In Focus-I & R Excellence Quality, Training, & Coaching-Best Practices for I & R Contact Centers Amy Latzer Chief Operations Officer Alliance of Information & Referral Systems 32 nd Annual Conference May LA County1

Goals of theWorkshop  Establish best practices appropriate for your organization  QA, Training, Coaching Program Development  Evaluation form development & result analysis  Identify coaching styles, techniques, & practice  Overcoming coaching challenges  Integration of QA results to coaching & training opportunities  Measuring effectiveness of your program  Documentation May LA County2

Tools for Quality Monitoring  Silent monitoring of live calls  Side by side monitoring  Call recording  Caller survey  3 rd party partner monitoring  Peer to peer monitoring  Self evaluation May LA County3

What is Quality Assurance? Call Quality Assurance is a practice by which you, the agency, can ensure that your callers are receiving the best possible service. Generally performed by a standalone team (ideally, not reporting into the call center line management), QA consists of a few key steps. May LA County4

Quality Assurance Best Practices  Definition of an ideal call  Produce a scoring form that breaks these definitions into discrete, measurable observations  Call calibration  Use QA results as a coaching tool  Tie QA to overall performance expectations May LA County5

Gaining Staff Buy-In  When do you start? If you are thinking of a quality monitoring plan or have already started developing one, you should start gaining buy-in NOW! The success of your plan hinges on staff buy-in. May LA County6

Suggestions for gaining staff buy-in  Form a QA planning committee  Include front-line and resource staff in calibration sessions  Share information about the program and the positive outcomes  Coaching, coaching, coaching!  Provide a scoring manual to define each measurable item  Be flexible and willing to take suggestions and make changes May LA County7

What are we listening for?  What is important to the organization?  What is important to the caller?  What is important to the funder/contract?  What is important to the call specialist?  AIRS standards May LA County8

Form Development May LA County9

Quality Guide and Calibration  Utilizing a guide that is the compliment to the form provides guidance to QA for consistency and provides insight to staff being evaluated.  Calibration sessions are critical for fair consistent scoring. May LA County10

QA Guide Sample May LA County

Internal and External Quality Perspective  Internal Perspective Best practices Contract compliance AIRS standards  External/Caller Perspective Outcome according to the caller ○ Immediate response on experience of call ○ Follow up response-effective referrals May LA County12

Scoring Methodologies  or start at 100?  Yes, No, N/A  Points  Weighting  Meets, Partially Meets, Fails to Meet  Scale  Blending methodologies May LA County13

Data…Data…Data May LA County14

How can QA help exceed the callers expectations?  Identify service gaps  Identify training needs  Notice and report trends  Define and refine protocols  Contribute to creating a consistent environment May LA County15

How QA can help with funding opportunities…  Provide trend information based on call monitoring for new programs  Recorded success stories reinforces the value of your agency  Accessibility of information May LA County16

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What effect does training, especially ongoing training, have on agent performance? May LA County18

Types of Training  Skill based  Knowledge based  In-house  External  Hands on  eLearning  Refresher  Any combination of the above May LA County19

What is Coaching? A process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve. The facilitation of the exploration of needs, motivators, desires, skills, and thought processes to assist the individual or group in making real lasting changes. May LA County20

Why Coach?  Improved work performance  Improved job satisfaction  Consistency in the organization  Produces measurable results in relation to the set goal(s) in a specified time frame.  Protects investments in staff May LA County21

Coaching Style Matrix May LA County

Matrix Styles  Supervising The coach clearly defines the roles & tasks & supervises their execution. Decisions are made by the coach & communication is unidirectional.  Coaching The coach still determines the tasks and roles but also asks the coached person for suggestions. Decisions are made by the coach but communications are dialogue based. May LA County23

Matrix Styles Continued  Support The coached person accepts the decisions and executes them. The coach facilitates decision-making but is no longer in the driver’s seat.  Delegating The coach is still involved in problem-solving, but the coached person is in the driver’s seat. The coached person decides when and how the coach is involved. May LA County24

Remember to Adjust and Re-Adjust- Things do not stay the same! May LA County The skill-will balance of a person is not a constant given; it evolves as time goes by. Nevertheless, it is a good guideline for estimating your timekeeping as a coach, especially when you are coaching an entire team. For instance, you can map every individual of your team on this matrix and balance your time-keeping as a coach accordingly.

Effective Coaching Techniques  Identify the issue or area of improvement  Establish the goal  Examine the current reality  Explore the options  Establish the will May LA County26

Tips for Coaching Success  Know your own role  Practice by coaching yourself  Ask great questions  Listen well  Document results  Follow up and follow through May LA County27

Key Question “How can I help support you to be successful and achieve your goals?” May LA County28

Overcoming Coaching Challenges  Try a different technique or style  Ask the person how you can best help them  Perhaps see if someone else is a better coach for them  Spend the time it takes to know someone-gains trust and confidence  Lead by example May LA County29

Documentation Is it really necessary to document coaching? YES! May LA County30

Best Practices  Know the person you are coaching  Fully understand the problem  Set a goal that is Specific-Measurable-Realistic  Ask open-ended questions  Allow the person to offer the solutions and provide guidance  Partner  Follow up  Document, document, document May LA County31

12/03/ LA County32 ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IF YOU LET IT! -Mary Poppins- Take action now! Quality, training, and coaching can’t take a back seat any longer.

Questions May LA County

Contact Information Amy Latzer Chief Operations Officer May LA County34