Coaching

As an enthusiast of nature and intelligence for the majority of my life, I was fortunate to be introduced to artificial intelligence (AI) when it wasn’t still a buzzword, even in dusty computer labs...

Hybrid, remote, or fully in-person? This month, our top blog posts are all about how to move forward in the new normal. Our authors offer insights on hiring and training remotely, the best ways...

At my first call center job, I learned the ropes and learned the most that I could from my trainers, team leaders, mentors, and neighbors. I recall listening to my colleague who sat in front...

It is a good news/troubling news story for contact centers. How they and their supplier partners plan and respond will help determine how well the industry succeeds in the post-COVID-19 pandemic “new normal” era. On...

I just wrapped up my 13th anniversary message for the March issue of Contact Center Pipeline. In doing so, I was reflecting on our very first issues of the magazine back in 2008. Just...

Can you recall a story that took you on an emotional roller coaster ride and ended with an essential motto or lesson? Over the past decade of providing call center coaching and training, my...

I’ve always known that I must listen more than I speak when coaching an agent. However, when I first became a team lead, I was always thinking about my response while the other person...

Now that call centers have transitioned to working from home, many managers and supervisors are finding coaching remotely to have its challenges. Managers often go into “survival mode” and put coaching on the back...

Virtually every contact center understands the unique challenges its employees face: Agents often struggle with low pay, high stress, few chances for advancement, not enough training and poor leadership. All of these lead to...

Coaching agents is arguably the most critical responsibility for frontline contact center management. Effective coaching is known to foster agent engagement, reinforce and expand critical skillsets, boost productivity and deliver higher performance for the...

There is no question that managers wield a powerful sword. In fact, 75% of voluntary turnover is attributed to poor employee-manager relationships. (You read that right: Three out of every four people who voluntarily...

Customer experience, employee engagement and sales results are driven by effective coaching. Coaching helps develop your agents’ skills. Done right, it also improves morale and employee retention. However, coaching needs to be done on...

I knew I was in trouble! I was driving down the highway with my lovely wife, Jana, when we spotted a traffic jam up ahead. I suggested we stay on the highway, since it...

Remember when “coaching” was represented by reports shoved in front of agents with lots of red circles accompanied by motivating messages like, “Good quality, but you need to get that adherence rate up to...

Our coaches occupy the most critical blocks on our organizational charts. Wedged between those who set the policies for handling customers and those who carry out those policies, it is our coaches—supervisors mostly, but...

In centers that suffer from high absenteeism, you'll typically find disengaged supervisors. Like agents, supervisors who are performing the same coaching tasks day in and day out can get into a rut. Disengaged supervisors...

Despite the critical role that they play in employee satisfaction and retention, frontline supervisors often are not provided with the training on how to drive engagement through coaching. New supervisors tend to approach agent coaching...