Quality Assurance Vs Team Supervisor

Our community is a place where contact centre professionals can ask and respond to questions, so when ERAC123 posted an interesting question about Quality Assurance versus Team Supervisors we wanted to share the discussion with you:

One question I would really like to find an answer to is if your contact centre has a QA Team that conduct all your monitoring? Are they also ultimately responsible for the feedback/coaching? Or does QA advise the Team Lead and then they conduct the feedback?

Would this be as part of the existing one to one or a separate feedback session?

In a way it could be part of either as the one to one discusses development and progression however at the same time there could be a lot to discuss in terms of the feedback so a separate meeting might be needed.

Question asked by ERAC123

The QA Team Gives the Feedback

The feedback process varies from centre to centre, but the best example I have seen is where the QA Team give the feedback with the Team Leader present during the feedback session.

This means the agent gets direct feedback without any dilution or enhancement from the Team Leader.

In addition the Team Leader also gets to hear what QA consider to be the agents strengths and weaknesses and can focus support and coaching on the most needy areas.

Hold Separate Feedback Sessions

You’re right in that it could be done either way but I would recommend separate sessions for the feedback from your call monitoring.

I am not sure of contact centre industry best practice as a whole but in Financial Services, the QA teams are generally responsible for checking that the call complies with relevant legislation as well as checking for pure quality related issues.

In this example, it is important the QA team is seen as a separate function from performance management and personal development. Having focussed feedback meetings creates a clear differentiation between the two functions. Hope this helps.

With thanks to Janette a Call Centre Helper Reader

Team Leaders Can Become Certified Quality Coaches

In my contact centre, all my Team leader’s are certified quality coaches, hence I do not have to hire a QA team member.

However I have a QA team which does takes care of the compliance & Audit’s and conducting quality awareness programs across the floor along with call calibration of TL’s quality scores .

This has been working for me for the past 5 yrs and the quality has been excellent .

With thanks to mathewe2s

These were some great responses to the question and provided added clarity on the situation, and even provoked further questions within the discussion on Quality Assurance vs Team Supervisor – we have collated these for you too:

How Can I Improve the QA Coaching Stage

Just wanted to see if anyone else could advise on the coaching stage employed at their CC.

Very soon I will be trailing QA being solely responsible for NICE evaluations thus freeing up the supervisors to deal with immediate queries and form coaching packages for their agents.

However still want to get an input into how my feedback would get to the agents involved.

Again whether I can raise any points of concern to the Supervisor for them to address or if it would be better first hand.

As we are a service centre we don’t currently have any compliance to meet, but we have a SLA (service level agreement) for an internal or external customer of 80% of all calls answered within 15 seconds, and 90% within 30 seconds.

Which is one of the reasons my department is trying to take as much work load from the TM’s so they can have more time to focus on this and coaching and development as possible.

Question asked by ERAC123

Quality Assurance Vs Team Supervisor

Quality Assurance Vs Team Supervisor….nice way putting it and this is the reality as you grow in size. It will differ from one centre to another, but size does play a role here.

In our contact centre, we have 300 agents & 30 TS working on shift in a 24/7 ctr. QA works normal hours, looking at compliances & quality, feedback to TS for further coaching to agents.

This is done on weekly basis but problem of dilution or enhancement from the Team Leader as per Janette says will occur.

Hence we have regular scheduled calibration with all TS, put up monthly newsletter to all TS & agents highlighting areas of strength & weakness & also remind on compliance matters.

Plus have an avenue for agent to feedback to QA…it helps. Yes QA is seen separate from the rest.

With thanks to Adre a Call Centre Helper Contributor 

Key Features of a QA Scoring Form

On our QA scoring forms we look at the following key areas:

• Customer Service Process
• Documentation
• Interaction Skills
• Etiquette

With thanks to Suzette

The Relationship Between Scoring and Partnerships

It is imperative that everyone is on the same page, but not necessarily the same team. The QA team and the Supervisors should have the same goals, the same standards, and the same accountability.

The only difference is that QA should be a neutral party; fair, unbiased, by the book. The Supervisor, however, can take into account the personality and learning style of the agent to provide feedback and coaching in a way they may be more receptive to.

QA identifies issues, Supervisors fix them. But the supervisor should be evaluating too. They should know the general performance level of each of their agents and the goals the individually have to improve their own performance.

QA only is not enough and not seeing them as a joint venture with the Supervisors creates and “Us/Them” mentality that doesn’t benefit anyone.

In terms of scoring, you need to ask the Operation what is important to them? What are their goals? Is there a vision/mission that every interaction should support? Also, what are the customer’s expectations of you?

Customers expect very different experiences when they call customer service for a auto part supplier vs. Disney.

What do your customers expect and what do your agents need to do, at minimum, to meet those expectations.

Further, if there are any other compliance (not necessarily legal) that should be included. Anything the must be done a specific way for a specific reason every single time.

Measure what matters. Once you have your questions set, decided how much each question is worth based on the impact of how not doing it impacts the business and/or customer experience. Good luck!

With thanks to Stacy

Quality Assurance vs Team Supervisor Roles

In our call centre the QA team audits the calls and scores based on a previously agreed on format with behaviors ranked from Did Not Demonstrate, Partially Demonstrated, Effectively Demonstrated and Exceptionally Demonstrated.

The auditors provide coaching notes and minor refinements and the form is emailed to the agent, the supervisor and the program manager.

As the supervisor and previously an agent myself I found the form itself to be helpful only up to a certain point, so I forward the recording of the call on to my agents to listen to during down time since we’re not a centre that has back to back calls.

They are expected to listen to the call themselves, see where the feedback comes from, and develop an action plan for improvement that we can discuss during their weekly coaching meetings.

This places the onus for critical thinking, self evaluation and goaling onto the agent, with guidance from me to make sure that they’re on the right track and that the goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Based). This has proven highly effective for our team.

They appreciate that they are part of the process and that they are trusted to create their own goals, and they have started to give feedback from their perspective in the day to day, that have provided insights that have allowed us to get ahead of certain trends in call types and put fixes into place.

Sometimes 2-3 weeks sooner than if they had not been bought in on the idea of their own success and supporting one another.

With thanks to Danielle

QA Process

In my previous call centre I was the Lead Quality Analyst at some point for one of the largest newspaper company.

I would assign max 30 agents per QA. They would randomly select a call, review and use a form to grade the call.

There were comment boxes for everything we looked for so we could give kiddos or coaching points.

The QA would deliver the feedback. If the call quality did not improve I would join in on feedback or the supervisor would deliver it. (Based in availability) each session lasting no more than 15 mins as out call AHT goal was 5 mins.

The form used to grade was predetermined by the call centre and client.

There were times where we would get so backup with new hires and off the phone availability time that I have had 2 QA audit nonstop for a day while 2 other delivered the feedback. Or at time we would print and drop off at their station with detailed comments.

With thanks to Emmanuel

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If you are looking for more articles on team leadership, feedback and quality, read these next:

• Team Leadership: What Makes a Great Leader?
• How to Provide Closed-Loop Feedback With Employees and Customers
• How Can I Monitor Quality Across all Contact Centre Channels?

Author: Jonty Pearce
Reviewed by: Robyn Coppell