Training

Hit your class with a BEAM!

My daughter (McKenna) is in kindergarten and her teacher (Ms. Dee) is an excellent facilitator, experienced in her role, a creative thinker and a real people person. I appreciate the role Ms. Dee has played in both my children’s lives (she has been teaching more than 30 years). I know that she cares and is willing to try even when things get tricky. I would venture a guess that many of us could not understand how stressful a kindergarten teacher’s job is! My daughter makes this situation even more strenuous by testing every aspect of Ms. Dee’s patience, and skill sets just as in the case shared below: The class was doing an exercise, and Ms. Dee was walking around giving some of the children encouragement. Some of the other children needed help getting aligned with the goals of the project. When she came to my daughter, McKenna was sitting there playing with her school supplies with no intention of working on the assignment. She absolutely can and will sit there without even indicating that she is not following along as she should. Even though McKenna had decided that she was not going to participate, Ms. Dee, was not going to allow that as an option. She tried a couple of ways to coax McKenna into doing the work with no success. After several tries, Ms. Dee finally resorted to discipline. She indicated that if McKenna would not comply with the directions, then her name would have to be moved on the wall resulting in a sad face stamp when it was time to dismiss for the day. The power of a “sad face stamp” is real. I have witnessed many kindergartners coming out of class trying to wipe off the ink or hiding it from their parents/guardians. As this is a serious infraction if you are in kindergarten most children would be motivated appropriately to comply with the request. So, what did my McKenna do with this potential threat? McKenna got up and moved her name and then sat down with her arms crossed in defiance as if that settled it. Although McKenna completed this action without saying anything, it was implied that Ms. Dee set the terms and that she was merely complying with one of the options. It was as if McKenna was saying, “We are done, and you can move on to helping someone else now.” As you can imagine that was not the end of the story. Ms. Dee had to escalate her tactics. To bring this story to an end; my daughter finally conceded and completed the assignment. For my little girl, it just had to be the hard way: It seems that on some occasions it just cannot be simple. Thankfully Ms. Dee has the experience, patience, and the desire to work with all types of individuals. McKenna is one of those individuals that for whatever reason we have to change our tactics to gain her “buy-in” to complete some tasks. Today it was riding in the truck with dad versus riding with mom. The day before it was something about cleaning her room. It will be something else tomorrow. It is not a discipline thing nor is it a rebellious thing as it has to do with defining success for her. Some might label her as difficult. Her teacher could have easily written her off as an obstacle not worth investing time in, just marked her and moved on. As in the case of McKenna’s teacher we have choices to make as trainers and leaders that either encourages team members to push themselves to greatness or to give up on them. I think as a leader we often get overwhelmed with the sheer number of obstacles and focus more on the problems than the people. We see people as “a task” to complete. Instead, we need to focus on people as individuals that may need help. You may have heard the statement, “If it weren’t for the people, this would be an easy job!” I can imagine a kindergarten teacher possibly saying similar things. Unfortunately, early in my career, I heard and even used this phrase on many occasions. I have since changed my view on this long-standing “joke” that leaders have used to relieve the stress of interactions gone wrong. Going forward you can hit them with a BEAM! Here is how you can BEAM your team/class and keep yourself centered with the right thought processes: Build Relationships: How you should start (or restart) any team/class.   Focus on getting to know your team individually. Learn their learning style and personality traits. What do they need / desire to achieve short and long term? Find and understand what motivates them? How do they like to be rewarded? Establishing Norms: What should training look/feel like.   Start / End on time. Respecting others. Avoiding cell phones except in cases in which they are directly used for an exercise. Active participants (participating is key). Be open to new ideas. Note: It’s best to have the class participants determine this list. Make an “agreement” that both trainer(s) and trainees will abide by. Ask Questions: Build the correct learning environment.   Act from a place of curiosity to utilize questions that build knowledge. Use the “Socratic Method”. Implement a “Parking Lot”. Know when you want to field questions. Be ready for this and facilitate the class to participate in not only asking but also answering questions. Allow a discussion to take place. This is where some of your best learning can happen. Be upfront when you want the class members to hold questions until the end. Give them the ability to note questions, so they are not working on trying and remembering a question and not listening to you, potentially missing the answer to their question or other important data. Managing Tasks: Building efficiency to spend time with people and behaviors.   Know the difference in managing tasks and leading people. Use your time effectively to complete tasks efficiently. Spend more time on people than processes. Now you can BEAM with pride in knowing you are laying a foundation that enables you to respect others. You

