By Dina Vance
Senior Vice President
Ulysses Learning
This article appeared in the January 2004 edition of The Call Center Times
Which contact center coaching practices work best? Why do some practices work even better than others? Which practices appear to have little, if any positive impact on performance? These were just a few of the questions discussed at Ulysses Learning’s most recent Master Coaching Best Practices Forum.
Over 45 coaches from leading contact centers in North America were on hand to share their coaching triumphs…and challenges. At the end of the session, these executives agreed on which 10 coaching best practices had the greatest impact on helping their contact centers achieve measurable and sustainable business results. Here’s an inside look at the lessons learned and insights gained.
Top 10 Coaching Best Practices
#1 – The Master Coach
The group agreed that having a Master Coach is an important part of their formula for success. A “Master” Coach is an individual who is ultimately accountable for ensuring all aspects of the coaching process are implemented effectively and consistently within the call center. This typically includes: monitoring calls, choosing pivotal behaviors on which to focus, conducting “calibration” sessions that focus on improving or reinforcing the coaching process, and identifying and keeping track of performance trends as results are measured over time. Another important function of the Master Coach is to shadow or observe other coaches and coach them as well.
The Master Coach position reports to senior management. This person is an advocate for coaching, regularly and consistently sharing progress results and bringing issues to the forefront. They are very comfortable working with all levels of employees, but work mostly as a coach to other contact center coaches. The ratio of Master Coach to coaches that appears to work most effectively is 1:10.
At the end of the day, the Master Coach is responsible for helping hold everyone accountable to the coaching process. That means they have to resist the urge to let scheduling conflicts, high call volumes and daily fires pull them off task. They focus approximately 50% to 75% of their time on coaching. And, most importantly, they have the support of the senior most managers in the call center…and the company. The role of the Master Coach is clearly viewed as a strategic imperative.
#2 – Getting to 50% Plus Coaching Time
One of the biggest hurdles contact center managers and supervisors face is getting to a point where they can spend 50% or more of their time coaching employees. This is the level of commitment many of them have found is needed to ultimately raise and then sustain contact center performance improvement.
The three elements needed most to accomplish this goal are: 1) adherence to the right coaching process; 2) senior management support; and 3) time.
Organizations that use coaching to achieve improvements in quality, productivity and customer retention, follow a simple four-step process. First, they provide reps timely “side by side” coaching immediately after the call; second, they focus on one pivotal behavior to ensure the greatest impact; third, they provide constructive feedback; and fourth, they provide the feedback quickly, which means in 60 seconds or less (this can be done…with the right method).
An important point to make is that everyone who coaches performance, from peer coaches and QA specialists to team leaders and supervisors, follows the same coaching process. Consistency is absolutely vital.
At the heart of this process is what we call Focused Feedback.1 Focused Feedback is specific, targeted feedback around one “pivotal” behavior that has the greatest impact on the outcome of the call. It’s based on the notion that more often than not, coaches tend to overwhelm their representatives with too many behaviors to change all at once. However, it’s far more effective to coach the representative on only one specific, pivotal behavior that was either the make or break of the call.
There are many tangible benefits to the process just described. Specifically, the coaches we’ve talked with find that providing one-minute Focused Feedback helps accomplish several goals. First, they have more performance-oriented coaching interactions each day; second, they are immediately and positively impacting customer satisfaction with every coaching session; and third, reps are more likely to demonstrate the right behaviors more consistently because coaching is done with greater frequency.
The idea behind this last point is this: if reps know they are infrequently monitored and only participate in one, 20 to 30 minute coaching session every two weeks, they will be less likely to demonstrate the required behaviors that impact customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability the most. They will be more likely to demonstrate the appropriate behaviors right before they are to be monitored and coached, which, in most cases, does very little to move the needle on customer satisfaction.
The second element that’s needed to get to 50% plus coaching is to build it into the job description for your coaches and hold coaches accountable. Usually this means that other tasks need to be removed, re-allocated or re-aligned. What’s most important here is that coaching is recognized by senior management as a crucial part of a manager’s or supervisor’s job and it’s not simply tacked on to an already onerous list of responsibilities.
