Lesson: Coaching from quality results

ccPlanning academy · quality · micro

Coaching from the results

The score is the start of the work, not the end of it.

The waste

A score nobody coaches from is wasted.

Plenty of programmes evaluate diligently, file the score, and move on. All the cost of scoring — and none of the value, because nothing about the next call changes. The number is not the product; the better contact it leads to is.

Specific, not general

Coach the behaviour, not the percentage.

“You scored 76%” helps no one. “On this call you moved to the solution before you’d confirmed what they actually needed — here’s where, and here’s what to do instead” changes the next call. Coach from the moment, with the recording, on the specific behaviour.

A percentage is a verdict; a behaviour is something an agent can act on.

Forward, not backward

Aim at the next call, not the last one.

Coaching that re-prosecutes a call the agent can’t change breeds defensiveness. Use the call as evidence, but point the conversation forward: what will you do differently on the next one like this? The past contact is a teaching aid, not a charge sheet.

One thing at a time

Fix one behaviour, then the next.

Hand an agent a list of eight things to improve and they improve none. Pick the one behaviour that would most improve outcomes, work on it until it sticks, then move on. Quality improves through a sequence of small, landed changes, not a single overwhelming review.

The takeaway

Turn every score into a next better call.

Coach the specific behaviour from the recording, aim forward not backward, and work one thing at a time. The score only earns its cost when it changes what happens next.

Now test yourself ↓

1 / 6

Slides done? Here’s the same idea in a bit more depth — the part worth keeping.

In depth: the score is the beginning, not the end

A surprising number of quality programmes do the hard part — sampling, scoring, calibrating — and then waste it, by filing the result and changing nothing about how the next contact is handled. The score is not the product of QA; the better call it produces is. That means the centre of gravity of a good programme is the coaching conversation, and the score is just the evidence that fuels it. The coaching has to be specific: not “you scored 76%” but “here, on this call, you jumped to a solution before confirming what the customer actually needed — listen to this moment, and here’s what to do instead.” A percentage is a verdict an agent can only feel judged by; a concrete behaviour is something they can act on.

Forward, and one thing at a time

Two further disciplines make coaching land. First, point it forward: a contact the agent can no longer change is a teaching aid, not a charge sheet, so the conversation should aim at the next call like this one rather than re-prosecuting the last. Coaching that feels like prosecution breeds defensiveness and learning stops. Second, work on one behaviour at a time. Hand someone eight improvements and they make none; pick the single change that would most improve outcomes, stay with it until it sticks, and then move to the next. Quality rises through a sequence of small landed changes, which is also why the short, well-defined scorecard from earlier in this track matters — it points coaching at the few behaviours that actually move the customer outcome.

The principle to remember: a score nobody coaches from is wasted. Coach the specific behaviour from the recording, aim at the next call not the last, and improve one thing at a time.

Coaching from the results

Coaching from the results

A score nobody coaches from is wasted.

Coach the behaviour, not the percentage.

Aim at the next call, not the last one.

Fix one behaviour, then the next.

Turn every score into a next better call.

In depth: the score is the beginning, not the end

Forward, and one thing at a time

Quick quiz