An Organization for Customer Service Professionals
Home     About Us     Contact Us     Calendar     Education & Resources     Membership     Prior Meetings      
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010 Meeting
May 2010 Meeting
June 2010 Meeting
July 2010 Meeting
August 2010 Meeting
                             Colorado Chapter of ICSA May Meeting

Maximize Learning and Performance during Coaching Sessions


Many thanks to TIAA-CREF for hosting our meeting on May 20, 2010.  It was a wonderful location and we learned more about the organization.

 

Todd Smith from Center Partners was our guest speaker for this event.  He talked to us about using role play as a coaching tool.  In many organizations, training is done using presentations with a tell/ask format.  This may or may not be successful depending on your audience.  Coaching has also been done this same way and again the outcome was not always completely successful.  Better training and coaching promotes engaged associates which leads to higher retention and less turnover.


Role playing is the method Todd endorsed.  Using it you can observe behaviors.  Associates can make mistakes during role play rather than during a live situation.  When using this method, supervisors should go first.  They should act the role of the CSR in the situation and let the CSR be the customer.  When the supervisor can demonstrate that they know the skills required of the CSR, it builds trust and respect among them.


Once the role play is done, it needs to be debriefed.  Three points for discussion include:

  • What - what happened, what insights did you gain
  • So what - how will this help you with your work, what is its significance
  • Now what - what are the next steps, action plan or goals

It was a very good session with practice time for all attending the meeting.  We paired up and practiced a role play, then did a debrief with the whole group to share ideas on how and when we could use this in our individual organizations.


 More about Todd Smith
Todd is the Corporate Director of Learning and Development at Center Partners.  His credentials include a Masters of Business and a Masters in Human Resources Training and Development.  He is also a Certified Learning and Performance Professional with the American Society for Training and Development. 


For 10 years Todd has championed the use of experiential learning techniques with coaching, instructor-led training and eLearning in the Call Center environment.  In recent years Todd initiated the creation of the Center Partners MyFire eLearning brand – eLearning that infuses online instruction with the digital arts.