Teaching supervisors how to be coaches.(SELECTED TOPIC)

Many of the supervisors in contact centers today do not possess the appropriate skills, nor have they had sufficient training on coaching techniques. We spend a lot of time and effort training our agents, so why aren't we training our supervisors? We make the mistake of promoting our star agents to supervisors and expect them to flawlessly perform; but find that many star agents do not automatically make good supervisors, and most do not make good coaches.

So what is the difference between a supervisor and a coach? A supervisor controls, directs and takes charge. A coach teaches, tutors and motivates. Best practices tout that 80 percent of a supervisor's time should be spent coaching agents. Many world-crass contact centers have adopted this philosophy and have removed much of the day-to-day administrative supervisor tasks to arrow them to coach.

I propose that training supervisors to be successful coaches should be included in your coaching program. How do you teach someone to be a good coach? Let's start by reviewing Dennis C. Kinlaw Ed.D's book, Coaching for Commitment.

Kinlaw defines coaching as a mutual conversation between manager and employee that follows a predictable process and reads to superior performance, commitment to sustained improvement and to positive relationships.

He identifies the four coaching functions as counseling, mentoring, tutoring and confronting employees to improve their performance. Art of these functions are one-on-one conversations that focus on performance or performance-related topics. To be successful, Kinlaw says, coaching must meet the following criteria:

* It results in a positive change in performance and a new or renewed commitment to self-sufficiency, the organization's goals and values, continual teaming and a sustained, high level of performance.

* It results in achievement or maintenance of a positive work relationship.