Why is call center coaching done the way it’s done?
Well, to be blunt, a better option hasn’t existed.
Call center coaching software, accompanied by the strategies and tactics to drive change, has all relied upon humans helping humans or humans monitoring humans (via software).
Multi-billion dollar software companies and consulting organizations have all been built on this approach.
It is flawed, outdated, and ineffective.
Take a look at G2 and see how many companies are now providing call center QA software, speech analytics tools, and coaching platforms.
It’s flooded.
How do you even begin to differentiate the old way from the new way?
But before we dive into the good stuff, we need to give this some context.
Let’s go back in time and tell a story.
Let’s start at the beginning
219 years ago to be exact…
It is 100 years before the period of Modern Physics, and 77 years before the light bulb was invented. We can assume that Thomas Young was trying to demonstrate the wave behavior of light by candlelight while performing his groundbreaking experiment.
So what is the cliff notes version of what he discovered in his Double Slit Theory Experiment?
The simple act of observing a particle has a dramatic effect on the behavior of that particle.
The moment observation or measurement is introduced into or onto a quantum system, things change.
7 octillion, that’s 7 followed by 27 zeros.
That is how many atoms are in your body.
If one particle changes behavior when it’s watched or measured, how do you figure 7 octillion respond when being monitored and measured?
Traditional call center coaching (QA scorecards, live monitoring, barge, whisper, post-call evaluations) completely ignores the basic understanding of how your body behaves when being observed by another human.
99.99% of our body is made up of atoms of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.
Each of these behaves differently under observation and measurement.
If your company claims to unlock performance or scale the science of contact center operations, then in reality it should probably take into account the actual science of the humans doing the work.
Why is this different?
It is our belief that performance inside a call center is part science and part art.
An “abstract” is the summary of the most essential parts of a scientific paper, and Jackson Pollock’s (abstract artist) splatter paint art is a glorious representation of how messy sales can get.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) has finally progressed to a reliable level where real-time call center coaching software is now a viable option when considering how to remove humans (and the subsequent interference) from the most performance-impacting functions in an operation.
Yes, we are arguing that the very people organizations hire to ensure quality, compliance, and customer experience are also the biggest unintended detractors of consistent performance.
It is not their fault.
It is the human body’s fault.
It is kind of a tricky situation to be in.
However, facing the reality of the situation is easier if one understands the science (and data) behind the decision.
Leaders claim to want data to drive decisions.
Well, here is the data.
It’s been available for 219 years.
With real-time coaching technology, humans are no longer required to constantly coach or measure other humans after the fact.
Agents are no longer “being watched” in the traditional sense and are not in a constant internal battle between how their body behaves under observation and how their manager wants them to behave on the call.
Consider the last time you took a proctored exam, performed in front of a crowd for the first time, or had your supervisor sit next to you while handling a difficult escalation.
Your body felt different.
Your heart rate was elevated.
Your eyes were dilated.
Your senses were heightened.
You were “nervous.”
That was your body reacting to being watched.
Overcoming this is only accomplished through years and years of practice.
Contact centers facing the operational pressures of today don’t have years to ramp up agents.
They don’t have years to eliminate compliance risk.
They don’t have years to hope performance stabilizes.
Back to performance basics
Let’s dust off the old science books and start ignoring the catchy headlines of popular companies today.
Let’s get back to the basics of understanding the actual science of human performance.
If current techniques in call center coaching are flawed, let’s change them.
Here is what we suggest that works for us and all of our customers.
- Call center leaders need to focus on employee growth and development, not rehashing the same missed disclosure or phrasing error over and over again.
- Utilize real-time coaching software to tell leaders exactly which parts of an interaction they need to review. No more spending hours listening to full call recordings to find one coaching moment.
- Focus on tactics and strategies with their team. What’s working or not working? What is something unique they’ve heard while calling? And so on.
When contact center leaders implement those three things, performance shifts.
No more stuck in the old ways of monitoring-based management.
No more assuming that more observation equals better outcomes.
Because sometimes, the act of watching is the very thing getting in the way.