Training: Where Are You Going?

When I was much younger my dad would take our family on road trips that didn’t always have a finite location or a destination. Often, it was about the journey and not going somewhere specific. What made the road trips memorable were the traditions that were sure to accompany each expedition. For example, we would seek out the best “hole in the wall” restaurant, or my personal favorite, the mouth-watering pursuit for the gas stations that served the “best in the world” bacon cheeseburgers. As trainers, it is important to know that the training and development of individuals is a journey. We, as trainers, need to ensure that we are stopping along the way to allow the learning transfer to occur. I have outlined 7 training and development principles to help showcase some stops along the way that we should be making. The mnemonic ROAD MAP will help us remember these key stops. Rule of 3 We tend to remember in threes. Steve Jobs from Apple is king of this concept. What they need to know the most, first. What they need to know secondary is last. Everything else is in the middle. Keep It Super Simple. Observe, observe, observe Trainers should constantly and consistently evaluate what is happening in the training room. Observation allows you to know whether an introvert is accumulating knowledge or not. Observation during activities ensures that everyone is on the right page. Apply the concept First, tell participants how it is done. Second, show participants how it is done. Third, do it together individually. And lastly, participants should teach someone else how to do it. Desire to know the “Why?” Trainees want to know why this module is important to them. A great introduction will have a hook that captures you and somehow shares why you are participating in the learning process. Multiple Learning Styles Utilized 3 commonly used learning styles are Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic. These are not the only learning styles, but provide a solid base to work from. Most of us use more than one style in any given circumstance. Actively engage Adult learning is about engaging those in the classroom. Our trainees bring experience and knowledge that we sought out in the hiring process. Why would we stifle them in training then? Allow them to participate. Engage the learner through activities that utilize techniques geared towards adult learning. Reward good classroom behaviors, like participation, and the class will repeat the behavior. Please repeat (okay, I reached a little on this one) The foundation of learning is built with learning blocks of repetition. The more you hear, see, and actively participate in doing a task, the more likely you are to learn it, remember it, and apply it. These 7 principles are not everything that we need to follow to be successful as a trainer. These basic concepts are the foundation that you can build upon to ensure you are facilitating a class and allowing the learning transfer to occur. So enjoy the journey! You never know, you may just find that “best in the world” bacon cheeseburger!

Are You Coachable?

