Call Center Made Easy

FISMA Role and Responsibilities

2019-07-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

The assignment of roles and responsibilities for information security within the federal government was clarified or reiterated within FISMA to cover policy, procurement, standards, and incident response. Although FISMA was the last major legislative framework, over the years the foundation has been built upon by a series of Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards and guidelines. Within FISMA, several specific roles were identified:

• Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

• Federal Agencies:

• Head of Agency or equivalent.

• Chief Information Officer (CIO).

• Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO).

• Secretary of Defense (SecDef).

• Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Introduction to FISMA

2019-07-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) was signed into law on December 17, 2002 as part of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347). FISMA permanently reauthorized the framework laid out in the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA) of 2000, which expired in November 2002. FISMA is divided into multiple sections, each of which will be briefly described in this section.

Purpose

FISMA was built upon several existing federal laws designed to ensure the security of federal information and information systems. These federal laws include the Computer Security Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-35), Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-13), and Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (i.e., Clinger-Cohen Act, Public Law 104-106, Division E). The purpose of FISMA, as outlined in Section 3541, is covered in six major objectives

1. Establishment of a framework for ensuring the effectiveness of security controls;

2. Development of mechanisms for effective government-wide management and oversight of security-related risks;

3. Development and maintenance of a minimum set of required security controls;

4. Improvement of oversight of information security programs;

5. Utilization of commercially developed information security products for protecting critical information infrastructures; and

6. Selection of commercially developed information security solutions should be left to individual federal agencies.

CRM Integration Capability/API/Web services

2019-07-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Making an analogy, a dialer is a machine gun of calls, and the CRM database is the ammo depot. Therefore it is important to make sure that the correct agent is calling the list of names or leads that are most appropriate to his or her skills or location as fast as possible. This is the reason why one of the fundamental questions to ask when specifying a dialer solution is if the organization requires the integration of the dialer solution with an existing or future CRM.

It is important to know if the dialer system comes with a list or lead-management database (or integration with an existing one is required) and offers an API or Web services capability to easily move data in and out as required.

Therefore, when writing the RFP, it is crucial to make sure that all requirements linked with the integration with the support application are very well defined. In addition to clearly stating your needs, you must ask the potential vendors about their experience integrating their products with other clients and ask for references (and, of course, check those references).

Conventional Dialers (power-dialers)

2019-07-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

Conventional dialers (also known as power-dialers or autodialers) execute the basic function of dialing at a constant rate and transferring the call to a human attendant. The dialer device can also perform several other tasks, such as announcing verbal messages, leaving messages on answering machines, or transmitting digital data (like SMS messages). There are typically three types of power-dialers:

• Conventional

• Voice-message dialer

• Click-to-call dialer

Conventional: This type of dialer executes the basic functions of dialing from a list and transferring the call to a human attendant. In addition, these devices usually can monitor the dialed numbers and change them to seamlessly provide services such as least-cost routing.

Voice-message dialer: This type of dialer is basically a conventional dialer that automatically dials a list of numbers and detects a live answer or fax/answering machine and plays a prerecorded voice message at the appropriate time. This is often called a voice-messaging dialer, or voice-message broadcasting. It completely automates the dialing process and is able to play a prerecorded message to hundreds or thousands of people in a short period of time.

Click-to-call dialer: The agent sets the pace, and the function is minimal. This dialer provides very little leverage in that all it does is save the time to dial the phone number from a list.

Preparing a Dialer Specification (RFP)

2019-07-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

It is important to understand your specific needs in order to prepare an adequate RFP that guarantees you get what you need for the right price. Therefore, you need to define your dialing requirements, and based on them, identify the right technology and ideal contracting strategy. Only after that can you search for the adequate vendor. In other words, you can write the RFP only after you have defined your goals clearly. It is advisable to use a systems approach that encompasses:

Analysis→ Design→ Implementation→ Evaluation

When writing the RFP, you should be aware that vendors sometimes package their products and services in such a way as to make it difficult to make an easy comparison. For example, some hosted-dialer companies charge by the minute, others separate their charges by dialer port and local/long distance or VoIP minutes, and so on. In addition, vendors usually combine features and functions differently. Some charge more but include more functions, others break out and charge for each individual module or feature. The RFP is your instrument to define what you need and how you want to pay for it (trying to force some sort of the standardization in the proposals). It also helps to avoid paying for unnecessary features or functions.

Dialing Rate Asynchrony

2019-07-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

When there is an asynchrony between the dial rate and the available agents, you have a situation with two possible outcomes:

1) There are more live parties on call attempts than there are agents available.

2) There are more agents available than there are live parties on call attempts.

Usually, when you have a situation like that, both situations occur intermittently.

If we have more live parties on call attempts than there are agents available to take those calls, the dialer will disconnect or delay distribution of calls that cannot be distributed to an agent. This is known as a silent call or a nuisance call. The called party hears only silence when the predictive dialer does not at least play a recorded message.

The experience for the clients who receive a silent call can be very unsatisfactory when we have an appreciable period of silence before a call is routed to a sales representative. This annoys people and also gives them a chance to hang up. A high rang-up/dropped calls rate is a clear indicator of asynchrony between the dial rate and the availability of agents. This is a big problem and we should be aware of the following facts:

1) A very small percentage of the mailings are actual clients, and reaching them and then having no way to treat them is very disappointing from the company perspective.

2) The client gets upset for getting a silent call.

3) These calls have a cost which, depending on the hang-up rate, can be very significant.

Some countries even regulate the number of silent calls that a company can make within a certain time frame. A good reference point on this problem is that a maximum of 3 percent of the calls, measured as a percentage of live calls made, may be dropped. More than that, and you may have a problem.

In some countries there are regulations defining the need for a mandatory abandon message to be played when no agents are available and there is an obligation to inform the caller ID.

If you have more agents available than there are live parties on call attempts, you will have agents idle, which reduces your productivity.

Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the asynchrony causes problems in both ways. If your predictive dialer is not able to adjust the dial rate properly, you will have moments in which you will have more calls than agents (silent calls and hang-ups/dropped calls) and moments with more agents than calls (low productivity and idle agents).

It is worth mentioning an aspect, which, although operational, tends to have a big impact in the dialers’ productivity: if you mix databases of numbers already used several times (in which the concentration of bad numbers tends to be higher) and new databases in the same campaign, the results tend to be worse than if you keep them separated.

How a Predictive Dialer Works

2019-06-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

In a conventional dialer system, if you have a hundred agents working on it, for example, the dialer will dial a number of calls sometimes crudely based on the phone line to agent ratio—let’s say two to one. This means that for each available agent, the system will dial the phone numbers of two potential customers. The dialing ratio doesn’t change.

In a predictive-dialer system, the dialer will monitor each call and determine the outcome of the call. The system will immediately strip out any unproductive results, such as busy calls (these are usually queued for automatic redial), no answers, and invalid numbers, verify the number of agents available and the typical call duration, and adjust the dial rate.

Some predictive dialers incorporate also fax/answering machine detection, which tries to determine if a live person or a machine picked up the call. Today, most dialers have some sort of recognition feature; however, be aware that tuning the device to the public network is the key to making it work properly.

The adjustment of the dial rate is necessary because if not enough calls are made ahead, agents will sit idle, whereas if there are too many calls made and there are not enough agents to handle them, then the call is typically dropped. A predictive dialer system will adjust the dial rate appropriately to avoid both situations.

An advanced predictive dialer determines and uses many operating characteristics that it learns during the calling campaign and adjusts automatically to the pattern of an ongoing campaign. Examples of such statistics include call-connection rates (both current and average for recent past days by hour of the day), average agent connection time, and geographic location dialed. It uses these statistics continually to make sophisticated predictions so as to minimize agent idle time while controlling occurrences of nuisance calls (and consequently dropped calls), which are answered calls without the immediate availability of an agent. An advanced predictive dialer can readily maintain the ratio of nuisance calls to answered calls at less than a fraction of 1 percent while still dialing ahead. However, this level of performance may require a sufficiently large critical mass of agents. Conversely, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a high talk-time percentage with a lower number of agents without increasing dropped calls.

Autodialers versus Predictive Dialers

2019-06-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Power-dialers are usually best suitable to business-to-business (B2B) applications, in which more ability from the sales agent is required to navigate receptionists, auto attendants, and voice-mail systems. No current dialer technology is able to navigate the multiple options of a voice menu in a business environment without the guidance of a live representative.

Differently from the predictive dialer, a power-dialer automates the dialing functions in a very simple way by just dialing sequentially a list of numbers. Here we may differentiate power-dialers from a solution widely known as preview: the term “preview” usually refers to a solution in which each user commands the dialing process—almost as a speed-dialing process. The power-dialer, on the other hand, generates the calls independently of the user command and has a ratio of number of user versus number of trunks other than 1:1.

Talk time and total call attempts are not quite as high as a predictive dialer; however, if you deploy a power-dialer in a B2B or multiple calls B2C environment and associate it with guided-voice messaging technology and a CRM or lead management database, the power-dialer shows its full potential.

Power-dialers are best suitable for telesales, inside-sales, or outside-sales organizations in which the sales process is more complex and requires multiple calls for closure. It is also optimal for organizations that invest heavily in their lead sources and can’t afford to abandon a single call with the resulting negative perception from the person at the other end. This translates to all B2B environments and specific B2C call centers that invest in high-value leads.

