We have a quality program. So why isn’t Quality improving? That’s what a CEO asked me and I share some ideas in this post.
This article is part of our Contact Center Management Series — a collection of articles that bring together practical guidance and insights to help Contact Centers run better and deliver stronger results.
When someone’s habits don’t match their ambitions, trust the habits.
By the nature of their role, CEOs are often removed from the day-to-day operations of the Contact Center.
Even those that champion service and spend regular time in the center ultimately rely on the center’s leadership team to manage the service function well.
So when a CEO takes me to the side of the room and asks, “Why isn’t our quality improving, even after all these years?” that tells you something important.
They see the quality activity, but not enough actual improvement.
Quality has come a long way since I started teaching it decades ago.
Participants in quality courses now speak confidently about calibration, monitoring forms, dashboards, and what AI can do for them.
But something still seems to get lost in the shuffle of all this quality activity.
The human being — the customer service advisor — who must ultimately turn all of this into great customer conversations.
Let’s go back to the CEO who asked, “Why isn’t our quality improving, even after all these years?”
Part of my answer was this:
At times quality activity gets confused with capability building
Of course, quality problems can also originate in poorly designed processes and systems.
But in this edition, I want to focus on the human side of the equation.
Where advisors become more capable in ways customers can actually feel.
Human Beings and Capability
Human beings are still at the center of the quality process.
And the good news is that a great deal is already known about what helps them develop capability.
We simply have to make the decision to use what is already known.
To help, here are three ideas.
Measurement Isn’t the Same as Improvement
Sometimes leadership assumes that handing someone their score is the same thing as helping them improve.
It isn’t.
When I was in university my professors hosted office hours at scheduled times.
I could go into their offices, meet with them one-on-one, and get focused guidance on topics where I needed help — whether that was regression or conjugating French verbs.
Of course I never had to sit for an exam at the end of these office hours sessions.
The purpose of those sessions was to help me close my gaps as well as reinforce what I already knew.
When exam time did roll around, I tended to do well. Not because I am inherently smart — but because I got structured help.
The one-on-one help I got regularly from my professor helped me earn a better score on the exam.
But that understanding doesn’t always make it into the world of Customer Service quality.
I think it’s because it requires leadership — whether team leaders or quality assurance professionals — to provide regular help to advisors.
When I ask Contact Center leadership, “How many calls do you score a month per advisor?” I always get a quick answer.
But when I ask, “How many calls do you assess in order to help your advisor improve their capability?” I tend to get blank looks.
You mean you listen to a call without giving it a score?
That idea feels baffling to some.
There are two kinds of feedback: Evaluative Feedback and Improvement-Oriented Feedback.*
Evaluative Feedback involves a rating or score.
Improvement-Oriented Feedback changes someone’s capability. Which means that it can also change their lives.
When I share the example of my office hours with my professors, the best coaches immediately understand the point.
They already know how the two different types of feedback work together to build capability in their people.
More Information Doesn’t Create More Learning
There is often a belief that the more information we give to our advisor, the more they’ll be able to understand and apply.
More dashboards and AI have made it easier than ever to overwhelm people with information.
But that’s not how human beings work.
Learning doesn’t scale with the volume of information.
Evaluative Feedback involves a rating or score.
Improvement-Oriented Feedback changes someone’s capability. Which means that it can also change their lives.
When I share the example of my office hours with my professors, the best coaches immediately understand the point.
They already know how the two different types of feedback work together to build capability in their people.
Giving Feedback Isn’t the Achievement
Watch for the coach who thinks giving feedback is the achievement.
That’s a classic case of celebrating the activity versus looking at the outcome.
The first team leader says: “I do four calls per advisor per month.”
The second team leader says:
“This month Alex raised his empathy performance by 30%, and Siti not only kept up her great courtesy, she also improved her tone of voice by 10%.”
I guarantee you that your CEO prefers the second example. Because it is focused on outcomes, not activity.
Coaching sessions should be capability building sessions, not counts.
Giving feedback is not the achievement.
Sustained measurable improvement over time is the achievement.
If an advisor isn’t improving — or their performance has actually declined — resist the temptation to point fingers at the advisor.
Step back and look at the system in which that advisor operates, along with the coaching and feedback they’re receiving, before jumping to conclusions.
- The approaches and terms for Evaluative Feedback and Improvement Oriented Feedback originated in courses with Harvard Business School Professor, Frances Frei.
Additional Resources
If you’re looking to apply these ideas, here are a couple of useful resources:
Test your understanding of Quality Assurance: 15 Quiz Questions on Quality Assurance (Part 1)
If you’re building these capabilities in your team, we cover them in our How to Design a Quality Assurance Program and our Quality Management & Coaching for Team Leaders which you can find on our Public Course Calendar.
Thank You for Reading
I regularly share stories, strategies, and insights from our work across Contact Centers, Customer Service, and Customer Experience. If this resonates, I’d love to stay connected.
You can drop me a line anytime, or subscribe on our site.
Daniel Ord
[email protected]
www.omnitouchinternational.com
