Tip of the Week

June 27 - In a real sense, preparing for a job interview takes place long before submitting your application. When applying internally, hiring managers will be looking at how well you perform your current job and be looking to see if you demonstrate the skills and qualifications needed for the next one. Focus on mastering your current position. Ask the questions that you need to succeed. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, admit failure, and pick yourself up to try again. Find ways to be more efficient in your role. Learn how to be reliable and how to demonstrate that to those around you. While mastering your current position, focus on developing the skills that your future position needs you to have, then demonstrate that you have those skills in your current role. And when all is said and done, don't wait for perfection before reaching for what you want. In [...]

January 10 - With current events going on, many of us have had to alter our thinking about how we are training our agents on everything from new hire training to anything that has changed with the existing staff.  Communication methods, in general, have changed, so we may have had to re-evaluate our delivery mechanisms.  With the advent of virtual training, webinar platforms, and all that goes with them, we have the ability to reach individuals not physically facing us in a classroom or chair beside us.  But moving our training to a virtual environment requires us to rethink some of our delivery methodology in order to keep folks engaged and maximize learning.  Just lecturing off of Powerpoint slides is likely to give you a class of snoozing participants. One point to keep in mind is that although you may have the same material and information that you have used in [...]

Ocotber 4 - Have you ever thought about using a group of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to expedite training? But are you worried that this may not be the best way to do this? If you answered yes to both, it’s understandable. Subject Matter Expert (SME) literally means one who is expert in a certain area. It does not mean one can teach or train that skill. Training is a unique skill set unto itself. However, in call centers promotions are often given to agents to positions such as Team Leads, Trainers, Analysts, Coaches, and Supervisors. There is one truth though -- just because an agent can take calls, that does not mean they will automatically make a good trainer or lead or analyst. But if an agent has high quality scores, good caller satisfaction, and strong first contact resolution, likely they know the job, and the subject well. This agent [...]

November 23 - How effectively do you measure the ROI of your training efforts?  Sure, most of us ask the students if they liked it and thought it was useful, but do we check to see if they actually apply that learning on the job?  This is being asked of more and more training departments when they go to senior management for more money. One process that we have seen that helps to demonstrate the value is to have the students do projects at the end of training that apply what they have learned in the day-to-day operation.  They can be individual or group projects but they need to be relevant and useful and the student’s manager needs to sign off on it to be sure she will be given the time needed to complete it.  And the trainer needs to make time available to assist the students as they run [...]

November 9 - Call center Quality Assurance is a job that many can do, but few can do consistently well. Not only does it involve a wide range of skills and disciplines, it also demands a certain attitude.  With that in mind, a great call quality analyst may not necessarily be your top agent.  Rather, your ideal call center QA analyst will have these 10 attributes at their beck and call: An Analytical Approach - The most obvious trait is baked right into the job title: they must be analytical.  The analyst will be expected to mine information for trends or discrepancies and make recommendations based on their conclusions. Keen Perception - Related to a strong analytical approach, the call center QA analyst must be perceptive. Superior attention to detail is essential. Discernment - Discernment is an important subset of your call quality analyst’s strength in perception. It is important that [...]

 January 15 -  This series of tips are related to Data and Numbers.  Last week, we talked about the Opportunity to present Data and Numbers.  This week, we will discuss Creation. The Creation of a report or presentation sharing data and numbers requires that you reflect about what you are going to share, where the attention of result should be, and understand what will be done once the reviewers see the presented information. When faced with creating your presentation, I would share that there are three considerations: Your presentation is like a clean sheet of paper and you get to create the design. This is great if you are a creative person and love the ability to control the message.   Create a focal point versus getting lost in a detailed spreadsheet. Instead of having a crazy detailed Excel spreadsheet (that has so much data – but no one can read [...]

March 13 -  Last week’s tip started our conversation on calibration with a discussion on why calibration is important and the benefits of calibration.  This week we will look at some how to conduct a calibration session. The following basic steps are prerequisites to consistent calibration: Every employee responsible for monitoring and scoring contacts should have an excellent working knowledge of the contact center’s services. Those doing the monitoring must understand how the standards are administered. Those doing the monitoring should be given formal training in the program, as well as relevant documentation on criteria and definitions. The following describes some tips for a successful calibration session: Schedule at least one hour of uninterruptible time. Choose a facilitator. The role of the facilitator is to direct discussions, take notes and keep the team focused. Observe a contact and have all participants use your monitoring form to make notes and score the [...]