Predictive dialers, on the other hand, are the best alternative when volume of calls and time on the phone are the main requirements. The predictive algorithm requires a group of agents large enough to be able to effectively leverage the “predictive” effect with multiple lines. The group of agents concurrently logged must be at least twenty to thirty. If this is the case, there are case studies where predictive dialers are able to keep agents productively talking on the phone from forty-seven to fifty-two minutes of an hour.

Predictive dialers are specifically designed for business-to-consumer applications because they require short and consistent lengths of calls and direct-dial phone numbers. They are best when used in a one-call close type of telemarketing, short surveys, or prequalification of consumers. They are not designed to navigate the phone systems, auto attendants, or receptionists of a business environment. The predictive dialers are not suitable for a B2B environment, and even in a B2C environment it is not advisable to deploy predictive dialers for expensive or valuable leads.

Predictive dialers should not be used with leads that require multiple attempts to ensure contact. They are best for single-script, telemarketing operations and are rarely effective in telesales or inside-sales organizations that require a multiple-call or complex sale.

Call Center Predictive Dialers

2019-06-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

An evolved form of automated dialer are called predictive dialers. In addition to automatically dialing a list of phone numbers for customers or prospective customers, as traditional dialers do, the predictive dialers execute two sets of activities, which increase enormously the productivity of the dialing process:

1) Screens out no-answers, busy signals, standard information tones (SITs), and fax/answering machines, only sending calls that reach a live person to a sales agent. Here it is interesting to note that to be able to screen such things it is necessary to have a fine tuning between the public network signalling and the device. That means lengthy installation times and a very high level of sensitivity in any shift of trunks and operators.

2) Using intelligent algorithms, these devices can detect when an agent is wrapping up a call; they’ll then begin dialing the next number and send the call to that agent as soon as a dialer reaches a live voice on the other end. These algorithms are also capable of detecting the number of available telephone lines, available operators, and average length of each call. Therefore, these devices predict the dialing rate in order to match it with the number of available agents.

While the basic autodialer merely automatically dials telephone numbers for call-center agents who are idle or waiting for a call, the predictive dialer uses a variety of algorithms to predict both the availability of agents and called-party answers, adjusting the calling rate to the number of agents it predicts will be available when the calls it places are expected to be answered.

By using a dialer to filter out these unproductive calls and to spare the agent from having to wait (adjusting the dial rate), call centers can improve productivity enormously. Agents can now spend on average around 80 percent of their time talking to customers and only about 20 percent of their time waiting for the next call.

Compared with the conventional dialer (known in some countries as autodialer or power-dialer), predictive dialers have shown increases in talk time from twenty minutes in the hour to almost fifty (25 percent to 85 percent). However, predictive dialers are more suitable for low-quality mailings and large numbers of agents, and we should be aware that an unexpectedly high contact rate can overwhelm the system, leading to a high rate of call abandonment. We should be aware that the ability to identify bad numbers, answering machines, and fax machines isn’t what defines a predictive dialer—sophisticated power-dialers may do those things also—but rather it is the ability to use this information, plus the average duration and available agents, to adjust the dial rate.

In operational terms, we have to understand that before running a campaign, the call list data (this is usually called a mailing or campaign), is loaded into the dialer. Then, the dialing process starts, and statistics are kept about what is happening. Most predictive dialers generate reports that indicate call attempts and unsuccessful calls by type. Unsuccessful calls are often analyzed to determine if the number called needs to be called back later or needs special treatment, such as a manual or autodialed call by an agent to listen to an answering-machine message. Some companies adopt the practice of what is called “cleaning the mailing,” which consists of using dedicated dialers to call the numbers very quickly. The call duration is just enough to check if the number is valid (whatever the reason) and separate it from the mailing. Only after performing this cleaning are the separated numbers loaded in production dialers. Usually, the devices used for cleaning the mailing lists are connected to service providers whose charging granularity doesn’t exceed 18s as the minimum time charged per call, regardless of the real duration of the call. This practice maximizes the productivity because it allows the separation of the different kinds of situations in a more dedicated form. As examples, fax machines may receive a predefined fax message, and answering machines may receive a prerecorded message. Of course, it could be done by the same dialer in the first place, but very often infrastructures are not uniformly built and, depending on the situation, this strategy may be very useful

Call Center Dialers

2019-06-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

The outbound operations usually are extremely challenging for telecom managers. These are the kind of operations in which just keeping the lights on is not enough, and usually the difference between a good installation and a bad one can make a huge difference in terms of productivity and influence directly the company’s bottom line.

The deployment of devices called diallers (British English) or dialers (American English) designed to automatically dial telephone numbers, can generate significative productivity gains. However, you should not have the delusion that just buying the devices generates the productivity gains by default. The telecom manager has to understand that the productivity gains come from a well-balanced combination of three factors:

• Well-chosen equipment

• A good installation and proper configuration

• A good management of the tool in the day-by-day operations

Dialers are crucial tools for outbound call centers, because they free the agents of the work of dialing and make it possible for them to concentrate their effort in actually talking with the clients. If badly implemented, dialers may produce lackluster results and increase operational costs.

In addition to the basic function of dialing and transferring the call for an human attendant, the dialer device can also perform several other tasks, such as announce verbal messages (called a robocall in the United States) or transmit digital data (like SMS messages).

In addition, these devices usually can verify the dialed numbers and change them to seamlessly provide services that otherwise require lengthy access codes to be dialed. Typically, a dialer can automatically insert and modify the numbers depending on the time of day, country, or area code dialed, allowing also the selection of the service providers who offer the best rates.

For example, a dialer could be programmed to use one service provider for international calls and another for mobile calls. These processes are known as prefix insertion and least-cost routing.

Although most dialers can execute the least-cost routing, it is interesting to note that in large installations it may not be ideal to do so because that usually means the number of trunks (T1/E1) supported by each dialer box may not be enough for all dialing circumstances.

For example, if in a particular moment you have lots of fix-to-mobile calls, the number of mobile trunks available in each box may not be enough. This is the reason why it usually makes more sense to pool the trunks groups in a large voice switch and do the routing from there.

Dialer systems are commonly used by telemarketing organizations involved in B2C (business-to-consumer) calling, because it allows their sales representatives to have much more customer contact time. Market-survey companies and debt-collection services that need to contact and personally speak to a lot of people by telephone may also use dialers.

More commonly, dialers are now being used as a quick and easy way to automate all types of calls that would otherwise be made manually by a call center, such as welcome calls for new customers, customer service call backs, appointment confirmations/reminders, or even for the automation of large numbers of ad hoc calls that might need to take place (such as by a taxi company or a parcel-delivery service). The basic idea behind the device is that if a person were to sit down and manually dial one thousand people, a large percentage of these calls will not result in contact with someone at the other end.

Out of one thousand calls made, typically only about 25 to 35 percent would actually connect to a live person. Of the rest, a large number (often 40 to 60 percent) won’t be answered at all, around 10 percent might be answering machines, faxes, modems, or other electronic devices, around 5 percent of numbers would be busy, and the rest will result in network errors or be identified as invalid numbers. For call centers that need to make large numbers of outbound calls, this represents a big problem. Typically, in manual-dialing environments, any given agent will spend around 90 percent of his or her time listening to the phone ring, waiting to talk to someone, or dealing with invalid numbers, or answering machines, and only about 10 percent of the time actually doing what they are really there to do.

The benefit of dialers in general is that they can make many more calls in a much shorter period of time than an agent manually dialing each phone number. If the dialer encounters a busy signal or no answer, it will schedule itself to dial the number again later without human intervention. The system can also keep track of an entire campaign’s progress in real time—which would be nearly impossible if attempted manually.

Call Center Billing Auditing

2019-06-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Billing auditing is the process of verifying carefully in the bill if what was charged by the service provider was what was agreed to in the contract. This verification includes the recalculation of each call and the verification of every item charged in the bill.

Typically, most organizations don’t do the complete recalculation of all calls every month; usually they do that only for the ones in which big discrepancies between what was identified by the billing system and what was actually charged were spotted.

Nevertheless, verifying the bills is a necessity in a large call center. Verification identifies charge discrepancies and enables the organization to get the due reimbursement for overcharging from the PTT providers. Experience shows that savings between 5 percent and 12 percent are usually attainable through regular auditing of the bills. Considering the expenditures with telecom of large call centers, 5 percent can mean an enormous amount of money, and therefore auditing the bills usually is worth the effort.

Here it is interesting to mention that when we say verify the bills most people think about re-calculating the value charged for the calls. Although this is no doubt an important part of the verification, there are several other things that should be checked:

• Verification whether the charges are associated to trunks that actually belong to the organization

• Verification if there are undue charges for installation or trunk subscription

• Verification if there are penalties for late payment unduly charged

• Verification if there are charges for not achieving the minimum-committed volume

Whether the charges are associated to trunks that actually belong to the organization should be verified. Although it may seem a bit obvious, the first and basic verification (very often not executed) is to check if the bill belongs to the organization, and the resource is actually being used. It is not uncommon to receive bills that don’t belong to the organization or previously belonged but the resource was cancelled or deactivated. In large operations with several sites (sometimes in different countries), just to be able to check if the bills belong to the organization and verify if the amount charged is compatible with the historical value is in itself a difficult task.

