Who’s Coaching the Coaches?

Rebecca Gibson

Contact Center Solutions Consulting

Interactive Intelligence

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©2012 Interactive Intelligence Group Inc.

Session Agenda

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1. Define Metrics to Measure Coaching Effectiveness

2. Define your Coach-the-Coach Program

3. Establish your Coaching Performance Standards

4. Implement your Coach-the-Coach Program

5. A Few Fun Twists

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The effectiveness of coaching

influences the impact.

Coaching is the most direct

method to

impact performance

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If we coach our coaches, we will

influence the impact.

Coaching is the most direct

method to

impact our coaches’

performance

Coaching Measurements

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Measure Sample Goal

Coaching Activity • # of coaching meetings• Time spent coachingHow: Coaching content and frequency log

• Meet with each employee twice per month to review quality results.

• Track coaching conversations and agreements to ensure progress.

Coaching performance• Scorecard evaluation against standard

criteria• Self-evaluation• Agent evaluations• Employee satisfaction survey

• Meet minimum coaching expectations during each observation.

• Identify areas for improvement and improvement strategy. Track progress toward goals.

• Achieve 90% agent satisfaction with coaching and development initiatives.

Results • Evaluate employee performance in

critical areas

• Compliance requirements achieved in 97% of evaluated calls.

• Reduce callbacks by 10%.

• Improve performance of bottom 15%.

• Reduce employee turnover.

Define Your Coach-the-Coach Program

Examples

1. What is your coaching culture?

• No news is good news. We’ll let you know if you do something wrong.

• We think that coaching is an important part of the supervisor/agent relationship, which impacts not just agent performance but satisfaction, engagement and workplace culture.

• Our environment changes so much that coaching is required to ensure we are meeting compliance and accuracy requirements.

2. How will you manage your Coaches’ performance? • Incentives? • Annual or quarterly

review? • Scorecard? • Poor performance?

• Completion of coaching activities accounts for a portion of a Supervisor’s overall scorecard.

• A Supervisor’s coaching index accounts for 20% of his or her overall bonus.

• A Supervisor who does not meet the minimum required Coaching Evaluation score is placed on probation until the score improves.

• Supervisors are evaluated based on their team’s performance results.

Define Your Coach-the-Coach Program

Examples

3. Who will Coach your Coaches? • Managers, Training,

QA, Mentors

• Our Coaches are observed and coached by both their direct managers and designated members of the Learning and Performance team.

• Each of our coaches has a coaching mentor who works with them on establishing coaching goals and monitoring coaching progress.

4. What is our Coach the Coach process?

• Each Coach has a Coaching Plan that outlines their strengths and weaknesses. Each month, the Coach is observed during 2 coaching conversations, the Coach self-evaluates against the Coaching Plan, and meets with their Manager to review and track progress.

Establish Your Coaching Standards What are the elements of an effective coaching conversation?

Create your own or use an established model

• GROW Model

• Effective Coaching (Cook, 1998)

Rating and scores

Track what’s coached and next steps

SOAR Scorecard Example www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccargibson

You want to WHAT?

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Get Everyone Ready

• Set ground rules• Communicate to the contact center• Set expectations with Coach • Let coaches choose, at first• Make sure it’s a positive experience

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©2012 Interactive Intelligence Group Inc.

Get Everyone Ready

Since coaching is such an important part of the contact center’s ability to meet our goals, we are implementing an exciting new program to help our Supervisors become even better coaches. The program will consist of self-evaluation and manager evaluation, as well as coaching observations and agent input.

Don’t be surprised if your manager’s manager attends your next coaching session – don’t worry, they are there just to observe and provide your manager with feedback.

You’ll also have the opportunity to provide feedback about the coaching approaches that work best for you.

Our employees’ knowledge and skills are our competitive advantage and we are committed to providing you with support and tools you need to be successful. That’s what the Coach-the-Coach program is all about.

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Observe the Coaching Session

Manager• Explain to agent

the purpose of the observation and what will happen.

• Don’t participate in the discussion.

• Thank the agent for participating.

• Provide feedback immediately.

Coach• Plan coaching

ahead of time. Refer to scorecard.

• Relax and engage in a natural discussion.

• Agent will take cues from Coach.

Agent• Engage as

normal.

• See evidence that everyone here is on a performance plan – we all work on improving and being the best we can be.

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Provide Feedback

Post-Observation (2 x month) Discuss observations and trends in coaching conversations, preparation, agent input.

Monthly Incorporate observations, self evaluation, agent evaluation, results into coaching conversation.

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A Few Fun Twists

• Peer Assessment• Agent Assessment • Role Reversal• Positive-Only Coaching• Choose-one-thing Coaching• Role Play Coaching with Assessment• Skill-Specific Assessment

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Questions?

Who’s Coaching the Coaches?Rebecca Gibson

Contact Center Solutions Consulting

Interactive Intelligence

443.254.3750/rebecca.gibson@inin.com