22 tips for performance management

At a recent webinar we looked at how to improve quality monitoring and performance management. Here are some of the tips sent in by our readers.

1. Caught you doing something great

We have a programme called “Caught you doing something great” to reward for great calls we notice when live monitoring.
Thanks to Daphne

2. People are often self-critical

Agents should be able to score their own calls alongside a manager and discuss the results to get buy-in. People are often very self-critical.

3. Group call-listening sessions

Holding group call-listening sessions once a month is great, too as it also helps to pick up on others’ good ideas / techniques
Thanks to Sarah

4. Don’t score down from 100

We’ve gone from a tick sheet and marking down from 100% into a coaching environment and totally changing the quality monitoring. This gets advisors to ‘buy into’ the change we are trying to achieve.

Whether we are monitoring or assessing agents, team leaders at the forefront should be doing the right thing for the customer.
Thanks to Michael

5. Crafty reviews

We use the acronym C.R.A.F.T. for note making – Contact, Reason, Action, Follow-up and Timescale.

We complete monthly calibration process where team managers anonymously score a call which has been scored by the Head of Department. The top 3 areas of discrepancy are discussed and actions are taken to prevent discrepancies in future. The actions can be changes in process or updates to the quality standards. The results are summarised in a monthly report.
Thanks to Richie

6. Be open with the team

Regardless of which metrics we track, I have found the best methodology is to be open with the team regarding the statistics that we collect about them. We actually have a relatively small team, so we go over everyone’s performance on a weekly basis as a group, and we find that each person holds themself responsible to achieve more, especially when it comes to the quality of our customer service.
Thanks to Alexander

7. Track NetPromoter Score to the individual

Have an NPS for all your representatives – get the feedback from your clients.

Involve the rep in the monthly evaluation of his/her calls. Inform the rep from Day One on how his/her performance will be evaluated.
Thanks to Nicoleta

8. Review the case documentation first

I like to have the agent review the case documentation first, and then listen to call. This way they can see the captured information and make sure the feedback is 2 way. Try to do this bi-weekly.
Thanks to Regina

9. Circulate quality reports to management

Our QA team sends a monthly report to the business managers that show which people have got 100% and which have 0% calls.

10. Rewarding top quality calls

On the rewards system we have a monthly ‘drive’ award within our company (delivery, resolve, initiative, value and enthusiasm) where team members and managers can nominate someone for going out of their way, making a financial reduction, saving the company money or even just coming up with a great new idea.

The managers then vote at the end of the month and can be award up to £450.00
Thanks to Mia

11. Calibration between team managers and quality

I run monthly sessions where team managers and quality agents listen to calls together. It helps to make sure we are all on the same page.
Thanks to Fiona

12. Agents can see their scores on a live basis

Set up a document where agents can see their scores on a live basis. If there is a sample of 10 audits per agent, after 5 audits, they can see their current score and know what it will take to get the remaining 5 to a score they will be happy with. This will encourage them to improve their quality and be enthusiastic about consistently achieving high scores.
Thanks to Marcus

13. Don’t just look at short calls

Short calls are probably going to be the ones that go well. Especially in busy times, when reps are likely to be stressed, customer service levels may be lower and calls might not go so well, therefore may take longer.

So maybe it’s a better idea to focus on the longer calls if we’re looking to improve on the customer experience.

Be mindful of the change management: involve the advisors in determining what is being monitored.
Thanks to Alexandra

14. Daily feedback sessions

We do daily feedback session with agents to understand their challenges on the desk and analyse bad calls and good calls.
Thanks to Toyin

15. Quality over quantity

We encourage “quality over quantity”. The call monitoring scores (average) are included in the yearly performance monitoring.
Thanks to Linda

16. Use learning journals

We encourage the use of learning journals within the team – advisors are encouraged to share ideas for improvements and are rewarded for doing so.

17. Side-by-side coaching

We do side-by-side coaching. This way we understand the challenges advisors face and can seek service improvement. Call recording shows soft skills but do we really want to encourage a better running-commentary style when we should be looking to remove the blocks and challenges?

18. Use the ‘check’ process from systems thinking

We use the systems-thinking ‘check’ process to get wider teams involved in understanding the demand coming into the business and capturing feedback word-for-word. This means that customers’ feedback can be used for service improvement.

We work with wider departments to remove the blockages that we discover so it feels worthwhile and productive for the advisors.
Thanks to Jodie

19. Escalate systemic failure

We have a support team who use software to escalate systemic failure to the department head concerned.

This gives Customer Services the opportunity to feedback customer concerns to the wider organisation. They feel part of the wider quality programme.

Self-assessment is key to our programme. The advisors review their mail prior to the session and it allows them to present their findings in a secure environment.
Thanks to Sandra

20. Call-listening sessions

We have call-listening sessions with groups of advisors scoring calls themselves and doing advisor calibrations to understand each quality question and discuss hints, tips and suggestions (sharing best practice).