Verification if there are undue charges for installation or trunk subscription is a very common problem. That includes all sorts of charges ranging from installations fees to trunks subscriptions and special services. Those charges sometimes are a large percentage of the bill and their verification is far from easy.

Verification is necessary if there are penalties or interest for late payment unduly charged. Such charges very often are wrongly calculated and don’t correspond to what was defined in the contract. The bill verifier has to check if the penalties and interest are due and if they were rightly calculated as defined in the contract.

Verification if there are charges for not achieving the minimum-committed volume is important to verify if there are charges for not achieving the minimum-committed volume and if these charges were properly calculated as defined in the contract. Usually, the difference between what was committed and what was actually used has to be paid in full.

These kinds of problems very often provoke more overcharges than the mistakes in the calculation of the calls. Besides the direct financial gains, auditing the bills enables the evaluation of many other important aspects linked with the management of a large call-center operation:

• Identifying the delicate balancing act between the minimum volume commitment and tariffs

• Identifying volume and duration of the calls, which is crucial to negotiate charging granularity

• Identifying the point at which least-cost route configuration in the PBXs needs adjustment due to changes in tariffs

• Knowing when it becomes feasible to have a private-voice network (interest of traffic concentrated in some specific area code)

• Accurately calculating the number of trunks and circuits (capacity planning)

Analyzing the voice bills enables accurate answers to all these questions, and the telecom manager should be aware that the analysis of a telecom bill is much more than just checking the tariffs. It is also about verifying the traffic and comparing the current prices against available alternatives.

The process of verifying the bill usually follows these steps:

• Verify if the bill and the resources belong to the organization.

• Verify if the value charged is compatible with the historical value.

• Verify if the minimum-committed volume was achieved (if not, recalculate the penalty and check if it was rightly charged).

• Verify if there is any penalty and interest for late payment being charged.

• Verify if the charging period is correct and if there is any additional fee being charged for unsolicited services, such as installation or subscription.

• Identify resources not in use, such as trunks without any calls.

After verifying these basic items, you should check the calls, recalculating the value and checking the traffic interest:

• Verify from and to where each call was made.

• Identify the area codes from and to each call.

• Verify how much each call is supposed to cost, based on the organization’s specific contract, and identify the discrepancies.

• Identify if the taxes were properly applied.

• Verify if there are calls charged outside of the admissible charging period.

When auditing telephone bills, it is important to consider that this procedure is effective only when there is a process in place to define how and when the organization will be reimbursed. Contracts must have dispute clauses, and, ideally, the contracts in place should foresee that. If errors were spotted in the bills before the payment due date, the organization can notify the service provider and pay only what was considered due. The values over which there is disagreement must be discussed jointly. If the charges prove to be right, the organization pays the service provider without penalties for delaying the payment (interest is due).

The organization musts define a formal process through which all invoice disputes are treated. The process needs a definition of time frames for each party involved and should mirror the dispute resolution clauses of individual contracts or master agreements. Typically, the whole process of disputing a bill from identification to solution should not exceed three months.

The SLA must consider that the invoice payment doesn’t imply acceptance of the charged values. Ideally, the organization should have at least one year to audit the values charged, and the SLA should foresee that. If the errors identified exceed 5 percent of the total value of the bills, the service providers must reimburse the organization for the costs involved in auditing the bills. This is a considerable cost and a good mechanism for keeping service providers accurate.

The organization must define clearly the time after which charges are not acceptable (in some countries it is defined by law). For example, services provided more than six months ago should not be charged.

The organization must schedule regular meetings with the service provider invoice team. Such meetings should be forums to discuss problems with the invoices and items added, changed, and cancelled.

The organization should try to define standardized invoice cycles and guarantee that all invoices are due on the same day; this simplifies the billing and payment process.

Of course, all these recommendations depend on negotiation at the contract stage and arguably these points belong in the negotiations chapter. However, these clauses only become meaningful if actual billing verification is done; without it you will have no recourse or knowledge of billing errors.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG MANAGEMENT

2012-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Brech identifies the role of management as encompassing four main elements:

Planning – determining the broad lines for carrying out operations, preparing methods by which they are carried out and setting standards of performance.
Control – checking actual performance against standards to ensure satisfactory progress and performance, and recording as a guide to possible future operations.
Coordination – balancing and maintaining the team by ensuring a suitable division of work and seeing that tasks are performed in harmony.
Motivation – or inspiring morale. Getting members of the team to work effectively, to give loyalty to the group and to the task, to carry out their tasks properly, and to play an effective part in the activities of the organization.

Brech’s four main elements are a satisfactory starting point to understand the role of management; however, the success of management relies upon the accuracy in which the above four elements are executed. Drucker emphasizes this point when he defines the differences between effectiveness and efficiency. ‘Effectiveness is the foundation of success – efficiency is concerned with doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.’ A good manager can plan, lead, coordinate and control work efficiently but a great manager will understand the effectiveness of the work that is being done and how that effectiveness influences the customer’s perception of the service.

The quality of management within an organization significantly influences the culture of the organization. Schein maintained that the major factors influencing an organization’s culture are:

what leaders pay attention to, measure and control on a regular basis;
how leaders react to critical incidents and organizational crises;
observed criteria by which leaders allocate scarce resources;
deliberate role modelling, teaching and coaching by leaders;
observed criteria by which leaders allocate rewards and status;
observed criteria by which leaders, recruit, select, promote, etc.

What is the one noun which links all of Schein’s findings together? The answer is ‘leader’.

Of course by the term ‘leaders’ in call centres we are referring to managers, those who have significant influence over the work of trainers, agents, planners and recruitment. Some theorists argue that leadership and management are two completely different roles. Kotter for example argues, ‘Management is about coping with complexity. . . Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.’ However, in a call centre leadership and management are intertwined; they should not be separated. Call centre managers have to have a vision about how they feel the call centre should work to meet the organizational objectives and they have to deal with the complexity of making those visions a reality. In this chapter we are not going to separate the roles of leadership and management as they are both equally important.

Schein identifies that the conscious and unconscious behaviours of managers determine the organization’s culture. Therefore, the greatest influencing factor in any organization is the behaviour of its managers. This works on all levels. Of course senior managers and directors have the greatest influence but team leaders and functional managers such as those running call centres exert significant influence on the culture, productivity and wellbeing of the call centre.

The importance of management and its relationship to development was reinforced further in a study by International Survey Research, which reported that levels of employee commitment in the UK are significantly lower than in most of the world’s major economies. This lack of commitment is resulting in a lack of competitive advantage for the UK in relation to other global giants. The study conducted by ISR stated that the four most important factors in determining the commitment levels of a workforce are closely linked to the quality of support and ability to do their role. The four key factors are:

employees’ assessment of the quality of their company’s leadership;
employees’ evaluation of the development opportunities their organization provides;
employees’ judgement as to whether they are sufficiently empowered and trained to carry out their work effectively;
employees’ ratings of the people management skills of their immediate supervisor.

If we examine the above findings we see two of the main factors are related to leadership and management skills (1 and 4) and the remaining two are linked to training and development (2 and 3). If we link all four factors together we come to the assumption that instilling learning within the organization, in particular management development, is pivotal in the productivity and success of the individual companies and the wider economy.

For call centres this is fundamental. It is common knowledge that the majority of call centres believe their staff commitment levels are too low, resulting in high turnover. The objective of the traditional call centre production model is to maximize volume and minimize costs, and high turnover is acceptable, even encouraged. The work organization is designed to minimize skill requirements, discretion and job cycle time, thus ensuring turnover of staff is not critical to the overall objective. However, in the modern call centre, this mass production model is obsolete. The integrity, discretion and knowledge required to do the role results in the time taken for a new agent to become proficient as anywhere between six and 26 weeks. A modern call centre cannot operate efficiently and effectively with high sickness absence rates and high turnover as a result of low staff commitment. If organizations are to compete on quality and customer loyalty as well as price, the investment in management practices that maximize the skills and abilities of the work force must become a priority.

Call Center Management is not simple

2012-04-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

A whole industry has been established around the idea of simplifying management. To read some of the literature produced by motivation coaches and solutions providers we can assume management is easy and if managers do not find it easy they are doing something wrong. Those involved in management development must first of all understand the complexities of management in order to define what exactly the development needs are. Perhaps the most realistic definitions of management are those that admit that it’s a complex and messy job:

Managerial work across all levels. . . is characterized by pace, brevity, variety and fragmentation. . . It is hectic and fragmented, requiring the ability to shi continuously from relationship to relationship, from topic to topic, from problem to problem.

Management relates to all activities of the organization and is undertaken at all levels of the organization. Management is not a separate, discrete function. It cannot be departmentalized or scrutinized. An organization cannot have a department of management in the same way it can have a department for other functions, such as production, marketing, accounting, or personnel.

So the first conclusions we can make about management is that it is far from simplistic, it can cover everything and it effects everyone and to a greater or lesser degree we all need to be able to manage. What we also know is that in call centres there are managers. These are the people who have a greater responsibility for coordinating the work of others as well as their own. They are the ones responsible for the workforce planning, performance measurement, motivating employees and ensuring agents have the information to actually resolve customer queries.

