published 03-5-2019

CX Best Practice Award Winnerfor CSR Coaching Program

Consumers Energy

CX Best Practice Success Story – CSR Coaching Program

Company Overview

In 1886, William A. Foote, a flour mill operator, teamed up with Samuel Jarvis to secure a street lighting

franchise agreement with the city of Jackson. What began as the illumination of a dozen streetlights has now

become Consumers Energy Company (CE).

CE is one of the nation's largest combination utilities, providing electric and natural gas service to almost 6.5

million of Michigan’s 10 million residents and serves customers in all 68 counties of Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

Consumers Energy is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy Corporation, a Michigan-based company that also

owns and operates independent power generation businesses.

Headquarters:

Jackson, Michigan

CSR Headcount:

272 – 280

Contact Center Locations:

Alma, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Royal Oak, and Saginaw, Michigan

Contact Types:

• Starting, stopping, & changing services

• Billing and payment inquiries

• Emergency and outage order submission & questions

Customer Types:

Residential and Landlord Small Business

Contact Channels:

Inbound Call Center, IVR, Website, and Text

Hours of Operation:

• Monday – Friday 7:00 a.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET

• Saturday 8:00 a.m. ET to 2:00 p.m. ET

• Limited Service hours for emergency service

o Monday – Friday 6:00 p.m. ET – 7:00 a.m. ET

o Saturday, 2:00 p.m. ET – Monday 7:00 a.m. ET

o Holidays

Contact Volume:

• 4.2 million live calls annually

• 5 million IVR calls annually

• 25 million website contacts annually

Our Culture

At CMS Energy, we choose to do the right thing – not merely what’s required or what’s most convenient. We

operate safely, honestly, and with accountability. We care for the environment and for the communities where we

live and work. We treat everyone fairly and with respect. These fundamental concepts have helped us

successfully serve our customers for nearly 130 years. Today we are reimagining what an energy company

looks like and how we can best serve our customers in the 21st century. While holding firm to our foundation and

our Guiding Principles:

• We act with integrity

• We earn our customers’ business 24/7

• We put points on the board

• We leave it better than we found it

• We cross the finish line together

• It’s a great place to work

Consumers Energy Growth & Development

The Growth and Development (G&D) program was designed to create meaningful, consistent coaching for CSRs

while empowering them in their own development. The program was created in partnership with Team Leaders

(TL), Quality Analysts (QA), CSRs, the local Union President, and Contact Center Management (CCM).

Our coaching program prior to 2018 was more of a “coach-at-will approach”. We did more integrated coaching

and requested that team leaders spend 75% of their day on the floor doing side-by-sides, general observing and

being available if support was needed. G&D is a collaborative relationship between the CSR, their TL, and QA.

This partnership has proven to deliver positive results.

As we evaluated the time spent coaching and our ability to impact change in behaviors and performance, we

realized coaching-on-the-fly alone does not provide enough support for CSRs to improve performance, thus

G&D was created.

How G&D Works

The Growth & Development program has two goals. The first goal of this program was to create a standard

process for coaching that could be replicated from center to center. The second goal was to provide a method for

managing the Pay for Performance (PFP) incentive for CSRs.

As part of the coaching plan, we spent time teaching leaders and CSRs how to focus on what we can do to

prevent our customers from calling us back. We accomplished this by delivering the Call Resolution Delivery

Model (CRDM) provided by SQM.

The CRDM model focuses on six steps:

• Step 1: Introduction to FCR and call resolution and its importance to the contact center

• Step 2: Performance review of the individual CSR based on customer survey data

• Step 3: Education on the Call Resolution Delivery Model

• Step 4: CSR self-assessment of call recordings

• Step 5: CSR group call calibration using call recordings

• Step 6: Establishing CSR call resolution goals and improvement plan

Once the CRDM was implemented, we supported this learning by adding the G&D coaching program.

A Quality Analyst is assigned to TL/CSRs for a 6-month time frame. After 6-months, they are rotated to another

group of team leaders and CSRs. This helps to bring balanced feedback to the CSRs and keeps the work

engaging for the analysts and team leaders.

Step 1: An alignment meeting is held with the QA and TL. This is a key part of the process to ensure both

parties understand the CSR’s overall body of work. They review what opportunities the CSR may have and what

the CSR has done really well. It’s important to reinforce the behaviors that are really working well and driving

success.

During the alignment meeting, the QA & TL review prior documentation, as well, make note of the action step

that was previously created for the CSR. This meeting may be as short as two minutes or as long as 15 minutes.