Finally, the third element is time. Recognize that getting to 50% plus coaching does not occur overnight. There are some weeks that may be difficult to get to even 10% coaching, but that’s okay. It’s important to not get discouraged, be patient, and continue to make coaching a priority. For many organizations, it can take up to 12 months to inculcate a results-oriented coaching process into the contact center culture. And the payoff is certainly worth the effort!
1Focused Feedback™ is the coaching model featured in Ulysses Learning’s CoachingMentor® which is a part of the Ulysses CallMentor® sales, service and coaching training system.
#3 – Goal Setting and Pivotal Behavior Coaching
The coaches who participated in Ulysses Learning’s Master Coaching Forum also noted that in addition to providing reps immediate, side-by-side coaching that’s provided in one minute or less, it’s equally important to set performance goals for reps and provide more lengthy coaching sessions on a quarterly or monthly basis.
What’s the appropriate length of time for these sessions? Surprisingly, the quality of the session is not directly tied to its length. A 15-minute session can be just as effective (or even more effective) as a 60-minute session if it’s focused on a pivotal behavior.
Again, running through a laundry list of areas in which the rep needs improvement is oftentimes counterproductive. Research has proven that the best route to take is to look at the one behavior that has the greatest impact on improving the rep’s overall performance. That’s where you focus your attention during your coaching session.
What we have found to be particularly effective is a Master Coaching Log. This log features a series of listed behaviors that, when demonstrated consistently, help contact center reps achieve optimal on-the-job performance.
While coaches are monitoring and observing calls they use this form to note the absence or presence of critical behaviors and whether they reinforced, refined or redirected the most pivotal of those behaviors in their 60-second coaching sessions. Then, as they are prepare for their more formal monthly or quarterly coaching sessions they review the forms to note specific performance trends, including areas in which reps are struggling most or doing particularly well.
One thing we have learned through our work with leading contact centers, is that the monthly or quarterly coaching sessions are an essential part of the process. Employees want and need one-on-on coaching time that is away from the phone. In focus groups we have found that they are actually disappointed if a session is canceled or pushed back because their manager is just too busy.
Helpful tools such as the Master Coaching Log combined with providing reps Focused Feedback around one pivotal behavior make these coaching sessions easier to plan and execute, and further add to the overall credibility and impact of the process.
#4 – Weekly Calibration Sessions
Weekly calibration sessions are for coaches to discuss, as a group, what’s working with the overall coaching process and what’s not. The weekly calibration session is not an event. It’s part of the fabric of everyday activity in the contact center.
In contact centers that schedule several calibration sessions a week, individual coaches know that they need to attend one or two of those sessions to keep themselves up-to-speed on key issues and trends that are being identified as a result of coaching representatives. While this includes some operational issues, the majority of time is spent sharing coaching success stories, as well as challenges. The weekly sessions help coaches reinforce and redirect some of their own coaching behaviors that, in turn, strengthen and build best practices in the contact center. They are also helpful in identifying training needs for coaches as well as reps.
Typically, the calibration sessions are facilitated by a Master Coach who has extensive coaching experience and is particularly effective at keeping the sessions on track. Contact centers participating in Ulysses Learning’s Master Coaching Forum voiced their approval of having a Master Coach who is intimate with their center but works on the outside. This increases the odds of keeping the calibration sessions a priority as internal Master Coaches can oftentimes get easily distracted with other issues that fight for their attention and limited time.
#5 – Monitoring Forms…Friend or Foe?
Monitoring forms and coaching go hand in hand. But are these forms friends…or foes? They can be both, depending on how they are used.
Monitoring forms are particularly effective when they ultimately measure what is important to the customer…specific rep behaviors that lead to customer satisfaction and are measurable and observable.
Another critical element of the monitoring form is that it’s simple to use and not overwhelming to either the coach or the rep. The form should outline only those behaviors that are most critical. Monitoring 10 to 15 behaviors is too much for any one individual to effectively accomplish. By focusing on too many behaviors, usually the one that is most pivotal and important from the customer’s perspective is overlooked or not appropriately addressed.