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), a US-based call centre consultancy service, defines call centre management as, ‘the art of having the right number of properly skilled people and supporting resources in place at the right times to handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level and with quality’. This definition of call centre management is weighted towards the responsibilities of workforce planning; what can be described as the management of the tangible aspects of the organization, ensuring the department is running efficiently. However, as we know this is only one aspect of management; it fails to recognize that management in practice involves coping with contradictory demands, pressures and politics. The call centre is a great example of contradictory demands and call centre managers have to manage the constant tension between the sometimes opposing goals of service efficiency and customer service effectiveness.

The majority of a call centre manager’s work is not spent on workforce planning; in fact a significant proportion of this type of work is undertaken by specialists with the assistance of automated so ware planning tools. The majority of a manager’s time is spent on ensuring the intangible assets of the call centre, such as, knowledge, capabilities, group dynamics and culture are effectively being utilized to improve the effectiveness of the service to the customer. The ICMI definition of call centre management fails to recognize motivation.

Management Development in Call Centres

2012-04-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?

Prior to defining the management development practices in call centres it is important to first of all define what exactly is meant by the term ‘management’ and place it in a call centre context. The starting point of any training and development project is identifying the training and development need. For example, the training and development need in an induction course would be for employees to be sufficiently trained in the organization’s systems, products and culture to effectively answer customer queries. In management development this may be slightly more difficult to define and it may involve the identification and development of individuals with the potential to manage departments or functions in the future. In addition, it may be the development of individuals who can supervise people to undertake predefined work processes, and also be the strategic development of individuals who are already in existing management positions.

Those involved in the design of management development should start by asking the following question: ‘What exactly is meant by management within our organization?’ A clear understanding of what is expected from managers within a call centre will allow trainers and educators to assess the management development requirements of the department/organization/individual, plan and design how the need will be met, deliver the required training and then measure the success of it against the previously defined objectives.

‘Management’ and ‘manager’ are generic terms that are interpreted differently from call centre to call centre. In some organizations a team leader responsible for the activities of a collective of call centre agents may be called a manager. In other organizations the term ‘manager’ is specific to the strategic hierarchy at the very top of the organization.

The 1995 edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines management as the ‘professional administration of business concerns’. In essence, the ‘occupational group that organizes and coordinates, and makes decisions about what work is done, how it is done (and) by whom’. In call centres the term ‘manager’ is usually applied to those who oversee the administration and, in large centres, the administration of certain functions such as training, HR and planning will be overseen by functional specialist managers. These management specialists will report directly to an individual who oversees all call centre operations. They may not have the title manager but they will be responsible for the management of the centre. Figure 1 gives a basic overview of a typical call centre departmental structure.

Figure 1: A typical call centre organizational chart

Peter Drucker (1974) and Charles Handy (1993), two of the most widely acknowledged theorists within the area of management, argue that management cannot be defined and a empts to do so are meaningless. This is largely based upon the idea that management, by nature, is something that permeates throughout organizations to all levels of employment. A number of authors argue that management encompasses so much of an organization that all employees, to a greater or lesser degree, must have the ability to manage. Torrington et al argue that, ‘Management is not just a job done by people called ”managers”, it is an aspect done by all those who have to cope with the problems and opportunities of organization.’ The repercussions of this for training and development is that in essence everyone has to have an ability to manage, whether it be individuals managing their own workload or their personal development plan, relationships with colleagues or large multi-site call centre operations.

The BBC has an approach to management development that reinforces the idea that management skills are not just required for those with the word ‘manager’ in their job title. A management development information pack from the BBC includes the paragraph:

Fourth and most important, management training is available not simply for line managers, but for anyone with a management component in their job. In practice this means most of us. We all have to manage our time, our priorities, the resources we use, our colleagues and our boss.

We are all managers to a greater or lesser extent as we all have some degree of control over our life and a process within the business in which we are employed. The interdependent nature of the modern working environment means we all call on resources and employees to get the work done. Management therefore is a phenomenon that is pivotal to the complexities of modern day life.

Furthermore, despite the organizational re-engineering, restructuring, mergers and outsourcing, practices that dominated the global business climate in the last decade, the number of managers is actually increasing. A report by the Chartered Management Institute identified that the numbers of managers had substantially increased during previous decades and this was expected to continue

TIPS FOR THE TRAINER | System skills training

2012-04-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

The trainer needs to sit through training as a participant first!
If it is a new system, use a pilot or test group before training groups of employees.
The trainer needs to be able to complete the work as an agent.
You need to have train the trainer and facilitation techniques.
You need to have very good IT skills.
You should co-tutor for all sessions at least once, but not all in the same programme.
The trainer needs to be assessed by an experienced trainer/training manager.
Conduct an ongoing review of evaluation sheets after each programme.

Trainer tips: don’ts

Don’t ‘chalk and talk’: they don’t want to be bored, and return to ‘school’.
Don’t treat participants like children: they are adult learners and you need to use learning methods suited to adult learners.
Don’t conduct training in isolated sections: integrate the training into other core skills training: customer service, problem solving, etc.
Don’t share computers: participants should work independently.
Don’t train on a different version of the live system: to maximize learning, participants must be trained on exactly the same version as the live system.
Never use ‘live data’: when training, use data that are constructed or ‘dead’ and which is not confidential.

Trainer tips: dos

Training approach needs to be interactive.
Trainer first needs to sit through training as a participant.
Both content and methods should be fun and entertaining.
Follow the profile of so -skills training.
Best completed in small ‘bite-size chunks’.
Allow plenty of time during the sessions to practise skills.
Conduct a practical test after each key learning stage.
Build in the time for the participants to understand and reflect on what they have learnt.
Test the skills learnt as you progress through the programme content.
Build skills one piece at a time.
Make available an online or hard copy resource for quick reference post-training.
Use a ratio of one trainer to eight to 12 participants if possible.
Devote the largest proportion of time to system skills training.
It helps if the participants understand the metrics they will be assessed against, so use these when testing skills development during the sessions.
Maintain one pace during the sessions. Keep the group working together.

THE TRAINING CYCLE | System skills training

2012-04-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

In order to adopt a systematic approach to your training it is helpful to use the key stages of the training cycle, and if you follow the cycle in the design and delivery of your training programme, you will create a more effective learning environment.

1. Assessing the participant’s training needs

When dealing with system skills training this is a quite straightforward stage, particularly during induction. Most organizations use customized systems, so a set of very specific learning requirements exist that are the same for all course participants. System skills training o en takes place when a modification to the system occurs or a new product is introduced and this training is essentially the same for all employees.

Once the employee is fully operational on the system, individual training requirements are normally identified through analysis of the metrics used by that department or section. This analysis indicates if training is required to raise the employee’s level of performance. When this occurs, any system skills training should be tailored to that individual’s particular learning requirement, rather than reusing the original system skills training programme. The individual may require refresher training on just one aspect of the system, or may have not understood one element of the system when trained during induction.

Unfortunately, system skills training is o en used to address deficiencies in an employee’s metrics and fails to address the individual’s actual training needs. It is important, therefore, that you have a discussion with both the individual employee and with the team leader to more closely identify the individual’s specific training needs. Remember, not all performance gaps are the result of a lack of knowledge regarding the system.

2. Designing training

During this stage you are already clear about the training needs of the participants and should use these as the basis for your training objectives for the programme. You need to now consider the techniques that you should use during the training. A key consideration at this stage is the availability of a ‘training version’ of the organization’s system. A training version will allow the trainees to practise in a safe learning environment that is as realistic as possible, while still protecting the organization’s main system and data from any errors or ‘mishaps’ that may occur with trainees practising on a live system and using live data. The choice of training techniques will depend on the training needs of the participants. Due to the nature of system skills training, the key techniques should be a combination of computer-based training, instruction and group discussion.

Each technique has advantages and disadvantages and you need to consider these when you are deciding on which techniques to include. The activities most o en used in system skills training are as follows.

Instruction

You will need to instruct and facilitate the training sessions. However, in using this approach you should remember that a lack of interaction with the participants during the instruction and input stages may result in misunderstanding occurring. Success in using this method relies on a number of key issues including:

Providing the opportunity for participants to ask questions after each input stage. This will allow clarity to be sought where necessary.
The length of the input will o en determine the participant’s ability to concentrate. The longer the input, the more likely the participant is to lose concentration. Bite-size learning (Black, 2004) is one way to achieve this by delivering both instruction and practical exercises in small sections.
You need to sound enthusiastic when delivering instruction if you are to maintain the learner’s interest.
Speak clearly and vary the tone of your voice throughout each instruction section.

