AGENT PERFORMANCE
BY KATHRYN E. JACKSON, RESPONSELEARNING CORPORATION
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
GOING BEYOND THE METRICS HOW TO ADDRESS THE DRAIN ON COGNITIVE,
" The customer isn’ t the hard part." That line landed heavy during a recent agent focus group. Heads nodded.
Agents weren’ t venting. They were diagnosing. The friction wasn’ t coming from the voice on the line. It came from the systems that didn’ t connect. From rules that penalized initiative and protocols that couldn’ t flex when customers threw a curveball.
The irony? These agents wanted to do more- to advocate- not just comply. But their mental and emotional bandwidth was maxed out.
10 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
EMOTIONAL BANDWIDTH.
And the real frustration wasn’ t only the broken systems. It was the sense that the strain they were carrying wasn’ t always being seen.
Leaders cared- agents believed that- but when everyone is overloaded, both listening and noticing can slip. And when those early signals go unseen, the friction in their day never really changes.
PERFORMANCE IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
We tend to measure performance through handle time, quality scores, and resolution rates.
But those numbers only reflect what’ s visible on the surface. They don’ t show what leaders can often sense when they slow down long enough to look.
WHEN LEADERS START NOTICING THESE MOMENTS... THEY SEE MORE THAN PERFORMANCE METRICS.