Once the QA & TL have a plan, they move forward by meeting with the CSR.

Step 2: Team leaders schedule weekly 30-min coaching sessions with each CSR via Outlook. Scheduling the

conversation in advance is important as it reminds the CSR that they have a support team ready to assist them

in being successful.

Step 3: Week 1 (may not be Week 1 of the month) of the G&D program is the third step in the process. The TL,

QA, and CSR meet for 30 minutes to review 2 calls together. The calls can be pulled randomly, or a CSR may

request to review a specific call. Although the goal is to select random calls, we have found by allowing CSRs to

select a call demonstrates CSR ownership for the assigned action and empowers the CSR in their development.

Either random or CSR-selected calls are acceptable provided they are from the same day or day prior.

Using calls that have been serviced within a 24-hour window is important to a successful coaching session.

Utilizing those calls allows for real-time coaching with the CSR, memory recall for the CSR is better, and it helps

the leaders avoid coaching to one specific call instead of addressing the behaviors that drive world class

performance.

During each G&D session, the discussion focuses on what is going well and what is not going well based on

customer feedback in one of the following 4 SQM Pillars.

• Help Me

• Care About Me

• Understand Me

• Resolve Me

Step 4: Creating a CSR action plan is the fourth step. Action plans are documented by the leaders and the

CSR. We ask the CSR to create a reminder to focus on throughout the week. This reminder can be on a sticky

note, outlook reminder, mental note or desk card. Creating a reminder helps document the commitment the CSR

is making to their development.

Step 5: In Weeks 2, 3 & 4 of the overall process, coaching is done via an informal session with the TL and the

CSR and rounds out the Growth & Development program. These coaching sessions may include side-by-sides,

listening to a recorded call, on the fly feedback, or reviewing survey comments with the CSR. Again, these

coaching’s are informal feedback sessions designed to offer support when needed. These sessions should be

consistent without feeling forced. The goal is to encourage good behaviors, not nick-pick at small things.

• A progress check-in the CSR’s Pillar focus area is completed every 3 to 4 weeks. If expected

improvement has been achieved, the CSR moves to a different focus area.

The second goal of the G&D program was to provide incentive pay for participating and creating a focus on world

class performance. CSRs who exhibit the performance standard of active and engaged participation in the G&D

program will earn an additional dollars per hour worked in a given month.

At the start of each 4-week cycle, all CSRs default to earning this metric. In the event that a CSR does not meet

this standard, the following steps and documentation must take place before the incentive dollars are removed.

• When it is determined that the standard is not being met, the TL will notify the CSR and document the

discussion in the SQM coaching database.

• If the CSR continues to perform below standard at any time during the G&D cycle, a Quality

Improvement Plan will be created and documented. This plan will be a joint effort between the CSR,

QA, and TL.

• If below standard performance continues, the TL will notify the CSR that the dollar will be removed. This

will be documented in the SQM database and a notice will be sent to the plan administrator directing

them to remove the incentive payment for the following month.

• Participation is continually evaluated and the decision to reinstate the incentive dollar will be made on a

monthly basis.

Documentation is crucial for successful follow-up during future coaching sessions.

Coaching the Coach

In order to ensure success and continued growth for the TL and QA, CCM’s and QA Supervisors are asked to

complete one “go and see” visit to a G & D session for each QA and TL per quarter. During this time, they are

only observing; not providing input. This allows the process to be observed in the truest of its intent.

During the “go and see”, the site managers are observing the participation of the CSR and how well that CSR

owns their development. In addition, they are observing the TL and QA to ensure solid coaching plans are

agreed upon between the team.

Coaching Time

The goal of the Growth & Development session is to reinforce good behaviors and correct defects found within

the four SQM pillars. We have found that by only focusing our efforts on how the CSRs perform individually

does not drive change in service and does not create a world class experience. However, coaching through the

Growth & Development program is an essential part of our success in driving change in both of these areas.

Most times that a CSR is asking questions or doing a quick check-in can be viewed as coaching time, this

makes tracking coaching time effectively a challenge. In order to understand if the time spent coaching was

effective, we partnered with Gartner to evaluate our coaching performance against other organizations.

Gartner has benchmarked that when CSRs receive less than 60 minutes per month coaching time, they do not

feel like they receive enough coaching. On average, Consumers Energy leaders are spending about 83

minutes per month per CSR coaching.

CSR Feedback

What do our CSRs think of the G&D sessions?

• When asked “How would rate this coaching experience compared to coaching that you received in the

past?” – more than 80% responded above average or excellent.