Technology-based training

The majority of your training sessions will involve the participant working on computer-based training systems to simulate the real working environment. You should consider the following:

Technology-based training needs to be horizontally and vertically integrated into other core components of the training such as customer service training and problem solving skills training. Combine the so -skills training elements (such as customer service and telephone skills) with the system skills training. This will allow you to fully train the employee by simulating real working situations.
The technology-based training needs to be in sync with the natural customer process. For example, if a new customer is calling to enquire about car insurance, he or she will need to be asked basic questions on name, address, age, car make and model, etc. Importantly, the operating system will need to work in the same way and allow the trainee to enter the data in a logical customer process, as opposed to requiring information such as ‘How did you hear about us?, and ‘Who is your current insurance provider?’ These questions can be asked at a later stage, once the information required for the call is obtained.
Break the job down into the core skills to build system skills training. For example, using a financial services context, there is no point in teaching a new employee how to process driver and/or car changes to an existing car insurance policy if the trainee does not know the basics of how to provide a new car insurance quote. In this example it is best to show the trainees how to respond to an initial request; how to provide an insurance quote; how to process payment for immediate cover following the quote; how to make amendments to an existing policy; and numerous other logical steps up to and including terminating insurance cover.
Teach participants the logical steps involved in a call, then practise these steps using the phone and the system, during training. The point here is that the trainees will need to be allowed time to practise the technique of talking with customers, while at the same time operating the system. It is likely that the customer will ask questions or make requests that are not typical/logical during the course of a normal call. The trainees will need sufficient experience and knowledge, therefore, to handle these instances. In certain call centre environments there may also be a requirement to inform the customers about mandatory information, eg if your customers apply for a loan or a credit card, the agents will have to inform the customer about mandatory statements that are required from the Financial Regulator. This must also be practised during the training sessions and its position in the call determined.
Never use live data for your training sessions. This may be both inappropriate and unethical.
This training needs to be practice-based, using real examples. For instance, if you are putting up an insurance quote on the system, it would be best to provide the trainees with some basic details that will be required from real customers such as name, address, age, car make and model, etc and get the trainees to enter the data and provide you with the initial insurance quote. Where possible, and at key stages, the trainees should be required to practise what has been learnt.

Group discussion

By building in time for short group discussion sessions (5 to 10 minutes) after each section has been covered, participants can learn from each other. It is important that you structure each of these sessions to ensure that the discussion does not diverge too far from the topic being talked about. These sessions can be particularly useful when held after instruction sections and after practical assessments. You can also gather information from the discussion that can assist you in adapting information you might include in future training sessions, to ensure clarity of instruction and to maximize learning. Building on the previous example you could consider asking the trainees, what is the price of their insurance quote? Where the trainees have different quotes, explore why. It is also possible to explore with the trainees the importance of getting the information right and accurate, as it will impact on the insurance quote provided.

Role plays

These are particularly important learning mechanisms for developing interpersonal skills. Employees can role play with each other, one acting as the customer and the other acting as the employee.

It is useful to record these role plays and allow the participants the opportunity to listen back to their own call and then make suggestions on how they could have improved the call. You can also provide participants with the opportunity to re-enact the same call after their first attempt has been played back to them. This then consolidates the learning from their first attempt.

Video/DVD

Using videos and DVDs can be helpful in showing examples of good and poor practice to a number of people at the same time. Using short discussion sessions after showing an example will also allow you to gauge the level of understanding in the group. There is a tendency to more easily recall what not to do, so those videos/DVDs that emphasize this aspect are particularly useful.

E-learning

This is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It has many obvious advantages for conducting system skills training. Additional advantages include increased retention and application to the job, and consistent delivery of content is possible. According to Colvin-Clarke and Mayer (2003) e-learning should promote psychological engagement between the learner and the lesson content, in ways that help learners to select, integrate and retrieve new knowledge.

A path that can be used to achieve this learning process is the use of practice exercises. Wilcock (2002) believes that one of the strengths of e-learning is its ability to provide instantaneous feedback to learners by means of online tests and quizzes. These exercises are o en referred to as ‘interactions’ in computer learning environments. Based on empirical evidence, Colvin-Clarke and Mayer (2003) recommend four principles for effective practice in e-learning:

Practice Principle 1: interactions should mirror the thinking process and environment of the job. E-learning designers should create transfer-appropriate interactions. These are activities that require learners to respond in similar ways during training as they will on the job. Therefore problem solving skills should be learnt within the context of realistic problem solving situations. For example, a hotel switchboard operator may be asked how to deal with a call from a hotel guest, saying that she has just dropped her ring down the plughole!

Practice Principle 2:critical tasks require more practice. For critical tasks, for example safety consequences, it is vital that the participants are exposed to many different practice elements prior to working with live data. An example here is that for some aspects of financial services, ie obtaining a loan, the call centre agent will be required to read a number of mandatory sentences to the customer. It is important that the agents do this and it is important that the agents practise these statements and the answers to any potential questions they may get asked during the training sessions.

Practice Principle 3: make sure that the practice exercises are specific to the instruction material being covered. There needs to be a match to assist with the transfer of learning.

Practice Principle 4: train learners to self-question by showing examples followed by practice that requires learners to self-question the instructional materials.

It is vital that your system skills training builds knowledge and skills that are needed on the job. This means you must integrate system skills training with other core activities such as so -skills training, eg customer service and reward mechanisms, so that individuals are rewarded for the right performance each time. This point cannot be over-stressed. In call centre environments it is possible to train employees in many different skills, referred to as multi-skilling. This is an important beneficial aspect of training for the employee, as multi-skilling means that you will encourage career progression and achieve retention, an area acknowledged as being problematic for call centres.

During system skills training, multi-skilling is crucial, as agents have to learn how to use the system while at the same time listening to what the customer is saying and how he or she is saying it. They also o en need to ask questions and guide the conversation, all at the same time. This is an exceptionally difficult skill to master, particularly when the line manager may also be measuring the average call duration and telling the individual to reduce the amount of time spent talking to customers. System skills training therefore needs to incorporate the development of multi-skilling, in the classroom environment. While this skill can be one that is a by-product of experience, if it is not initially included in the training programme, it will be more difficult to develop once live.

An additional aspect for inclusion here is the impact of customers buying online. Customers who buy goods and services online on a regular basis are more likely when they place a call with a contact centre to require a greater degree of knowledge and experience from the agents. Calls of this nature may require ‘second level support’ and this increases the amount of system skills training that agents require in order to solve the customer’s problems. The integration of so -skills training, such as problem solving skills, is vital in this type of situation.

3. Evaluating training

Many organizations fail to evaluate training interventions due to the difficulties involved. Evaluation of a training programme is, however, a necessity to gauge the success of the programme. This data collection and evaluation process must be planned as part of the design and development segment of lesson preparation. Otherwise, it is possible to miss an opportunity to collect data needed for the evaluation process.

The most o en used type of evaluation is what is referred to as ‘first level evaluation’. This takes place at the end of the training and focuses on the reaction level. The basic questions that it seeks to answer are: ‘Were the participants pleased with the programme? How did they feel about such things as lesson or course material, the instructors, the facilities used for the class, the methodology, etc?’ Think of reaction level evaluation as measuring your ‘customer satisfaction’. Remember though, that a positive reaction to a lesson does not ensure that a person has learnt anything, but a negative reaction to a lesson almost certainly reduces the chance for learning. There are a number of reasons why measuring reactions is important. First, it provides you with valuable feedback on the training session. Second, it provides quantitative information about the training that can be used for management review. Finally, it provides information on the session that can be used to establish standards for later classes.

In addition, a more complex type of evaluation needs to take place. Evaluation at the learning level is viewed as problematic by many trainers, but it provides vital information for the trainer and is therefore worth the effort. Learning is o en referred to as the extent to which participants change attitudes, improve knowledge, and/or increase skill as a result of a ending a training programme. To effectively evaluate the learning that has taken place, the training must have a specific objective against which evaluation can be undertaken. For example, in a sales environment it will be quite easy to measure the ability of the new agents to achieve targets. In more product and customer service areas, measures such as quality, mystery callers, errors, recalls, etc can all be used to evaluate the training.

It should be possible to obtain data from the system in relation to errors, call length, etc, which are all useful indicators and if tracked over a period of months and weeks should show a gradual improvement in a new call centre agent’s ability. Methods such as mystery callers will be able to determine the agents overall ability to handle the conversation and manage the interaction with the customer. In fact many contact centres record all calls, and these could also be used for evaluation purposes. In addition, it is also possible on most systems for the team leader to listen in on calls and provide feedback and coaching to the agent at a later time in the day.

One of the key ways in which evaluation can be conducted for those individuals who have been targeted for training by their team leader, as a result of quality or quantity metric deficiencies, is to evaluate job performance both before and after the training. Through this comparison any change can be observed and the change attributed to training.

Key points in the design and delivery process

Delivery needs to be interactive and use participative mechanisms.
Ensure you have clear objectives for the programme at the start.
Design needs to follow the logical customer process.
Ensure employees can use the phone system and give information at the same time.
Provide information in small chunks with appropriate time allocated, eg if it takes five minutes for a customer to give the information, there is no point in allowing them to take 10 minutes to input the information during training.
Provide an accompanying manual for both trainer and participant
– this could be paperless and online.
Systems training needs to be integrated with telephone skills, customer service skills, and problem solving skills training.
If using a manual or online tutorial, it will need to have screen shots to illustrate.
Make sure you are informed of any system changes as they will need to be incorporated in future training sessions.
Ensure any legal requirements/considerations are included.
Inform participants of the details of refresher training.
Begin refresher training with a test to see where any gaps in knowledge or skills exist: your call centre stats or customer feedback should tell you where gaps are.
Regarding how much detail to go into, work back from what is the objective of the training.
Employees can role play with each other, one being the customer the other the employee – record these and let the participants listen back to their own call.

