As a teenager, I took guitar lessons. I envisioned myself as a budding Clapton or Steve Miller, but I never achieved the fame I so richly deserved (could be because I wasn’t very good, but… whatever). Those of you who have taken music lessons know that, typically, you work on some element with the instructor, like a new chord, and he will show you how to position your fingers, have you play the chord and if it doesn’t ring true he will have you reposition your fingers or adjust your hand placement until you get it right. Then, he assigns ‘homework’ that usually incorporates what you learned that day.
I don’t want to reveal my ‘exact’ age, but back then if you played guitar there were a few songs that were mandatory and one of them was ‘Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin. Now, I don’t want to stir up debate, but I wasn’t a Zep fan back then - I was a Fleetwood Mac girl. But, I wanted to please my instructor, on whom I had an adolescent crush, so when he assigned that song as homework I told him that, yes, I LOVED it, knew it and would be playing it quite adeptly by the following week. He offered to run through it for me but, NOOOOOO, I told him there was no need.
Here’s the deal; there is a pretty cool strumming pattern in the middle of that song and my instructor wrote it out for me in my music notebook. But, when I sat down the next day to practice, I just could NOT figure it out because I really didn’t know the song.
I looked at the black hash marks on the staff and tried to puzzle out the 8ths, 16ths, and 32ths that comprised this unfathomable, to me, rhythm. Try though I might, I just couldn’t figure out how it SHOULD sound, but I absolutely KNEW I didn’t have the music in me. I could have banged out ‘Go Your Own Way’ ‘til the cows came home, but I was just not finding my footing on the ‘Stairway’.
As the week went by I found myself getting really frustrated. I wanted to be able to play the song and was dreading having to admit during my Saturday morning lesson that I hadn’t mastered it because I just didn’t know how it was supposed to sound.
On Thursday, I had another appointment that I wasn’t looking forward to, the orthodontist. On the way home after getting my braces adjusted (UGH!!!) a slightly familiar song drifted out of the radio. I gave Mom my best Poor, Poor Pitiful Me expression and asked her to turn up the volume just in time to hear the measures of music that had been vexing me all week!! I strummed along on my knee and repeated the pattern even after the song ended. When we got home, I raced to my guitar and practiced until suppertime.
That Saturday I was able to play my assignment (nearly) flawlessly and was delighted to get praise from my teacher instead of being embarrassed and disappointed by being unable to demonstrate mastery.
Yes, it takes practice to master new skills and keep existing ones sharp, but before we can practice something we need to know how it FEELS and SOUNDS when done correctly. That’s why we invest so much time in training customer service representatives (and if you aren’t you SHOULD be); to provide an environment where new learnings can be applied and mistakes can be made and corrected safely.
But, things Don’t Stop there. Once out on the floor quality coaches, team leads, supervisors and random busybodies are responsible for listening to interactions to insure accuracy, consistency and that the level of service being provided to customers is World Class. And, if they happen to hear something that is incorrect, or needs tweaking, it is up to them to give feedback to the rep.
But, just giving ‘Feedback’ IS NOT enough. Coaches must be able to model the behavior they are addressing as well and that is too often the piece that is missing. Hey, Piano Man, don’t just tell me the notes are wrong, let me hear you play it the right way so I know how it’s supposed to sound.
There are few things more ineffective than being told that you have done something wrong without being given a clear example of how to do it correctly. Coaches who CAN’T, or WON’T, demonstrate an effective example of the skill being addressed are one of the most CRITICAL Pitfalls to a successful coaching program. Not only does it do nothing for the representative, it pretty much blows a great big hole in the credibility of the person doing the coaching.
Now, no one expects the coach to have the answer to every customer issue on the tip of their tongue at all times, that’s not what I am saying, but if it is your job to evaluate whether of not certain skills and behaviors are present during an interaction, you had better be able to model those skills, in the moment.
Also, coaches really need to be able to effectively identify the critical element of the interaction to coach on. There is precious little enough time available for coaching as it is, no sense wasting time babbling about things that had little or no impact on the overall quality of the interaction. No, coaches need to be able to identify what made the call ‘World Class’, or what caused the Crazy Train to go off the rails.
So, there are two key elements to successful coaching; Identifying the Pivotal Behavior and being able to Model the Behavior correctly. My version of a Rock and Roll classic was not ready for prime time because, though I had most of it down cold, when it came to the pivotal point in the song, where it changed from ballad to blaster, I just couldn’t hear it in my head until I heard it with my ears.
Great coaches are only great if they enable the representatives they are working with to achieve greatness and deliver World Class Service. If your team isn’t consistently #1 on the Charts, the reason they are sounding flat may very well be your coaching program. Luckily, there is an effective and budget friendly solution;
Radclyffe’s Call Coaching and Calibration Sessions
These enlightening, interactive and entertaining sessions are held on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. During the sessions we;
- Listen to ‘real’ calls provided by the participants
- Work together to identify the Pivotal Behavior during the interaction and discuss how it impacted the call
- Practice Modeling the behavior done correctly
- Strategize next steps in the coaching process
Public sessions offer the opportunity to meet coaches from different organizations and share best practices, challenges and laughter with new friends. For companies seeking a more targeted workshop, we can schedule private sessions for groups of four or more.
Follow this link to register http://www.radclyffepartners.com/REGISTER-ONLINE-WEBSHOPS.html or give us a call at 973-291-8946 to turn your team from Second Hand News into a Band on the Run to greatness.
****Special Pricing*****
Register Before April 15th for ANY session and Save 15%
Send Three or more participants and Save 30%
Oh, and in case you are curious, I still play but my repertoire now consists mainly of kid friendly sing-alongs performed for the demanding audience of my nieces and nephew…although, I occasionally turn the amp up to 11 and relive my Dreams.