• When asked to rate their level in engagement in the G&D coaching session - more than 80% responded

very engaged.

• When asked “Has the coaching session impacted your approach to servicing customers?” more than

80% responded YES.

• CSR General Comments:

o When we did the critique of the call, it was positive encouragement on how to make it better than

it was.

o I like the face-to-face interaction instead of a form on my desk.

o It makes me realize we all have room to improve and hearing the call rather than being on it real

time, you can see things to improve.

We have also been able to validate overall coaching effectiveness via a survey taken by the Gartner team. The

graph below shows that our staff feels our team leaders are effective at coaching. Consumers Energy is in the 1st

quartile of coaching effectiveness.

There are a number of reasons why Growth & Development sessions are effective:

1. This is a commitment to the CSR that we will have regularly scheduled coaching. These sessions occur

consistently even when a CSR is doing well. In those cases, the sessions are often shorter and really

provide an opportunity for recognition. This also allows the CSR to share best practices that they would like

to share with others.

2. Joint coaching sessions with the QA and TL provide a consistent coaching message.

3. The G&D program creates an open & collaborative coaching approach instead of an informational/teaching

format.

4. The CSR is able to listen to calls and evaluate the customer survey statements towards their performance

at the same time. The support provided by the team leader and the quality analyst also builds alignment and

partnership.

5. CSR Engagement in Quality

a. Previously, internal quality scores were not impactful in driving change.

b. CSRs previously felt a lack of ownership due to no discussion or memory of calls.

c. CSRs now initiate a dialog on how they are working to improve on their opportunity areas; CSR

ownership is frequently demonstrated.

6. Coaching consistency has been beneficial to the continual education and development of our CSRs.

CSR Success Story

Here is just one example of the results of our Growth & Development program. This CSR has been with the

organization for 12 years and works in our Alma center.

We have one CSR who has always struggled with communicating empathy; this has been her main G&D focus

this year. She has attacked several opportunities for empathy, continuing to make it her focus and take

advantage of various elements of this pillar focus. Her improvement has gone well beyond just saying an

empathetic phrase. She regularly identifies opportunities, as well as, those instances where she is successful in

her endeavor to be empathetic.

Her efforts have included expressing empathy in her acknowledgment, how to recognize a customer’s humanity

when they are not being honest and understanding another’s position when presenting information to adopt an

approach that is most meaningful and appropriate for the customer.

Here is what this CSR says about her involvement in the Growth & Development program:

“I am so happy with the whole Growth & Development process. I’m a very technical person and

have the “give them the facts” personality…that’s why I have been working on empathy. I’ve always

cared about my customers and the situations they have but have had trouble conveying that

empathy to them. The monthly feedback I receive has been awesome. Just by tweaking a few

‘ways that I say things’, not just ‘what I say’, has made such an impact.

The monthly meetings listening to my calls has really helped me recognize how important tone of

voice can be; how a simple acknowledgment can assure the customer that they have been heard;

and how very important it is for the customer to know they are important to us. I truly appreciate all

the feedback that I receive and am always open to being the best CSR I can be.”

Results

When we evaluate our journey to providing World Class Performance and Delivering Hometown Service, we

are proud of the results. Our deliberate and focused approach to coaching has contributed to our customers

being serviced in amazing ways.

Providing consistent coaching, addressing process gaps, and focusing on technology changes have created

the right culture to deliver 1st quartile performance in calls resolved, coaching and customer experience.

Operational Improvements

As a result of our continued focus to improve our performance for our customers and our staff, we have

improved in several other operational areas in 2018. These improvements are in large part due to the changes

in our quality tagging program of all non-FCR and low CXI in combination with our Growth & Development

coaching.

Our contact center culture is shifting from a very transactional approach to servicing and top-down leadership

structure to a culture that embraces customer advocacy and drives direction by flipping the triangle to hear the

voice of CSRs.

Our success beyond SQM:

• Employee Engagement 2017 - increased by 20 points

• Employee Engagement 2018 - increased by 2 points

• Call defects eliminated by agile IVR team (MACGIVR) - 230K

• Call defects eliminated by process improvements and calls resolved - 90K

• Overall reduction in repeat call volume - 320K

• Over 50 process improvements implemented

Conclusion

As we reflect on our success, we recognize the greatest opportunity still lies ahead of us. Our customers and

our staff will require more from us in the year ahead. We are committed to continuing our focus on driving First

Call Resolution, delivering world class performance, and engaging our organizational partners to assist in the

delivery of an improved customer experience. Coaching will continue to be a priority for our teams as we

continue our journey to becoming a World Class organization.