Recognize that it’s okay to change your monitoring form, if needed. Just know that change for change’s sake can hamper, not help, your monitoring and coaching process and can confuse agents unnecessarily.
However, if you are getting feedback from your agents and coaches that the monitoring form is not supporting your coaching process and helping you measure your customer experiences, it’s a wise move to investigate what might need to be refined. And, while a committee decision is desirable, make sure the individual ultimately responsible for changing the form is someone with extensive front-line experience.
One last point on this topic – when constructing a monitoring form, be careful not to get caught up in semantics. One organization spent six months fine-tuning its monitoring form. They argued over what words to use so much so that they lost focus of what they were really trying to accomplish.
According to a recent research study by ICMI, there are three things that customers really want: 1) to be handled in a timely fashion; 2) to get the answers they need; and 3) to be treated with consideration when they call in with a question. The behaviors necessary to support these customer needs are the behaviors you want on your monitoring forms.
#6 – Measuring Success
While we all recognize the importance of measuring success, how do we most effectively measure success in our contact centers? The greatest challenge, according to the coaches we have worked with, is creating a scorecard that measures both long- and short-term success.
One balanced scorecard approach is to identify specific measurements for both agents and supervisors and include this “voice” of the employee as one of your success measures. The supervisor is scored on whether or not they achieved their targeted number of employee coaching sessions – both formal and informal – as well as whether or not they achieved their goal of 50% plus coaching. Employee attrition is another important measure.
Agents are similarly scored on feedback received from customers. And, from a short- term as well as a long-term perspective, customer feedback, specifically achieving “top box” ratings, helps build customer loyalty and helps influence “net promoters” or customers who tell other people about the great services and products they received.
For sales oriented contact centers, sales conversion ratios, sales by brand, and product returns are all key indicators. Product returns are particularly meaningful. Some organizations might achieve high levels of sales with equally high levels of product returns or account closings. This typically points to a sales process that perpetuates a “pushing product” mentality and does not focus on providing clients the right solutions to their needs.
The most meaningful measures are those that are realistic and can be captured in real-time, or as close to real-time as possible. Realistic, real-time data helps you keep on top of your operation, making necessary refinements before customer relationships are adversely impacted or lost…and identifying appropriate behaviors so that they can be redirected or reinforced.
#7 – 30-60-90 Day Follow-Up
There is a well-known quote that goes “What you inspect, is what to expect” and, as it is often phrased “What you don’t inspect, you won’t get.” That’s why, when developing new skills or processes in your organization it’s absolutely paramount to conduct formal follow-up sessions in addition to the regular coaching, scorecard, and calibration sessions already discussed.
The fact remains, that when it comes to developing a new skill, it takes between six to eight weeks for behaviors to change and become habits. Those organizations that have instilled new training and coaching processes find this statistic to be accurate and have also found that having a formal, 30-, 60-, and 90-day follow-up helps them accelerate behavioral change and achieve targeted business results more expediently and cost effectively.
What needs to be measured in these follow-up sessions is the degree to which people are demonstrating their new behaviors and adhering to (and are comfortable with) the new coaching process. After 30 days, small improvements are noted but people are typically feeling a bit awkward with the process. After 60 days, their comfort level is increasing; after 90 days, they are beginning to see real behavioral change and an upward trend in the business measures they identified as key success indicators before they rolled out the new training and coaching process.
#8 – Accountability Measures
When you are developing new skills or starting a new process, often times, it’s easy to lose focus as your organization works to get all the pieces to fit and flow together. Also, over time the processes have been tweaked and refined to the point that they have fundamentally changed and the people accountable for various parts of the process can change as well.
For example, let’s say when the new coaching process was installed there was a decision made that each coach would coach periodically throughout the day. However, in reality that created a situation where there were times that there were no supervisors available to handle urgent requests or questions because they were all engaged in coaching at the same time.
