Agent feedback
Feedback is the second step in the Quality Monitoring Lifecycle, and it is a vital
aspect of quality monitoring because it serves as the catalyst for performance
improvement.
Benchmarking results indicate that prompt feedback plays a major role in the success of
quality monitoring programs. Participants in the 2007 Call Center Benchmarking
study said that immediate feedback is important because it allows agents to
better understand where they have succeeded and where they need improvement.
One improvement most organizations indicated they would implement was to
revise the feedback form and process to be objective, simple and consistent.
This tutorial will help you answer:
Who will give feedback?
As a matter of course, whoever conducted the monitoring should participate in the
feedback session with the agent. They are in the best position to provide background,
context and explanation of their observations.
In some cases when you are using a quality assurance team or an outside vendor to
perform monitoring, these same people may not be the ones returning feedback to the
agents. In these cases, you will need to consider who would be best to provide the
feedback results.
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Who |
Why |
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Supervisors
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Supervisors
commonly give feedback. Their duties typically target
performance improvement among individual agents, so it
is very common for a large part of their duties to
include feedback and evaluation exercises. They provide
feedback that typically includes written evaluations.
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Team leaders |
Team leaders
play a less formal role in the call center and this
allows them to provide feedback to agents in a less
formal manner. They should also have a form of written
evaluation for agents.
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Mentors
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Mentors can
give feedback to agents in an informal setting that
allows agents to more freely ask questions and ask for
advice on how to improve their performance. Mentors play
a vital role in new agent development and with
struggling agents.
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Peers
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Peers, much
like mentors, can give feedback in an informal manner
that is very helpful to agents who are struggling or
new. Peers represent a "friendly" advisor who is there
to offer helpful suggestions and answers about
performance improvement. |
When will feedback be given?
Feedback should be given as soon as possible. Research indicates that feedback proves
most effective when given within 24 to 48 hours of monitoring. Giving feedback this
promptly better allows agents to understand where they have succeeded and where they need
improvement while the experience is still fresh in their minds. Immediate feedback was
listed as the top improvement measure being undertaken by call centers.
Keeping feedback consistent and constructive
Keeping feedback consistent and constructive is easy if you can manage to create a
schedule and stick to it. You may plan to deliver all veteran and successful agents'
feedback within 48 hours, while new and struggling agents may get their feedback
immediately after the contact has taken place.
However, you should not give Veteran Agent A feedback within the 24-hour timeframe, and
then wait for three weeks to provide Veteran Agent B with hers.
There must be a uniform system of which agents are aware. This is not to say that all
agents must be monitored on the same day at the same time. All feedback must be given in a
consistent timeframe between groups.
How is feedback given?
Agent feedback needs to be presented in two forms:
Written feedback is a must, plain and simple. It may come in the form of a yes/no
checklist or as a three-page assessment complete with a training plan and improvement
goals. Most likely it will be somewhere between these extremes. Regardless, it is a key
element in the documentation process of quality monitoring. Don't think of documentation
in negative terms, either. Each session of quality monitoring is one small piece of the
agent's overall statement of work.
Verbal feedback is important in itself. Verbal interaction between an agent and a
supervisor, mentor, team leader or manager provides an invaluable resource for agents to
improve their performance. Written feedback is not enough by itself. It is through verbal
interpretation of scores and goals that agents gain insight into what they are doing and
why. Agents can ask questions. They can interject their opinions.
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Written feedback |
Verbal feedback
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In order to be effective, written feedback needs to be:
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To be effective, verbal feedback needs to be:
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Types of feedback
Once contacts have been monitored and evaluated, the monitoring data you gather will go
to two places:
Feedback to agents is delivered as an evaluation. This type of feedback helps agents
improve their skills.
Feedback to the system is delivered as process adjustments or improvements. This type
of feedback helps your call center improve its efficiency and operations. This feedback is
overlooked in many quality monitoring programs. The Quality Monitoring Toolkit
includes examples of this type of feedback and strategies for gathering and improving your
call center systems.
Summary
This tutorial provided guidelines for giving feedback from call monitoring. In addition to answering the
above questions when developing your monitoring program, it can be
beneficial to look at benchmarking standards of others in your
industry. Our 2007 Call Center Best Practices Benchmarking
Reports provide data to help you make the most of your monitoring
program.
Specifically, the Improving Call Center Business Processes Report
includes a section focusing on quality monitoring programs.
Topics addressed include:
