“Make your training more relatable, and humanize it by connecting it to the team’s everyday tasks and experiences”
Leaning on your enthusiasts to get everyone on the same page can be so helpful. Often, they’ll be able to communicate with their peers in a way that just “makes more sense.”
We asked team members who were most passionate about AI to be involved in our team training. They helped make the training more relatable and humanized it by connecting it to the team’s everyday tasks and experiences. And they showed others how they could use it to work better and have more fun too.
Unpack hesitations with resistant team members
No matter what you do, some people are going to take longer than others to adapt. We’re all only human navigating a really big change, so some folks will require more patience than others while they find their bearings.
“Ask them about what they’re really feeling to get to the root cause”
If there’s an individual on your team who seems resistant to change, set up some time with them to understand why. It’s hardly ever the case that someone is completely obstinate, so ask them about what they’re really feeling to get to the root cause. Maybe they’re concerned AI will steal their job, or maybe they feel overwhelmed having to learn new technologies.
Once you uncover the actual reason, it’ll be easier to see what will work best to bring them along on the journey.
Be transparent about measuring productivity
As your ways of working change, your measures of productivity and success will change too. Most notably, as AI Agents automate away most of the easy-win, quick tasks, your team will have to adapt to moving slower and dealing with more complexity on a daily basis.
“Make sure you communicate changing expectations to your team”
Sure, work will be more engaging, but your team will likely experience more brain fry and frustration than before. This is why it’s so important to acknowledge this from the beginning and adjust your performance metrics accordingly. Instead of resolution speed being your primary focus, it might make more sense to focus on how things like empathy improve the overall customer experience.
Feeling good about work is so intrinsic – and so important to keep everyone motivated, so make sure you communicate changing expectations to your team. Every team is different and we’ll all find what works for us as we get more comfortable with “the new way” of doing customer service.
📩 Subscribe to The Ticket here – a regular LinkedIn newsletter delivering key insights for customer service professionals in this time of mind-blowing change.