In refining the process, a decision is made to assign certain coaches to monitor and coach calls in the morning and another group to coach calls in the afternoon. This way, managers are always available to support employees not being coached.
Accountability also factors in when you are identifying common training needs and logistical issues that come up during the course of working with the new coaching process. You need to determine who will be accountable for tracking, managing and handling these needs and issues as they arise.
Also, it’s important to know who is accountable for keeping track of expectations and tracking the big picture improvements as they occur over time. For example, early on in the coaching process, coaches might struggle with giving Focused Feedback in a minute or less. Over time, they become so comfortable with the process that they could train the process themselves. Who is tracking this evolution and sharing it with others so that they, too, can be inspired and motivated to do the same?
As we all know, without accountability the things we want to occur won’t. Take the time to make sure that you build accountability into each element of your coaching process and recognize that who is held accountable for what will, in all probability, change as you evolve your process over time.
#9 – Sharing Testimonials and Publishing Results
A close colleague of mine says “Adults learn best from their own data.” There is a tremendous amount of truth in this statement. All the experts in the world can speak to a certain truth, but it’s not until an individual has experienced something or heard it from a close friend that it truly resonates with them.
This is true for organizations that are creating change, learning new skills and implementing new processes – like the coaching process we described earlier in this article. Sharing success stories among agents and coaches can go a long way. Sharing testimonials from customers who recognize and appreciate the improvement in service is also very compelling.
Publishing results – both qualitative and quantitative – is an important step to creating and keeping the momentum going…as long as the results are meaningful. (Refer to Best Practice #6 – “Measuring Success.”)
Make sure that you are publishing results that speak to the cultural change taking place, not just the improvements in average handle times, calls in queue, abandonment rates, etc. And don’t just communicate results in writing, share “live” stories at informal and formal meetings to create a memorable impact on people that can often times be difficult to create in writing. Also, show how your rewards and recognition tie back to the coaching and measurement process and share this information not only within your contact center but, where appropriate, company wide so you can all leverage best practices and learn from one another.
#10 – Celebrate Small Wins
Why celebrate the small wins? That’s what keeps the momentum going and gives people something positive to talk about each and every day.
Many of the coaches participating in our master coaching forum noted small wins or performance improvements after only two weeks of implementing the new training and coaching process. Even though it was too early to declare victory, the improvements were exciting. They and their reps discussed them in the break room and shared them at informal meetings.
Celebrating small wins helps build morale, creates consistent behaviors and reminds everyone what the effective behaviors are. It helps make the training and coaching process a natural part of the everyday culture.
What happens when you don’t take the time to celebrate small wins? People start to feel unappreciated. They become less open to sharing what’s working (and what’s not) because they don’t feel the effort will be recognized. Celebrating small wins is a powerful motivational tool that takes little a little time and effort and can reap substantive rewards such as increased productivity and effectiveness.
A Final Note…..
Going forward, coaching will become an increasingly important activity and vital function in our contact centers. For many, it’s the glue that holds the entire business together.
The majority of the best practices noted in this article are universal. I hope you consider them as you evolve your contact center further.
However, it should be noted that some of these best practices are universal only among clients of Ulysses Learning. This is due to the unique nature of Ulysses’ CallMentor® Learning and Performance Improvement System which builds Judgment@Work™ skills – decision making and advanced interaction skills – and features simulation-based service, sales and coaching training, intelligently blended with facilitated group exercises, master coaching, and performance improvement services.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Ulysses Learning’s approach to helping contact centers achieve measurable and sustainable results in service, sales and coaching, contact me at 800.662.4066 or dvance@ulysseslearning.com. Or visit the Ulysses website at www.ulysseslearning.com.
About the Author…
Dina Vance is a widely respected thought leader on developing and leading contact center staff and a pioneer in improving performance of financial services contact centers. Ms. Vance was responsible for the ground-level start up of two financial services contact centers before she moved into a consulting role where she also managed the call center division for an international consulting and training organization. She currently leads Ulysses’ Contact Center Practice and serves on the executive boards of the Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC), American Bankers Association (ABA), and Call Center Networking Group (CCNG).