When you coach you’re either helping or you’re keeping score.
In this post I explain the difference between the two.
We measure everything!
In the Contact Centre industry we tend to be obsessed with measuring things.
From Occupancy rates through to Net Promoter Score we have dashboards and dials for everything. (Even though not everything matters.)
When we’re able to influence and guide our Agents to better Productivity, Quality & Attitude, life is good.
So we have a whole special set of measurements reserved just for Contact Centre Agents.
And measuring progress quantitatively along the way is fine. It’s really important to let people know how they are doing.
Measuring Quality
One of the most important processes in the Contact Centre is Monitoring & Coaching.
We monitor Customer interactions, document our findings and talk to the Agents about their performance on the selected interactions.
Great Monitoring & Coaching improves Quality, drives better Customer Satisfaction and delivers higher Employee Engagement.
It’s a multivitamin process with lots of great benefits.
But like so many processes it only works well when it’s well designed.
There are many questions to answer to create a great Monitoring & Coaching process
The Monitoring & Coaching process, like any great process, requires us to ask ourselves some important questions.
- Who should monitor interactions?
- How often should we monitor?
- What do we monitor for?
- Who makes the rules for defining and calibrating Performance Standards?
- How often should we listen, how should we listen, what do we listen for?
And when it comes to Agents –
- Who should talk to Agents?
- With what frequency should we talk to Agents?
- What is the role of Quality Assurance?
- What is the role of the Team Leader?
- When or how should a score be involved?
Wow – there’s a lot involved. But there are some answers too.
Let’s focus in on the use of scoring.
You’re either helping or you’re keeping score
In our training work, we find that both Team Leaders and Quality Assurance sometimes have an unhealthy attachment to the scorecard.
Every quality discussion with an Agent involves a score.
Even side by side sessions – the rare times they seem to be conducted – involve a scorecard.
Isn’t this all this scoring rather disheartening and unnecessary? At some point the Agent is trained to ask – “What was my score?” Or, “Did I pass or not?”
And not, “What can I do to write a better live chat or email?”
It becomes about the score.
That’s not a formula for improvement. And a sign that there is confusion between helping someone get better or keeping score.
What do I mean by helping or keeping score?
Scorecards are wonderful tools for gathering and analyzing quantitative data. With quantitative data you can provide Agent performance trending.
Trending reports are a powerful developmental tool. Scores have their place. 
But only scoring on a day to day basis or fixating on scores in the Centre can inhibit development and growth.
Imagine your Agent comes to you and says –
“Boss, I’d like you to help me with my communication skills. Can you sit with me and listen to a few of my calls and give me your thoughts?”
You reply, –
“Sure, give me a minute to get my scorecards – I’ve got to score everything I hear and that we talk about – be right there…”
I don’t think you would ever say this. Even writing these lines makes me cringe.
The role of a Coach within the context of transactional coaching is to help their Agent get better at having great conversations.
Since when did helping someone get better require the use of a score?
There are better ways to change behaviour than Scorecards
A Scorecard is a judging tool. 
It tells you how you did.
Just like watching the scores presented by Olympic Judges after the skater has skated, or the diver made their dive.
They tell the skater or the diver how they did at that point in time.
Or you’ve taken a university course and you take the final exam. When you get that exam back – complete with a score – do you change your behavior?
It makes me sad when Quality Assurance people tell me that all they do is issue scorecards and hope that Agent quality improves over time.
Before moving forward let me reiterate – scoring has it’s place. This isn’t about throwing out scoring.
It’s about understanding how helping someone – and scoring someone – can work together.
Helping people changes behaviour
What the best coaches do is sit with their folks – on a regular basis – and help them get better.
It sounds like this –
“Hi Mark. Here’s where you did well ______. Here’s where you can improve ______.”
In a convesation taht includes what resources to tap on and by when improvement is expected.
With absolutely no score attached.
And the more you help someone – the better they will score when the time comes. Helping pays off in better scores.
Imagine those Olympic athletes.
The more their coach helps them skate better or dive better, the more likely it is that they’ll perform better for the judges.
In the same way your Agent’s interactions will ‘perform better’ for the Quality Assurance judges.
Of course you have to know what you’re talking about when you’re helping. Your advice needs to be sound and aligned to organizational strategy.
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/your-super-high-quality-scores-may-be-holding-your-team-back/
In closing
When people ask me how many interactions they should monitor I ask them to rephrase the question to this –
“How many interactions will you monitor for scoring purposes and to provide valuable trending?”
“How many interactions will you monitor to help your Agent get better?”
Then add the answers to these two questions together to get your answer.
I sure hope that helps.
Thank you for reading!
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I love hearing from folks!
Daniel Ord
[email protected] www.omnitouchinternational.com
