Centerfirst call quality monitoring agents have performed hundreds of thousands of monitors for our healthcare and bio-pharma clients. Over the years, we have learned a lot about the competencies that make the best call monitoring agents. In this blog, we will share what we have found to be the top 5 competencies and why these competencies are the most valued.
Competency Defined
A competency is simply a skill or ability. Skills can be developed and advanced with the right ability, training, and opportunities. Competencies used in this blog are from the 3rd edition of “For Your Improvement” by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger. More recent editions of the publication are available.
Top 5 Competencies
The top 5 competencies for a call quality monitoring agent are as follows:
1. Decision Quality
Makes good decision based upon a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment.
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Why is this important – Monitoring agents make hundreds of small performance decisions on subjective matters everyday. Getting a higher percentage of the little decisions consistently correct delivers sustained improvement from your monitoring function.
2. Listening
Knowing what others have said and meant to say. Being able to listen effectively even when you don’t want to.
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Why is this important – It seems obvious that listening is a critical skill for monitoring agents. The reason we have found it to be a top 5 skill is that it is not a common skill to be able to listen for long periods of time, “even when you don’t want to.”
3. Dealing with Ambiguity
Dealing with ambiguity can shift gears comfortably, can decide and act without having the total picture, can effectively cope with change.
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Why is this important – This skill goes hand in hand with Decision Quality. Contact centers change processes and expectations daily, and being able to effectively deal with that high level of change is a key to agent success.
4. Written Communication
Written communication gets messages across in a clear and succinct way that has the desired effect.
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Why is this important – One of the most valuable parts of the monitoring report is the coaching notes prepared for the supervisor and contact center agent. Writing effectively helps to fulfill the potential of a well monitored call.
5. Compassion
Compassion is available and ready to help.
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Why this is important – Most of our work is in healthcare and we often hire nurses to work as monitoring agents. Compassion is a requisite of nurses and an important competency for monitoring agents. Being available to help callers, who are often patients, makes monitoring results more impactful.
These five competencies are among the literally dozens of skills identified by Lombardo and Eichinger. Interviewing for and developing these top 5 has helped Centerfirst earn an 87% referral rate and a 90% renewal rate on our outsourced monitoring services. Contact us to learn more.