We have included below some tips that we hope you will find useful in the design and delivery of system skills training.

APPLYING LEARNING THEORY TO DATA PROTECTION

2012-04-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

The financial services industry is governed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) Data Protection (DP) Policy. Organizations have to demonstrate at all times the strict application of controls and high standards in regulation with the Data Protection Act. As an organization we have to promote high standards within the company of dealing with personal information, whether it is customer or employee information. The importance of DP ensures that compliance training is of paramount importance during the induction of new recruits, refresher training and management awareness.

As an organization we were faced with the problem of delivering DP legislative compliance training that employees retain and managers reinforce through their language, actions and behaviours. Historically, within our organization legislative compliance training, whether it is health and safety or data protection is notoriously difficult to deliver. It results in difficulties for the trainer in ensuring the training delivery contains the right mix between a general awareness of the principles and the employees understanding the fundamental importance of legislative compliance from both a customers’ and an organization viewpoint. As trainers you often feel you are delivering the sessions to ensure compliance as opposed to ensuring staff understand and value the overall importance of the message.

The DP training was completed using a DVD and, although effective and informative, as an organization we had reservations about relying solely on one training method. This reliance did not allow the trainers to apply alternative learning methods, or check full understanding of the subject matter, nor did it allow initial and continuous assessment to verify competence. The training video was historically delivered at the end of induction training and it was evident that the learning style adopted conflicted with the rest of induction, which was interactive and varied in style and delivery.

The decision was made to fully apply the principles of training and development to DP compliance training. The objective of this was to enhance the employee’s knowledge of DP but also reduce significantly the organization’s potential risk of an employee’s failure to comply with Financial Services Authority DP Policy. Without the knowledge of how DP governs employees’ roles at Debt Free Direct there could be cause for customer complaint. This can affect the company’s reputation and even result in the possibility of court action.

The training team embarked on a group problem solving exercise to design a training course that utilized learning theory to increase the effectiveness of the training and the retention of DP knowledge by the call centre staff. The outcome of the problem solving exercise is detailed below.

Training methods introduced

The first decision was to introduce different training methods to increase the delegates’ ability to retain information. It was decided to include group activities, lectures and individual activities to reinforce the effectiveness of the training. This would be delivered across varied and productive training methods:

learning maps;
an activity;
a mini-lecture;
imagery.

Understanding the chosen training methods

Learning maps

A stakeholder approach from three different viewpoints (customer, employee and organization) was utilized in the learning maps exercise. The learning maps give the delegates the ability to understand the concept of DP and how it can affect them, customers and the organization. This also gives them the ability to take the learning maps away with them and reflect on these at a later stage, aiding several learning styles. This will ensure that a greater percentage of individuals can benefit from this method of training.

The delegate will be given three sentences:

How does data protection affect me?
How does data protection affect the customer?
How does data protection affect the organization?

To this they must create learning maps in pairs about their thoughts on DP within the workplace. This can be based on past experience from previous DP training they may have had at other companies and from their general understanding after watching the DVD. They can draw or write their thoughts on the mind map.

Activity

An activity was introduced to ensure reflection on the key messages of the DVD. The objective of this was to introduce the information they have learnt in a fun and interactive environment. This also enabled the delegates to test their knowledge and understanding of DP and relate this information to their daily roles within the company as well as help them understand the importance of DP. It also enabled the trainer to gain an understanding of the delegates’ knowledge of DP and give the opportunity to rectify any areas that may have been wrongly interpreted by the delegates.

The delegates are split into two groups:

Using the data protection module and their knowledge previously gained the delegates write 15 questions (with answers) to ask the opposing group.
Group 1 will then ask Group 2 their first question
If Group 1 get the question wrong they must remove a piece from the Jenga tower; if they answer correctly, Group 2 then have to remove a piece from the Jenga tower.

Note: each group must have one spokesperson that can answer and ask the questions.

They have 30 seconds to answer the question; otherwise they must remove a piece of Jenga. The team that wins are the ones that do not knock the Jenga tower over.

The trainer will play the role of the referee, ensuring that only 30 seconds is given for the team to answer the question and the rules of Jenga are followed. The referee’s say is final.

Mini-lecture

This is used to reiterate the set learning points that these individuals have gained and learnt during their training session. This section was completed as a summary, ensuring the delegates understand the main objectives. The trainer will also be able to confirm any information that they may still be a little unsure about.

There are certain main points that must be covered in the mini-lecture to ensure that all the main objectives and aspects of DP have been covered during the training. These must be reiterated to the group by the trainer and reference can be made to the DP module that they will be given. Within the module, there will be space for the delegates to make additional notes to aid them with future reference and understanding.

The main aspects that must be covered by the trainer during the mini-lecture are:

What is the Data Protection Act all about?
Ensure all delegates understand the terminology used in DP.
What is a Data Subject?
What are their rights?
Why should Debt Free Direct (DFD) comply?
What happens if DFD doesn’t comply?
How does this affect you?
DFD’s DP protection policy.
The eight principles of DP and how they affect you as employees.

Imagery

This is used to aid the delegates by constantly refreshing their memory of the eight main principles of DP. It was proposed to include further imagery in the training by adding peripherals to the room and to shared work areas.

It is difficult to remember all eight principles of the Data Protection Act and how they affect employees at DFD. To aid their retention of this knowledge peripherals will be placed around the room. These will consist of the mind maps they created to remind them of their initial thoughts of Data Protection and laminated peripherals will also be visible and used when learning the eight principles of the Data Protection Act, using characters to relate to the eight principles will do this.

As we all know, Snow White plus the seven dwarves equals eight characters. Each character will represent one of the principles. The posters will be placed around the room. They will each have a picture of the character, one of the principles, and how that principle affects the individual at work, eg:

Dopey – Principle 4.
Personal Data Must Be Accurate.
What does that mean at DFD?
You must ensure all data are accurate when first recorded.
You must make sure that if an inaccuracy comes to light it is corrected at once.
You must update the information when necessary.

Ongoing evaluation has identified that with the added training methods appealing to all four learning styles the retention and understanding of DP increased dramatically.

A further decision was made to roll out the same course to team leaders to ensure a full refreshment of team leader knowledge of DP.

Figure 1: DP mind map

PRINCIPLES OF ADULT LEARNING

2012-02-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

The people you will be training will be adults and will probably be from a variety of different backgrounds. This is an important point to make, as appropriate activities can be designed only when there is a clear understanding of the different approaches to learning adopted by adults.Adult learning is special in a number of ways. For example:

Adult learners bring a great deal of experience to the learning environment. This is an area that you can build on. Most participants will already have some experience of working in an organization, which they can draw from. Adults relate new knowledge and information to previously learnt information and experiences. Focus therefore on the strengths learners bring to the classroom, not just any gaps in their knowledge. Provide opportunities for dialogue within the group. Participants can be resources both for you and to each other.
Adults expect to have a high degree of influence over what they are to learn and how they learn. They also have a need to know why they should learn something. The adult has to consider it important to acquire the new skill, knowledge or attitude. Adults have a need to be self-directing. Engage the participants in a process of mutual enquiry. Avoid merely transmitting knowledge or expecting total agreement. Don’t ‘spoon-feed’ the participants.
Adult learners expect to have a high degree of influence on how learning will be evaluated. Adults also need to be able to see applications for new learning. It is therefore necessary to use methods that relate the learning experience to its application.
Adults expect their responses to be acted upon when asked for feedback on the progress of the programme.
Adults have pride. Remember that self-esteem and ego are at risk in a training environment that is not perceived as safe or supportive. People will not ask questions or participate in learning if they are afraid of being ‘put down’ or ridiculed. Allow people to admit confusion, ignorance and different opinions. Treat all questions and comments with respect. Avoid saying ‘I just covered that,’ when someone asks a repetitive question. Remember, the only foolish question is the unasked question.

As your participants will be adults, you need to take account of the issues noted above if your training is to achieve its intended outcomes.

The last of the key principles dealt with in this chapter relates to the cycle in which training should take place. This is referred to as the ‘training cycle’.

LEARNING STYLES

2012-02-19T03:56:00.000-08:00

When you try to learn something new, you will no doubt have realized that you prefer to learn in one or two particular ways. You may prefer to learn by listening to someone talk to you about the information, or you may prefer to read about a concept in order to learn it, or you may need to see a demonstration of the concept. Learning style theory proposes that different people learn in different ways and by understanding this concept, you can improve the learning intervention. ‘Learning styles’ is a term used to describe the attitudes and behaviours that determine an individual’s preferred way of learning. Because people learn in a variety of ways, your awareness of the four learning styles will assist you in understanding the learning needs of your participants. This information will enable you to create programmes that are effective learning sessions for all your participants, rather than just some of them.

Building on Kolb’s work on the learning cycle, identified four learning styles referred to as:

Activist
Reflector
Theorist
Pragmatist

Their work complements that of Kolb, as can be seen in Figure 1, where each of the learning styles can be matched with the stages in the learning cycle. Each of these is now explained below.

Figure 1: Learning styles

1. Activists

Activists take a ‘trial and error’ approach. They involve themselves fully and without bias in new learning experiences. They are open-minded, not sceptical. They tend to act first and consider the consequences afterwards. They enjoy the learning experience itself. They thrive on the challenge of new experiences. When dealing with activists remember that they learn best when:

involved in new experiences, problems and opportunities;
working with others in business games, team tasks, role playing;
being thrown in the deep end with a difficult task;
chairing meetings, leading discussions.

