7 Steps to Improving Human Performance

As I was thinking about this month’s topic, performance improvement, I began to think about all the operational areas of a customer service environment. As customer service professionals, it’s our goal to get everything right for the customer (or at least try), and there is certainly no shortage of performance improvement initiatives in the typical service organization. I have asked many clients over the years how many performance improvement initiatives are on their list, and while the answers have had a wide range, clients have indicated that at any given time they can have anywhere from one hundred to many hundreds of initiatives in various implementation stages.

With so many initiatives in motion at a time, where do you start?

In the agent-assisted customer service world, our focus is on managing humans and human performance. Improvement initiatives for this channel must improve human performance in some way that has a positive impact on the customer and the organization. As we discussed last month in the Business Case for CX, improving the customer experience directly through what is done or said during the interaction, or indirectly by creating an environment that enables the representative to deliver a great experience, can have a big return for a brand. That customer experience is dependent on human performance.

With focus narrowed to human performance initiatives, how do you build a plan to address areas for improvement?

By combining insights learned from working with both brands that were facing some significant challenges and top performers that exhibited best practices, I’ve outlined 7 steps below that you can take to build a targeted human performance improvement plan.

1. Identify the problem or opportunity area. 
To begin to improve, you need to know the problem you’re addressing and the associated gap in performance that solving the problem will close. The gap should be quantitative in nature and based on current state vs. a future or desired state. Benchmarks are useful in this exercise as we see many companies struggle to understand their gaps, and the size of their gaps, which makes improving performance difficult if not impossible. Involve the front-line staff and supervisors in helping to identify problems and quantify gaps.

2. Have a methodology and process to prioritize your gaps. 
It is extremely difficult for organizations and human beings to focus on many problems and solve them at one time, especially the front-line staff. Develop a weighting system that helps you identify where to focus efforts first. Which problem will give you the “biggest bang for your buck” if you were to solve it? What will improve the customer experience the most, or reduce agent attrition (if that’s an issue)? Does the problem and solution tie to a strategic goal of the organization? Once you have your gaps prioritized, choose a select few that will be most impactful and attack those first.

3. Conduct a thorough root cause analysis.
(Tip: As with helping identify the problem and gaps, involving the front-line in this step is critical.) 
There are many ways to conduct this analysis, but it is very rare that there is a single root cause for the gaps or problems your service organization is facing. If you are coming up with a root cause and a solution that involves training or some sort of technology, I would give a word of caution: many times, organizations default to these root causes because the potential solution feels neat and tidy. It is more likely that there are several causal factors. Many organizations will view challenging causal factors as too difficult to address and choose to ignore them. For example, rewards, recognition, incentives, compensation of executive management, operational leadership, and front-line are often causal factors that aren’t addressed but have a huge impact on the success of a potential improvement initiative. It is crucial that regardless of perceived level of difficulty to manage that these root causes are identified and addressed.

4. Develop an action plan to target root causes/causal factors. 
Create a plan that includes manageable tasks, assigned responsibilities, milestones, and timelines, but be realistic. A sense of urgency doesn’t alter reality. Allocate the appropriate budget and resources. One of the most common problems we see that limits the effectiveness of improvement initiatives is just adding a set of tasks and responsibilities to individuals that already have a full plate. This not only hampers progress for the initiative, but it also puts additional stress on the human performance you're looking to address. Consider tactics like temporary assignments and special project help from high potentials within the organization. 

5. Implement the solutions. 
Once you have your plan in place, it’s time to start executing against it. To be successful, provide the proper resources and support. Communicate the initiative details, timing, and who/what is involved. Monitor progress and continually identify and remove potential barriers to success.

6. Track and measure progress. 
To ensure you maintain forward momentum, establish measures of success and track progress towards goals and objectives of the initiative. Analyze data, conduct focus groups, and don’t be afraid to make changes to the initiative and course corrections. Address any challenges or barriers sooner rather than later. Ensure that support and resources are provided to those that are implementing the solutions.  

7. Move on to the next problems/gaps in order of impact and importance. 
Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Only after you see that progress is being made and your scarce and limited resources are being freed up, move on to the next problem/gap and start the process over. By staggering initiatives, you’ll ensure you are not overwhelming staff and creating new problems that will need to be addressed.

Final Thoughts

Performance improvement is an ongoing cycle with new initiatives being added to the list regularly. To keep moving forward, I would encourage you to foster a culture of continuous improvement within the organization. Encourage feedback, suggestions, and ideas from staff at all levels, but particularly the front-line. Have a formal and repeatable process, not just a suggestion box. (Suggestion boxes are great for continuous and spontaneous feedback but create a periodic and formal feedback and suggestion process.) Don’t be afraid to pilot ideas and learn from them. You cannot communicate enough. Communicate what you heard, what actions will be taken and when, and who is responsible. If action can’t be taken, communicate the reason why. Celebrate changes and improvements that were made through this process.  

About the Author: Scott Killingsworth is Director of the Customer Service Advisory Practice at J.D. Power. He manages the Customer Service Certification programs and is responsible for developing and maintaining the standards and operational benchmarks for the program. 

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