Superior Supervisor Skills

Prosci and the Call Center Learning Center are excited to announce a new tutorial series focused on improving the skills of supervisors.  This series pulls information from Prosci's research-based toolkits and reports and will focus on the supervisor’s role during quality monitoring, motivating call center agents, and change management.  Module 1 looked at the characteristics of great supervisors.  Now we will focus on the 3 key functions supervisors play throughout the quality monitoring lifecycle.

 

Module 2: 3 Key Supervisor Functions During Quality Monitoring

 

The previous tutorial series focused on developing a training program for your call center agents, now it is important to recognize the impact of your supervisors on the success of the call center.  This tutorial explores the role of supervisors in quality monitoring.

 

Quality Monitoring Lifecycle


The Quality Monitoring Lifecycle shown in the figure below is a critical model for designing or improving your quality monitoring program.  Supervisors play a critical role in the monitoring calls, agent feedback, and the training and coaching steps of the Quality Monitoring Lifecycle.

 

 

Function 1: Monitoring Calls

Supervisors are responsible for overseeing their agents’ performance as well as the smooth operation of the call center overall. 

The pros and cons of having supervisors monitor calls include:

 

Pros

Cons
  • Have a complete view of overall call center performance, areas for improvement, customer service issues, and performance objectives.
  • Deliver more objective evaluations while being mindful of improvement goals.
  • Have a personal stake in call center performance.
  • Ensure training programs and help for struggling agents is available as weaknesses are identified.
  • Have direct accountability for agent performance and for formal performance reviews.
  • Feedback has much greater impact coming from supervisors due to the manner of this relationship.
  • May not reach the agent personally.
  • May be viewed as correction or punitive and therefore negative bias will exist.
  • Agents may not be as likely to openly ask questions or seek help and advice.
  • May take time away from other supervisory responsibilities.

 

Key Points:

In order to ensure the effectiveness of a supervisor monitor, be certain that:

  • Documentation is part of every monitoring session.

  • Supervisor does not delegate or neglect duties that are important to the success of their role as monitor.

  • Supervisor is not too far removed to make credible observations about individuals and the group as a whole.

  • Supervisor is accountable for performance improvement.

 

 

Function 2: Agent Feedback

 Supervisor duties typically include feedback and evaluation exercises.

Agent feedback needs to be presented in two forms: Written and Verbal.

 

Written feedback provides a record of the agent’s progress and it is an imperative element of the entire process.  It is a key element in the documentation process of quality monitoring. 

You should have two copies of the evaluation:

  • Agents are to be handed one copy of their performance evaluation.

  • The other copy goes in the employee’s file or is stored in an electronic data format that can be easily retrieved. 

Verbal feedback between an agent and a supervisor provides an invaluable resource for agents to improve their performance.

Reasons for verbal feedback:

  • Verbal interpretation of scores and goals.

  • Agents gain insight into what they are doing and why.

  • Agents can ask questions.

  • They can interject their opinions.

 

Feedback should be given as soon as possible:

  • Within 24 to 48 hours of monitoring

  • Better allows agents to understand where they have succeeded and where they need improvement

  • Immediate feedback was listed as the top improvement measure being undertaken by call centers in Prosci's Best Practices in Call Center Operations report

 

* Sample written and verbal feedback forms are available in the Quality Monitoring Toolkit.

 

 

Function 3: Training and Coaching

When to Perform

When training or coaching is delivered depends on the skill gap or area for improvement that is identified during quality monitoring. Most improvement opportunities can be placed in one of two timeframes:

 

Urgent

(immediate correction)

Developmental

(scheduled over time)

Critical gaps in performance that have a direct impact on customers or on business performance must be corrected immediately.

Same day coaching or training should be implemented in these cases.

 Below average performance with skill areas such as product knowledge or system navigation would be better addressed with scheduled development plans.

These training and coaching sessions may take weeks or months to complete depending on the availability of the needed training and the scheduling availability for that agent.

 

 

Do’s and Don’ts of Coaching

Your goal in coaching agents in this lifecycle approach is to create a development plan that both you and the agent can agree to for a specified time period. This development plan will include training and other opportunities for mentoring to address gaps in the call monitoring results. 

 

During the coaching session, you must focus on the positive outcomes you want to achieve. The most important "must-do" items when coaching agents are based on Prosci's Best Practices in Call Center Operations.

 

Must-do Must-not-do

  • Communicate call center goals, expectations and measures regularly. Keep agents informed of their performance, clearly linking their work performance to overall call center operations.

  • Provide prompt feedback and comprehensive agent evaluations on a regular basis. Always use credible and consistent measures when evaluating agents.

  • Involve agents when creating a development plan and performance agreement that are beneficial for both them and the call center.

  • Recognize and reward agents when they meet goals. Use positive reinforcement to encourage high-level performance and improvement.

  • Do not degrade agents.

  • Do not be negative, rude or disrespectful.

  • Do not "talk down" to agents.

  • Do not publicly reprimand or criticize agents.

  • Do not display favoritism or bias.

  • Do not display unprofessional behavior.

  • Do not be inconsistent or erratic.

  • Do not ignore problems.

  • Do not focus entirely on numbers.

  • Do not assume all agents learn at the same pace.

  • Do not overlook agent contributions or improvements.

 

 

 


* The next tutorial in this series will focus on the “Top Two” motivating factors for call center agents and how supervisors impact them.

 

For more information on call center quality monitoring, including the role of supervisors, check out Prosci's Quality Monitoring toolkit.

Click here to find out more

 

Recommended Resources:

The Quality Monitoring Toolkit is the basis for this module and is the most comprehensive guide available for quality monitoring. Whether you are just starting a new program for monitoring contacts or need to overhaul your current call monitoring process, this toolkit provides definitive guidelines and templates for both phone and multi-media contact monitoring. Using research data from more than 400 call centers, the toolkit includes benchmarking results that will make your quality monitoring program a success. The toolkit includes:

  • Methods for quality monitoring
  • Benefits of quality monitoring
  • Perception and legality
  • The complete Quality Monitoring Lifecycle
  • Survey criteria
  • Scorecard content - with a sample based on best practices research
  • Implementation and improvement guidelines

Training Development Toolkit- A complete guide for creating a world-class training organization; designed for training managers and call center directors who are starting a new training department or who need to redesign their current training program.

Call Center Best Practices - Operations Edition
Benchmarking report - Over 240 call centers from around the world share how they have improved service quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. This report shares lessons learned by call center managers regarding their most effective management practices.

 

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