Activists learn less when:

listening to lectures or long explanations;
reading, writing or thinking on their own;
absorbing and understanding data;
following precise instruction to the le er.

2. Reflectors

Reflectors take a ‘wait and see’ approach. They like to contemplate about experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They spend a great deal of time and effort reflecting. They like to collect data and think about them carefully before coming to any conclusions. They enjoy observing others and will listen to their views before offering their own. When dealing with reflectors remember that they learn best when:

observing individuals or groups at work;
they have the opportunity to review what has happened and think about what they have learnt;
producing analyses and reports, doing tasks without tight deadlines.

Reflectors learn less when:

acting as leader or role playing in front of others;
doing things with no time to prepare;
being thrown in at the deep end;
being rushed or worried by deadlines.

3. Theorists

Theorists take an ‘I want to understand this first’ approach. They adapt and integrate observations into complex but logically sound theories. They think problems through in a vertical, step-by-step, logical way. They are good at making connections and abstracting ideas from experience. They tend to be perfectionists who like to fit things into a rational scheme. They tend to be detached and analytical rather than subjective or emotive in their thinking. When dealing with theorists remember that they learn best when:

they are put in complex situations where they have to use their skills and knowledge;
they are in structured situations with clear purpose;
they are offered interesting ideas or concepts even though they are not immediately relevant;
they have the chance to question and probe ideas behind things.

Theorists learn less when:

they have to participate in situations that emphasize emotion and feelings;
the activity is unstructured or briefing is poor;
they have to do things without knowing the principles or concepts involved;
they feel they’re out of tune with the other participants, eg with people of very different learning styles.

4. Pragmatists

Pragmatists take an ‘I want to try this out’ approach. They are keen to try out ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work in practice. They positively search out new ideas and take the first opportunity to experiment with applications. They tend to be impatient with ruminating and open-ended discussions and enjoy the planning stage. They tend to be impatient with lengthy discussions and are practical and down to earth. When dealing with pragmatists remember that they learn best when:

there is an obvious link between the topic and job;
they have the chance to try out techniques with feedback, eg role-playing;
they are shown techniques with obvious advantages, eg saving time;
they are shown a model they can copy, eg a film or a respected boss.

Pragmatists learn less when:

there is no obvious or immediate benefit that they can recognize;
there is no practice or guidelines on how to do it;
there is no apparent pay back to the learning, eg shorter meetings;
the event or learning is ‘all theory’.

Honey and Mumford devised a questionnaire to assess an individual’s learning style, referred to as the ‘learning styles questionnaire’. Where possible and practical, allowing participants the opportunity to complete this questionnaire prior to beginning training will generate information that will enhance your ability to deliver effective training.

The third key principle relates to the age of the participants. This factor is important, as the employees you are training are adult learners; adults learn differently than children, implying a number of key factors which need to be considered when designing and delivering training programmes.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: USING THE LEARNING CYCLE

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Concrete experience: In your role as trainer you need to provide suitable experiences for the participants from which they can learn. Practice elements within system skills training provide this type of opportunity.
Observation and reflection: If participants are to learn from the experience, it is important that they are given the opportunity to review the experience. We are o en too busy ensuring we complete all the material to give the time for participants to reflect on what has been learnt from the experience. You can use the following as prompts to facilitate this learning, particularly when you have completed a practice element with the participants: What have you just done? Could you have handled what you just did differently? Have you been in a similar situation previously?
Note to trainers: Consider using a camcorder for these exercises and allow the participants to critique the learning activity. If a camcorder is unavailable consider se ing up triads/small groups to reflect and discuss the activity
Abstract conceptualization: Participants then need to be provided with the opportunity to draw some conclusions from reviewing their experiences, if learning is to occur. Questions they can ask themselves include: What have I learnt from this? What could I have done differently?
Note to trainers: Consider conducting this as a flipchart exercise in small groups, where the group is tasked with the activity of highlighting the top three Key Learning Points that they have taken from the activity.
Active experimentation: In order to do things better the next time, the participants need to have a plan of how to put into action what they have learnt. You should encourage them to state what they would do next time.

Plan to ‘chase’ the learner round the cycle, asking questions that encourage Reflection, Conceptualization, and ways of testing the ideas formed during the experience.

THE LEARNING CYCLE | System skills training

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The idea that people learn in different ways has been explored over the last few decades, by many researchers. Kolb is one of the most influential of these. His experiential learning cycle is recognized as being one of the cornerstones of understanding how individuals learn effectively. With his colleagues, he found that individuals begin with their preferred style in the experiential learning cycle (see Figure 1). Participants can easily become bored if the training approaches used during the session only tap into one learning style. Kolb’s research found that people learn in four ways, with the likelihood that they will develop one mode of learning more than another. As shown in the experiential learning cycle model, learning occurs through four key areas:

concrete experience (doing);
observation and reflection (reviewing);
abstract conceptualization (concluding);
active experimentation (planning).

Figure 1: Kolb’s learning cycle

This cycle suggests that there are four stages, which follow from each other. Concrete Experience, which is having an experience, is followed by a personal Reflection on that experience, or time to think about what just happened. This may then be followed by learning from the experience, or the application of known theories to it – Abstract Conceptualization. This then leads to the construction of ways of modifying the next occurrence of the experience, Active Experimentation; leading in turn to the next Concrete Experience. All this may happen in a flash or over days, weeks or months, depending on the topic, and there may be a ‘wheels within wheels’ process at the same time.

The four stages in the cycle are mutually dependent and in your role as trainer you can benefit by building time for each of the four elements into your training programme. Essentially, good learning design should ensure that each learning activity has i) an experience of some kind, ii) time for facilitated reflection, iii) time for facilitated conclusion and, iv) an opportunity to plan the use of the experience in practice.

TYPES OF COACHING

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Coaching tends to be a popular form of development for customer service representatives. The general methods of formal coaching and mentoring involve:

si ing alongside the agent listening to calls;
one-to-ones;
listening remotely or to recordings and providing feedback;
coach and agent jointly listening to recordings;
mentoring – a more experienced agent giving feedback;
a roving coach providing ad hoc feedback;
coach and team members all listening to recordings;
buddying;
peer coaching;
informal coaching;
self-coaching.

Sitting alongside the adviser

‘Sitting by Nellie’ is a term o en associated with coaching and teaching someone how to do a job. It enables the coach and the learner to observe each other and to listen in to calls. In other industries there is a requirement for physical proximity because of the need to observe performance; however, in contact centres, information and communications technology allows remote listening and feedback.

One-to-one coaching

Not all coaching should be provided in public spaces such as at the workstation. There are many circumstances where it is advisable to conduct the coaching session in private. The presence of other people can inhibit both the coach and the learner and prevent true rapport from being developed. There should be a dedicated coaching room(s) with the necessary equipment, furnished to make it a relaxed environment.

Listening to recordings helps to highlight things that may not be noticed:

A lot of the time it isn’t what they say, it’s the tone in which they say it. . . I play something and I’ll just stop it and say, ‘Shall we listen to that again?’, rewind it and then they’ll go, ‘I didn’t know I said it like that’. It makes them analyse themselves and really wake up to their mistakes.’ (Taylor, 1998: 93).

Listening remotely

Listening remotely to a call can be done with or without the knowledge of the adviser and its use will o en depend on work practices and culture. Some advisers will not be unduly concerned that someone is listening in to their calls while others may become so anxious that it may affect their performance.

Where this form of surveillance is used without informing the adviser it is hard not to consider it a ‘Big Brother’ tactic. If the purpose is to continually keep advisers ‘on their toes’, this suggests that the organization does not fully trust the advisers to produce a professional performance.

Where remote listening is carried out with the knowledge of the adviser it can be a very helpful means of coaching and encouraging performance. It is not intrusive to the customer and provides the opportunity for rapid feedback and guidance as soon as the call is completed.

Mentoring

Mentoring is o en undertaken between a more experienced senior person and one with fewer skills and experience. In many organizations the two people o en work in different departments and do not have direct daily interaction. In this way, the relationship can be more open and supportive than if one had direct operational responsibility for the other.

The roaming coach

Many coaches spend some of their time walking the floor and providing support at the advisers’ desks and this can be systematically timetabled as well as being impromptu. The benefit of the latter is that coaching and feedback can be directly related to a particular need, eg after a challenging call. Also, the potential for learning is high if it is close in time to a specific issue. Coaches ‘walking the floor’ also give advisers the opportunity to seek more informal assistance than arranging a formal coaching session.

Coach and team members listen to recordings

Coaching need not be purely one-to-one. Weekly team meetings provide good opportunities to listen to recordings as a group, with colleagues giving advice and recommendations about how to address specific issues, eg a difficult caller or problem. On the whole, it is better to choose incidents that have relevance to the whole team rather than one person.

Buddying

Buddying is a popular and widely used form of coaching, with 75 per cent of centres using this method (Dimension Data, 2005: 209). It is also particularly successful with new employees who are sometimes paired with experienced advisers for the first six months of employment to provide advice and support. To increase motivation, incentive payments have been made to mentors if the new recruit remains with the organization for a minimum period of time (Income Data Services, 2004).

