Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

There are two approaches that operations can utilize when coaching the agents on their calls.  Both are traditional methods and used widely in centers worldwide.

Team Leader
They are the agent’s supervisors so it is logical to take this route.  The QA team constantly monitors their agent’s calls but the paperwork is handed down to them.  The only tricky part is that you need to train QAs to do call mapping and almost transcribe the call for both TL and agent.  Some would attach the call (if a quality monitoring tool is available) so that both can listen and discuss what transpired in the call.

QAs
More would rather go this route because it is more efficient.  All calls being monitored will be discussed with the agent, preferably with the Team Leader present.  The disadvantage is not utilizing the QA team effectively.  Instead of spending 90% of their time getting a bigger sample size to determine a trend, they are bogged down in getting each call coached.  Their productivity and expertise is not managed correctly.

So, which one would you implement?  Both.

On a QA’s perspective, you are expected to monitor as much as you can and determine a trend for each level.  But, make use of their skills and go beyond the form.  By doing so, you can determine what to focus on and get more “bang for your buck”.  Direct coaching from the QA team at least twice a week will be enough to reinforce what you’d like agents to improve on.

For operations, the team leaders are expected to listen to a percentage of their calls to validate the data.  It will be easier for them to understand what QA reports and create a schedule and sample size for an agent for coaching purposes.

This will then utilize more resources and management will have a better feel of where the agent is at.