Even Michael Jordan had a coach, coaching your team is important if you want to drive continuous improvement. Effective coaching is a two-way street, where the coach offers to guide the individual and that person must cooperate and follow through. Essentially, the Coach helps the Coachee to come up with the solutions by highlighting performance improvement areas. We have looked at coaching on several occasions but from the coaches perspective. As I considered this topic, I realized that not much has been said about the Coachee and that relationship cannot work without both parties active involvement. As an employee, are you ready to for coaching? What should you do to ensure that the coaching sessions are successful? Here are my thoughts on how the Coachee can make the coaching successful. 1: Have A Willing Heart A willing heart is a first and most important point. You should be willing to accept the coaching with your manager. Given the nature of coaching where you come up with the solutions to the problems, a willing heart will make the process smoother. A willing heart means that you can take criticism and direction from someone else, and be flexible to use it for the benefit of the company. It will also benefit you as an individual and your career growth. Without a willing heart, the process will be an uphill battle that can lead to hating the job or your manager instead of improving your performance. “Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways: where is unwilling it will find a thousand excuses” Arlen Price 2: Be Committed Coaching is a process that requires commitment, and when you are under fire or criticism, it is easy to give up. Complete commitment means believing you are worthwhile in terms of who you are and what you do. Your coach cannot make you commit to the process; it has to come from within. Allowing yourself and our cause to have sufficient psychological and material resources to achieve your career goals is self-commitment. Without it, you will sabotage yourself by giving all sorts of excuses and negative self-talk. Commit to the coaching process and the outcome will be great. “Nothing will work unless you do.” John Wooden 3: Have Inner Strength Your inner strength will take you miles ahead. When faced with a hard situation at work, how do you respond to it? You can react in two ways, meet with it head on and get a solution or break down. Having inner strength is your ability to control your emotional responses when under pressure and be able to concentrate on what is important. For example, you are an account manager and you lose a key customer. This huge loss will make the leadership ask questions. Your immediate boss will call you for a meeting to figure out what went wrong and how can that customer be won back or how to improve what the company did not to repeat the same mistakes. That is a coaching session, and your inner strength will help you put it together, look at every interaction you have had with the customers and come up with solutions to win them back. Without it, you will not even see where the problem is and the session will be futile. 4: Take Full Responsibility Yes, take full responsibility for your actions and reactions. Remember that at work, when you are being coached, it is more of giving you directions and pushing in the right way. However, you cannot go anywhere if you do not acknowledge your mistakes and successes. When you perform well, accept the applause’s, and when you perform poorly, own your mistakes and be the first to correct it. Your coach will be there to highlight your weak areas, and you can find the best ways to improve them. Taking full responsibility requires you to be humble. 5: Respect your coach Whose advice do you follow? The one you respect or the one you do not? I believe you will listen and follow someone that you respect. To benefit from the coaching, you need to respect your coach. Do not confuse respect with fear. When you fear someone, you will not be open to him or her. When you respect someone, you will be open and have constructive conversations. In summary, when you have a willing heart, you are committed, you have inner strength, you take full responsibility and you respect your coach, the coaching will successful. Remember you are the beneficiary of the coaching. Enjoy and be coachable! This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, Chief Customer Officer for Etech Global Services. If you would like to learn more about Etech, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.

How to Integrate Quality Assurance and Coaching for Success

We all know the importance of offering exceptional customer service and the countless benefits that result from doing that. Quality assurance is at the core of ensuring that your customers receive quality services. In order to fully equip customer-facing employees, coaching programs must be comprehensive. How you train your staff determines the effectiveness of the quality assurance program. The seamless integration of quality assurance and coaching processes is critical to producing sustainable success. Define the Coaching Process You need to define the exact coaching process that everyone can follow so that this process can be integrated uniformly. Depending on the particular quality assurance goal, determine how much time, on average, the coaching session should require, what points will be covered in each session, how you will monitor the progress of the agent after the coaching session, and what elements should be documented in the resulting action plan following the session. Typically, front-line managers will initiate the coaching sessions, so consult with them on the best practices and methods in addition to your other subject matter experts. It is essential to have a mutual understanding of the process for consistency of the messages passed to the representatives. As you seek their input, you will also gain buy-in to the process, particularly if it is new or requires change. Document the process, you agree to follow for future referencing purposes. Train Your Coaches In addition to involving them in the process definition, you must train the coaches in order to drive lasting performance improvement. A well-trained coach knows that the employee should be able to both identify their errors and offer possible solutions. The coaches’ role is to guide them to accurately assess the situation and articulate how they will address the area of opportunity. The invaluable skills the coaches learn during their training will go a long way in ensuring that all employees receive consistent coaching. They will understand better how powerful teamwork is and instill the same spirit into the agents, without any bias during the evaluation and coaching stages. When the leaders are well-trained they will be positioned to develop consistent behaviors that promote quality interactions with the end customer. Build Partnerships with Agents The partnership means both parties own their roles and duties towards achieving the agreed goal. When the agents understand how they contribute to the success of the QA program they will be at the center of developing an improvement strategy. Leaders need to encourage agent participation in the evaluation process for an active partnership. For instance, seek their input as you draft the evaluation forms and involve them in calibration sessions. A great leader inspires others to be the best they can. You will motivate your agents to deliver quality services by demonstrating the behaviors you wish for them to emulate so that they learn from you even when you are not actively coaching. Choose and use words that will impact their attitude. Listen carefully to them and they will listen to your advice and guidance. Create an environment conducive for effective coaching to occur. Prepare in Advance Once you have looped in the managers and customer representatives, you need to prepare them mentally regarding the upcoming coaching sessions. Failure to do so will lead to one-way communication and mediocre results. A coaching session will be most effective when the agent is free to provide input on delivering quality services, identify where they believe they went right or wrong, and possible solutions to remedy the prevailing issues. An Acknowledgment under your guidance will equip the agent to take responsibility for his or her actions and encourage effective two-way communication. Leverage Technology Technology is always your ally when it comes to integration. There are countless technology options that will make your work effortless and seamless. For example, you can develop scorecards and dashboards to reduce the time you would otherwise use for data analysis and free up time for coaching. Information can be aggregated to make it easy to understand and provide targeted direction for program remediation efforts. Following these tips will enable you to integrate quality assurance with coaching: define the process, train the coaches, build partnerships with agents, prepare in advance and leverage technology. Your business will grow and thrive when every person actively participates in the Quality Assurance program.

