Great customer service doesn't happen by accident and neither does great performance.
If you lead a Customer Service or CX team, you'll know that delivering consistently brilliant customer experiences takes more than good intentions.
It takes people who feel confident in what they're doing, understand what's expected of them and have the support to keep improving.
That's where coaching and feedback come in.
But here's a question worth considering:
Are we building a genuine culture of coaching, or are we simply scheduling more coaching sessions?
Because there's a difference.
What did the poll reveal?
This week, I asked Customer Service and CX leaders whether regular coaching makes a real difference to customer service performance.
The response generated more than 53 votes and some really interesting comments.
One thing stood out:
It's not just about how often you coach. It's about how well you coach.
A few comments really caught my attention.
More coaching doesn't automatically mean better performance.
If sessions become a box-ticking exercise, with the same conversations happening repeatedly and no meaningful change afterwards, what's the point?
I particularly liked the reminder that even your strongest performers need coaching. They need opportunities to develop, challenge themselves and get better too.
Coaching shouldn't just happen when something goes wrong
One of the biggest mistakes organisations can make is treating coaching as a response to poor performance.
A customer complaint comes in. A call doesn't go well. An adviser misses a target.
Suddenly, there's a coaching conversation.
Of course, those conversations are important. But if that's when coaching usually happens, your team may start to associate it with getting something wrong.
And that's not the culture we're trying to create.
Imagine a different approach.
An adviser handles a difficult customer conversation particularly well. Their manager takes the time to explain what they did, why it worked and how that approach could help others.
Another adviser struggles with a particular type of enquiry. Instead of simply pointing out what went wrong, their manager listens to the interaction with them, explores what could have been done differently and agrees one practical improvement to work on.
Both are coaching opportunities and both matter.
One reinforces great performance and the other creates an opportunity to improve it.
Four ways to make coaching conversations count
So, how do we move beyond coaching as a scheduled management activity and make it part of everyday team culture?
Here are four things I'd encourage Customer Service and CX leaders to focus on.
1. Use real customer interactions:
Generic feedback can be difficult to act on.
Use actual calls, emails, chats and customer conversations to make coaching relevant. Look at what happened, what worked and where there was an opportunity to do something differently.
The closer the feedback is to real work, the easier it is to put into practice.
2. Recognise what's working, not just what's going wrong:
Don't wait for a poor interaction before having a coaching conversation.
When someone demonstrates great listening, empathy, ownership or communication, highlight it.
Explain what made the interaction effective. Recognition becomes even more valuable when people understand exactly what they did well and why it mattered to the customer.
3. Focus on one or two meaningful improvements::
Trying to fix everything in one conversation can leave people overwhelmed.
Identify the most important development opportunity and agree what better looks like.
Give people something practical they can take into their next customer interaction.
4. Follow up and check for change:
This is where coaching often loses its impact.
Having a conversation is only the beginning. What happens afterwards?
Has the person applied the feedback? Have their behaviours changed? Are customers experiencing a difference?
Without follow-up, even a good coaching conversation can become another forgotten item on the to-do list.
Your strongest performers need coaching too
There's another point from the comments that deserves attention.
Coaching shouldn't be reserved for people who are struggling.
Your best advisers still have room to develop.
They might be ready to handle more complex conversations, support colleagues, become mentors or develop the skills needed for their next role.
If we only coach when performance falls below expectations, we're missing opportunities to help good people become even better.
A strong coaching culture recognises that development doesn't stop when someone becomes competent.
It continues throughout their career.
The real measure of a coaching culture
For me, coaching isn't about how many sessions appear in a manager's diary.
It's about what changes because those conversations happen.
Do people feel more confident?
Are they applying what they've learned?
Are managers recognising great performance as well as addressing development needs?
Are customer conversations improving?
And are people taking greater ownership of their own development?
These are much better questions to ask than simply, "Have we completed this month's coaching sessions?"
Because coaching isn't about having more conversations. It's about making those conversations count.
And when feedback becomes regular, constructive and focused on real behaviour, it can become one of the most valuable tools a Customer Service or CX leader has.
Let's hear from you
I'd love to hear from other Heads of Customer Service and CX.
Are your coaching sessions genuinely changing the way your teams serve customers, or have they become another item on the management checklist?
And what does your organisation do to make sure feedback leads to real improvement?
Let's have a conversation.
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If you're leading a team, improving customer journeys or tackling challenges like this, I'd love to hear your story and share your insights with our community.
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Stay memorable,
Gavin Scott