Coaching for results
By Simon Oaten. Published in TelCall 1999

How did you learn to do your job? In most cases, it would have been through formal training and then hours of coaching and informal support as you mastered the skills needed to competently perform all the required tasks of your job.

The ability of your agents to fully understand processes, procedures, products and the needs of customers provides your call centre with a real competitive edge. It's often said, "people are a company's greatest asset". Coaching is one of the ways to ensure that the "asset" is protected and continues to grow in value. Effective coaching has now become a key management responsibility that is essential for the ongoing skills and knowledge development of your call centre agents.

What is coaching?
Coaching is a form of on-the-job training in which the coach (eg, a team leader or training officer) and team member work together on a one-to-one basis to:

• learn how to perform new processes or obtain new knowledge on a topic
• strengthen performance in areas where improvement is needed
• develop the full potential of the team member in order to meet or exceed the standards required by the job.

Coaching is related to training although training is generally designed to help a person new to a job to be productive as soon as possible. It is often class room based, structured and designed to reduce learning by trial and error.

Coaching is more informal and may follow a training program to reinforce learning and allow the team member to practise the newly acquired skills and knowledge. The outcome of effective coaching is that the team member has the required competence to perform their job.

Qualities of a successful call centre coach
Coaching is a key task for all team managers, team leaders and training officers. The best coaches are invariably the ones who have expert knowledge and can easily relate and work with a wide range of people.

The key qualities of a coach are:

• good verbal and written skills
• ability to accurately demonstrate procedures
• highly competent in using the centre's systems
• good listening and questioning skills
• a team player - someone who can work with everyone
• calm, patient and friendly
• able to handle a high workload
• respected by fellow team members
• provide advice and support to team managers on the development of their staff

What does a coach do?
When we think of coaching the usual association is sport. But coaching in the call centre has a wider role. The difference is that at work the task is usually less physical for both the coach and the "player". In other ways coaching activities are quite similar. For example in golf, the coach does not hit the ball (do the task) but guides and supports the player.

The coach works on two levels:

1. Technique - how to perform the task to the required standard
2. Maintenance - keeping the person in a positive state of mind by encouraging and supporting them while they are learning a new task. This allows the person to perform well without pressure. If a person is tense and worried about the consequences of making a mistake then they are unlikely to succeed or will simply guess what is required rather than ask questions to get more information.

So a coach is more than someone who is a subject matter expert - a coach has to like people and get enjoyment out of seeing people grow in confidence and skill.

Coaching for results - 4 step model
That's the theory. Now lets look at a simple and highly effective model for coaching call centre agents.

1. Analyse
Assess the team member's current standards of performance for that task or skill. (For example, if the skill needing improvement is obtaining sales leads, then you would observe the person's performance and note down what he or she is currently doing.)

Identify what the team member needs to learn in order to meet performance standards. You may need to break the task down into components so that the person can build his or her skills gradually. This is especially important for complex skills or tasks.

In our example of obtaining sales leads, you might break it down into:

• identifying opportunities for sales leads
• getting the customer's interest
• qualifying the lead

Set some performance goals for the team member. Start with an easily attainable goal. (For example, for identifying opportunities for sales leads, you might start by getting the person to identify two opportunities a day.)

2. Plan
This part of the process involves:

• identifying and organising suitable learning resources and opportunities
• agreeing on learning plans, the coaching role and assessment methods
• providing opportunities for individuals and groups to manage their own learning

Remember to involve the team member in this process to obtain his or her commitment and help the team member take responsibility for his or her own learning.

3. Implement
Implement training and coaching activities. Provide plenty of practice and feedback. Provide opportunities to discuss performance and ways of improving it.

You need to be flexible. Adjust your coaching role and program to suit the learner's needs and progress. Remember the qualities of an effective coach that were detailed above.

4. Evaluate
Evaluate the achievement of goals and performance standards. You may need to now adjust goals and standards depending on the person's performance. Always provide regular feedback on performance.

The cycle of continuous learning
Once the team member has mastered a segment of the skill you would begin the cycle again by analysing and assessing the situation. You may decide to move on to another segment or to increase the performance goal to 'stretch' the person and further develop his or her skills.

As the team member becomes more confident, the activities you plan will probably involve you less and less. You need to build performance measures that team members can measure and monitor themselves so they can take responsibility for assessing and monitoring their own performance.

A sample Position Description for your centre's coach
The call centre coach has a demanding and wide ranging role. In summary a coach should the position's responsibilities should include:

• plan and deliver coaching sessions
• help team members understand centre processes and procedures
• support team members by asking questions, discussing problems, addressing issues and taking the required action to meet their learning needs
• be non-judgemental in all situations
• be genuinely positive, enthusiastic and accessible
• act as a role model