The Impact of Call Monitoring and Score Cards in the Call Center

Any opportunity to improve call center operations is worth taking. Call monitoring and scorecards top the list. Call monitoring is a feature that allows you to listen in to a live call and track what matters most to the call center. The scorecard is a call scoring evaluation form that keeps track of agent’s performance. The data you gather using these two tools will help you optimize your call center operations. However, you need to use them effectively lest they mislead your strategy. Agents are the contact persons, and therefore, when they improve their performance, call center excels. Let us get into the details of the influence of call monitoring and scorecards have in the call center. A better understanding of agents’ performance For research or a study to be credible, you need to carry out both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Call monitoring gives you the qualitative data while scorecards give you the quantitative data. When you monitor agent’s live calls, you will gather instant information about what they do well and what needs improvement. That is a qualitative study. When you record their performance in the scorecard, you can know quantitatively how the agent is performing. In the end, you will know the areas the agent struggles with and thus focus on how to improve them as well as commend them for areas they are excelling. Highlighting training needs As you monitor agent’s calls and record the findings, you will notice areas that need training. The purpose of listening live to the agents is not to catch them doing something wrong, but to highlight weakness areas that require training and development. The data you collect will help the agents understand the matter better, and the best ways of handling the issue. In addition to highlighting the skills gap among your agents, call monitoring and scoring are part of your best training tools. Tracking Progress After training your agents, you need a medium of tracking their progress. You need to know whether the training was beneficial or not. The scorecards will keep a record of your agents’ performance, and thereby give you an indication of the quality standards. Use calibration sessions to help you customer service representatives understand their progress at work. A successful session will guide your team to areas that are on track as per the set standards and those that are lagging behind. Knowing where you stand and where you want to be will you the motivation to focus on the right things. Improved coaching sessions Part of a manager’s role is to coach the employees. When you sit down with an agent and review one of their interactions with a customer, they will get a better understanding of how they are performing. It will also make your work easier as you try to highlight what they are doing wrong. The coaching sessions are great for the employee to look within for answers under your guidance. When they come up with a solution, they will implement it better as compared to when you impose one on them. The coaching session will be successful for you and the agent. Improved customer satisfaction Agents’ performance affects customer satisfaction levels. All the above points lead to an extremely skilled agent, happy and satisfied with their jobs. When a happy employee serves a customer, he or she receives excellent support leading to high satisfaction levels. To repeat this cycle, you need to carry out call monitoring and keeping scorecards on a regular basis. Carrying out call monitoring and scoring will benefit the call center in several ways, a better understanding of your agent’s performance, highlighting training needs, tracking progress, improved coaching sessions, and improved customer satisfaction. To continually offer quality services and maintain an efficient quality assurance program, you should keep these two tools at the core of your analysis. You will create a ripple effect where every stakeholder remains satisfied. For more advice on creating a world class quality program that drives customer experience or if you would like to learn more about Etech Global Services, feel free to contact me. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