Informal coaching

Coaching can also occur informally and in many contact centres the CSRs sit in close proximity. This is o en in the form of pods, which consist of about eight to 10 people working in a circle facing one another. This physical structure enables less experienced operators to temporarily interrupt the call and seek advice and information from their colleagues.

Coaching oneself

Self-monitoring during a call is a skill used by all experienced advisers as a means of assessing how well they are conducting the conversation with the caller. Advisers can also reflect on a call after it has happened and mentally replay language, tone and fluency to identify what went well and what could have gone be er.

Recorded conversations can also be used by advisers to monitor, assess and develop themselves through listening again to calls and assessing their own performance figures. Visual computer analysis of calls can also be used to highlight where the adviser interrupts, speaks over the caller, etc.

The benefits of self-coaching are that it is less threatening and allows the learners to self-monitor, which will develop a continuous reflection of their behaviour. If this is carried out successfully it reduces the load on the team leader.

Making available call performance recordings and data to the adviser may at first appear threatening; however, if it is done in a spirit of learning and trust then this can be a very successful way of encouraging development.

Coaching is not criticism

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Coaching is generally regarded as a form of constructive one-to-one development that involves identifying areas where performance is not up to the required standard and developing agreed solutions to address the performance gap. Unfortunately, coaching delivered in the wrong manner or through an inappropriate system can be perceived negatively by the learner. In fact, even genuine coaching can be interpreted negatively by the learner and so it should be approached professionally.

Another area of concern is the use of the term ‘coaching’ when what is actually meant is ‘criticism’. This use of the word ‘coaching’ as a so form of criticism or discipline corrupts and degrades the original meaning of the word and thus undermines those who coach in an ethical and professional manner.

It is essential to separate coaching from performance evaluation because the two processes have very different purposes. Coaching may involve an assessment of a person’s skills but the main objective is about development and improvement of performance. Performance assessment connected to salary or other forms of ranking should be completely separated from the coaching process.

The most satisfactory solution to this is to ensure that the person doing the coaching is not involved with performance assessment or grading. In this way the relationship is not compromised; however, in many organizations the team leader who provides input on performance is also the coach. Encouraging the team leader to be a coach is entirely logical and practical, but this structural arrangement may also mean there is a conflict of interest and roles.

The reasons for separating grading and coaching are obvious. For successful coaching to happen there needs to be trust and a true rapport between the coach and learner. If learners feel that their performance is also being assessed and that this may impact upon salary or other benefits they will feel inhibited about admitting limitations and mistakes, etc.

Coaching the coaches

In many organizations there are trained and dedicated coaches whose main purpose is to support and develop employees. But o en the role of coaching falls within the remit of the team leader or manager who may have extensive knowledge and skills but who does not necessarily have experience of coaching. The problem is that team leaders get promoted because they are good at their job, not necessarily because they are good at managing and leading. For these reasons, there should be general management training for team leaders and this should include coaching them how to coach. In particular, induction training for team leaders should include coaching skills.

EMPLOYMENT FOR THE ALTERNATIVELY-ABLED AT REMPLOY

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The 1944 Disabled Persons (Employment) Act provided the legal foundation for the first comprehensive structure to support disabled people in the UK. It led to the establishment of the Disabled Persons Employment Corporation in April 1945 and the first factory was opened in Bridgend, South Wales in 1946 making furniture and violins. Much of the momentum for these developments was the provision of suitable employment for disabled ex-servicemen. The title ‘Remploy’, meaning ‘re-employ’, was first registered by the ex-Services Employment Welfare and was adopted in 1946. The mission of Remploy is, ‘To expand the opportunities for disabled people in sustainable employment with Remploy and the communities it serves.’ Currently, over half of employees have a mental health condition or learning disability.

Remploy has a network of 82 factories in a wide range of operations across the UK and has a turnover of £165 million. In 2005 more than 5,700 people were employed in Remploy businesses and over 3,500 disabled people were assisted in finding jobs with employers. The aim is to maximize the number of disabled people in employment through employment in Remploy manufacturing businesses, service sector businesses and encouraging people into mainstream employment.

Remploy (2005: 24) considers that, ‘Learning and development is the key cornerstone to success in Remploy. It is the key enabling process that allows every person we employ or support into work to achieve their potential and independence.’ Company policy is that 5 per cent of employees’ time is spent on development and in Remploy Offiscope (a division of Remploy) it is between 10 and 15 per cent. Approximately 5,000 external courses are run across the organization and 1,000 people gained a literacy or numeracy qualification and more than 300 people gained an IT qualification. Overall, 60 per cent of employees received training leading to a qualification (Remploy, 2005). Each work site has a union learning representative and this has led to the establishment of a learning centre at each of the factories. Use is also made of Learn Direct courses and each factory has links to a local college with tutors providing training including basic skills.

Remploy has two call centres based in Aberdeen and Acton, north London, which support internal operations and mainly provide services for external organizations, many of whom are from the charity sector, eg Royal National Institute for the Blind. Remploy Offiscope can provide call centre services and combine this with dispatching, thus providing an integrated fulfilment service.

The Aberdeen call centre was set up in July 2000 with 15 seats and eight people working there. The number of employees depends on the volume of work generated by contracts and there is a very low churn rate, with people staying with Remploy for many years. When new staff are required they are located by Interwork (a Remploy agency). No specific qualifications are required although skills assessments are carried out and flexibility and enthusiasm are expected.

The learning and development structure

Induction training has evolved over the years and includes company information, health and safety, data protection, office procedures, customer service, communication skills (including enthusiasm, rate, flow, clarity, tone, voice mirroring), objection handling, and why people buy.

There is a buddy system where the new person sits next to an experienced person. Support is also provided through listening in and also replaying calls. Informally, there is also the opportunity to hold calls and seek advice from colleagues or the supervisor.

With regard to ongoing training, clients are encouraged to come and deliver training about themselves, their products and services so that Remploy becomes a virtual part of their organization. There is a considerable amount of role play and test calls before a new client’s system goes live. Clients sometimes require changes in the provision of service and this leads to further training. Some advisers have achieved S/NVQs for learning supported by a local college. During quieter times staff are encouraged to use the computers to increase their own learning.

Remploy is ISO 9001 accredited, which means that there are detailed procedures including a training matrix and the monitoring of training. There is a training plan and also a training log for each client. There is a performance appraisal system that also includes a development plan.

The technology will allow both Aberdeen and Acton to operate as a virtual call centre and it also has the potential to enable people to work from home. However, working within Remploy provides the opportunity to interact socially and allows employees to be given good care and attention. Working onsite also provides more opportunities for learning and for all these reasons homeworking has not yet been introduced.

GIVING FEEDBACK | Coaching and mentoring

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Giving honest feedback is not an easy thing to do and some coaches shy away from it, defeating the purpose. However, being honest does not mean that the limitations of the learner have to be starkly presented to him or her in a personally threatening manner. Ideally, the feedback should be invited by the learner not presented by the coach and it should be done in a manner where the learner does not reject the information.

Holding back on giving honest information so as not to cause offence prejudices the chances that the learner’s behaviour will improve. The true message should not be so deeply hidden that the learner is unable to recognize it. In order to do this:

Feedback should be clear and specific.
It should focus on the behaviour and not on the person.
It should focus on behaviour that can be improved.
It should be invited where possible and not thrust at the learner.
It should be delivered in a timely manner.

An effective model for giving feedback is the DESC approach by Bower and Bower (1976). Essentially, it involves identifying the goal or objective you wish to achieve then following this process:

Describe your situation in terms of what happened; describe behaviour and not the person.
Express your feelings about the situation in a calm and constructive way.
Specify what you would like to happen.
Consequences – explain the positive implications of the change in behaviour and/or what might happen without a change in behaviour.

Another very useful model for improving communication and coaching is the Johari Window (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Johari Window

In Figure 1 there are four areas within the quadrant: arena, blind spot, façade and unknown. The arena represents the area of common understanding by you and the other person. The blind spot represents that which is known by the other person but not by you. The façade illustrates what you know and what is not known by the other person. Finally, the unknown area represents that which is not known by you or the other person.

If we wish to improve communication and understanding in the blind spot and façade areas it is important that more information is provided by you and/or the other person in order to draw the exchange into the arena. Where nothing is known by both people, investigation and research are necessary to identify what is unknown thereby allowing it to be carefully examined and discussed.

The importance of timing

Coaching feedback should be delivered in a timely fashion. If the period of time between the behaviour and the feedback is long then the coachee may not remember what happened or be less inclined to do anything about it. This means that the coach or team leader needs to be up to speed with all the metrics and behaviours of their team. Learners will know which coaches and team leaders are on top of their jobs and those who are not. It is therefore necessary to be up to date and also to set a good example.

Providing prompt feedback is a more successful means of behavioural change. This can o en be done through listening in to calls and providing guidance and recommendations as soon as the call ends.

Coaching is not criticism

Another area of concern is the use of the term ‘coaching’ when what is actually meant is ‘criticism’ (Cameron, 2000). This use of the word ‘coaching’ as a so form of criticism or discipline corrupts and degrades the original meaning of the word and thus undermines those who coach in an ethical and professional manner.