Team coaching is often an afterthought when dealing with an organisational challenge. It is an incredible vehicle to facilitate sustainable improvements in results a team achieves, through applying focus and attention to key challenges. The program delivered below, is an example of the type of interventions we can do at Humanoeuvre, which can transform your team’s cohesion, results and retention.
This case study details a team coaching program we ran within a major volume recruitment program. The recruitment program was coordinated and managed by a contact centre which housed over 70 staff, broken into six teams, each with a team manager. Team members were responsible for supporting candidates through the initial stages of this complex recruitment process. To evaluate the effectiveness, performance, culture and to identify areas for improvement, we reviewed the performance of the team leading to the following observations:
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- During peak times, candidates were placed on hold for up to 20 minutes, before an operator responded to their call. Leading to a spike in complaints.
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- Contact centre employees undertook a six-week full-time immersive training program featuring detailed technical instruction on the recruitment process, the roles and responsibilities of team members, and the complex recruiting requirements.
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- Contact centre team managers, typically promoted on the basis of experience and time in the job, had received no leadership development.
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- The induction training program provided comprehensive technical detail but did not sufficiently equip employees to integrate into the contact centre culture.
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- Team managers lacked influencing strategies, relying instead on their formal authority and adherence to documented process, to seek compliance from team members.
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- Employee attrition was around 30%, leading to a constant drain of corporate knowledge and significant team disruption.
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- Contact centre staff engagement was lower than at any previous time since measurement began.
Interpretations: The following human and cultural factors were identified as possible contributors to the team challenge:
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- Employees didn’t trust managers or other team members and engaged in compliance behaviour to avoid criticism and punishment.
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- Avoidance of trouble prevailed over experimentation and proactive pursuit of excellence.
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- A reward and recognition program focused on process adherence rather than on personal impact and results.
Response: A 12 month team coaching program for the team managers was facilitated via coaching sessions on a monthly basis. These coaching sessions were the critical vehicle for testing and adjusting the leadership approach for the contact centre management team. Each session had a theme designed to help participants understand and take ownership, of their teams’ issues. Team managers were encouraged to experiment with new strategies for influencing and engaging their teams, and to share their lessons at the next coaching session. The focus areas are summarised below:
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- Managers were encouraged to actively observe their team environments, i.e. conversations they were hearing, the specific behaviours they were noticing, and the impacts of observed behaviours.
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- Team managers developed specific skills in providing and receiving constructive feedback.
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- Team managers experimented with a more collaborative leadership style.
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- We conducted a detailed review of staff performance levels, which highlighted gaps in performance against objective criteria.
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- We reviewed and modified the contact centre recruitment process to attract a more diverse applicant pool to improve retention and performance.
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- The training program was changed to incorporate a buddy system, immersion opportunities into different teams, and a coaching program focused on immediate feedback and learning.
Result: There were significant improvements in performance of the contact centre over the next 18 months including:
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- A reduction in call wait times to less than 5 minutes during peak periods, and less than 1 minute in non-peak periods.
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- A 50% improvement in contact centre staff engagement.
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- A reduction in staff attrition from approximately 30% down to 19%, in the following year.
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- An ongoing program of internal development for contact centre staff, resulting in approximately 50% of those who left the contact centre transitioning to other internal roles.
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- An empowered leadership team with a significantly enhanced suite of influencing strategies.
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- More effective application of the on-entry training in a more trusting workplace that was supportive of initiative, experimentation, and innovative application of learned skills
To improve your team performance via team coaching, call us to book a free consultation.