4 Tips for Reducing Attrition in the Contact Center

High turnover is a challenge for a contact center and especially the recruiting department whom need to ensure that the companies has sufficient staff to meet all the customers’ needs. A majority of the agents in the contact center are aged between 18 years to 35 years. These are the famous generation Y, and their working culture has seen its fair share of negativity. Generation Y employees expect instant results and success, and will move to another job without blinking if they will reach their goals faster. That makes the contact centers all over the world have the highest turnover rate according to statistics. It is inevitable for employees to leave your company, but that should not discourage you. You can try working on these four tips to reduce churn at your contact center: Engage the employees Employee engagement is very important for you to reduce churn. When your employees feel engaged and involved with the company, they will be more productive. A high-performing employee is recognized for their hard work, and this motivates them to do more. To engage the millennial employee, think of utilizing technology, as they have grown up with technology and work well with it. For example, you can introduce electronic games that they can play during their breaks, and can compete as individuals or teams. At the end of the day, your goal is to have highly engaged employees who will be satisfied with their roles and not want to leave as soon as they start working. Create a supportive working environment An agent is under a lot of pressure. The management expects him or her to meet certain KPI’s, and the customer expects to receive the best customer care. Being the link between the two parties, at times it gets tough, for example, when dealing with frustrated customers. Why and how the customer is angry is not under your control, but you can ease the burden for the agents by creating a supportive working environment. Let them feel your support and motivation on a daily basis. Allow your agents to escalate extremely difficult issues for them to resolve and you can give the customers a solution as well as teach the agent how to deescalate at the same time. Ensuring their working spaces are clean and habitable will also help employees to be comfortable as they work. Add meaning to their jobs Another reason that generation Y employees quit their jobs is if it doesn’t create some meaning. They don’t want just to work for the sake of it; they want their work to be meaningful. You can create meaning by involving them in charity work or volunteer opportunities. They get to interact with the communities around them and feel they are giving back to the community they live in. You can also ask them to give suggestions of the charities they want to support. Such opportunities get them involved and interested in their job as it gives them a chance to influence the company decisions. Acknowledge their Performance Finally and importantly, you need to acknowledge their efforts. Motivation fuels the desire to do better even when the going gets tough. As a manager, you need to appreciate your agents and show them that they are doing well. A simple “Thank you” for handling a customer well, for bringing in the highest sales, or showed the best improvement will go a long way in motivating that agent. They will feel appreciated and valued. Therefore, they will continue giving their best to work not searching online for the vacancy announcements. Remember to commend even the ones who are trying to reach the top, not just those who are already there. Working with a highly motivated team will reduce churn in your contact center. In summary, to reduce churn in your contact center, keep you employees engaged and motivated. They will derive satisfaction from their jobs and not be quick to look for something else. This blog post first publish on LinkedIN

Scroll to Top

Contact Us

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Download E-Book

Download E-Book

Download E-Book

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Free Download Presentation

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Brochure

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Read our Privacy Policy for details on how your information may be used.

Download Case Study

Download Case Study

Free Download Presentation

Download Brochure

Thank you for sharing your details. Click below link to watch.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Ebook is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Presentation is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Brochure is ready for Downloads.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your brochure is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready for Download.

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready to Download.

*Please check your Download folder for the downloaded file

Thank you for sharing your details. Your Case study is ready to Download.