Create a Team to Re-Design or Create Your Quality Evaluation Form

Is it time to re-design or create a quality evaluation form in your center?  This is a big undertaking for any size call center, and one person should not do it alone.  It’s important to get both the input and buy-in from others who are involved in agent performance and the quality of customer service in your call center.

Put together a team comprised of members from several groups within your organization, including supervisors, quality specialists, new-hire trainers, and agents.  If you have uniquely separate call groups (e.g., collections, customer service, sales), you’ll want to get representation from each department. In order to keep your quality design team’s communication manageable, try to keep the group size fairly small, at least less than 10 members. 

Once you have your team together, it’s time to create the form or review your current form.  As you create the form, you should also create a Quality Standards Definitions Document (QSDD).  The QSDD contains a detailed description of each behavior, skill or performance standard on the quality monitoring evaluation form.  It’s your reference tool filled with definitions, explanations and sample scenarios designed to make quality less ambiguous and subject to individual interpretation and more an objective measure of agent performance.  Each definition states WHAT, WHEN, HOW and describes the related center goal(s).   It is difficult for an agent to know what each item that is being scored means if there is not a clear definition, and calibration among evaluators is nearly impossible if items are open to individual interpretation.

Once you create the quality evaluation form, how often should it be updated?  In a recent QATC survey, about one-third of the respondents said they update their form every 1-5 years, and one-quarter update once a year.   While there is no set answer for every organization, the key is to make sure to update your form when you have any changes in your business, and that you continually review the form to make sure that a high quality assurance score correlates with high customer satisfaction.  Also, some organizations make regular changes to the QSDD throughout the year, and then make changes to the QA form at the beginning of the year to ensure consistent reporting and measures. 

Working with a team might take more time to accomplish all the tasks in the process, but you’ll have a better product in the end.  Another advantage is that those who a part of the process will help ensure its success come time to launch your new quality evaluation form.