CREATE A CLEAR ROADMAP FOR AGENTS . IT WILL HELP THEM MOVE THROUGH THESE STAGES ...
• Educate Only . Some centers overload employees with information but fail to translate that knowledge into practical skills . Think of it as reading about swimming techniques without ever dipping a toe in the water .
EMBRACE THE DYNAMIC PROCESS
Coaching isn ' t always a straight path . You might need to revisit earlier phases based on your team ' s evolving needs . Flexibility is key .
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All the service industries with contact centers had to figure out how to have large percentages of their staff completely remote .
At first , consumers had some level of understanding for the service workers who were clearly dealing with a new normal at work : babies crying in the background , dogs barking , and the like .
However , as time went on consumers lost their empathy and their patience and in other cases developed stress , anxiety , and even mental illness , which unfortunately translated to representatives dealing with these people on the phone .
Furthermore , everyone was sitting at home communicating on social media and happy to share both good and bad service experiences with everyone and their mother : literally . Contact centers bore the brunt of these shifts in consumer sentiment and behavior .
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Ready to transform your team ? Here ' s how to get started .
1 . Set clear goals . Define what expert performance looks like for your team .
2 . Create a feedback loop . Regularly assess and adjust your coaching strategies based on agent performance .
3 . Invest in training . Prioritize continuous education and practical skill-building .
4 . Encourage innovation . Allow your team the space to experiment and grow within set protocols .
5 . Schedule regular practice sessions with realistic scenarios . Use tools like simulation software to mimic real calls and provide a safe space for agents to learn and grow .
6 . Create a clear roadmap for agents . It will help them move through these stages , tailoring the pace to individual needs .
Luckily , with the advent of AI , both text and chat were two new channels that consumers rapidly adopted during the pandemic .
Employees still needed to be trained and coached on how to help their consumers navigate the new channels , but ultimately many of the easier questions no longer had to come through a live person . And that freed up capacity for more complicated and sometimes more difficult calls .
Recognizing that the resulting calls may need more empathy and help to resolve during the first call , leaders adjusted metrics to not penalize longer call times . Instead they focused on first call resolution and sentiment analysis .
COACHING
CREATE A CLEAR ROADMAP FOR AGENTS . IT WILL HELP THEM MOVE THROUGH THESE STAGES ...
7 . Balance feedback with practical skill-building . Follow up feedback with specific training sessions targeting the areas needing improvement .
Remember , investing in your team ' s development isn ' t just a time commitment : it ' s a pathway to a more efficient , effective , and dynamic workplace . Embrace the journey to build a team of experts today !
Kathryn ( Kay ) Jackson is an expert in the contact center industry . She is the co-founder of ResponseLearning , which she launched to provide organizations with consulting , training solutions , and knowledge-based products . She is on the forefront of simulation learning and knowledge-base management .
MANAGING CHANGE
So , in a nutshell , coaching and training have changed a lot over this period of time . As we ’ ve learned here , literally everything has changed . And back to my original point , perhaps the only constant throughout these 30-plus years was change itself .
... OUR INDUSTRY HAS NOT ONLY RE-INVENTED ITSELF TO MANAGE CHANGE , BUT WE HAVE ACTUALLY EMBRACED CHANGE ...
Luckily , as we have learned , our industry has not only re-invented itself to manage change , but we have actually embraced change and made it an important part of the fabric of our business .
Dina is responsible for the operations of Ulysses Learning and serves as the chief client executive , working with Fortune 100 clients and other progressive organizations to redefine the way customers are cared for . Before joining Ulysses Dina was responsible for starting up of two contact centers and later was a call center consultant .
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