Call center supervisors need excellent and continued training to keep their skills to form and learn new ones in this rapidly changing field where both high quality customer responsiveness and cost containment—including limiting staff churn--share equal billing.

The challenge lies in finding the time for them to leave the call floors whether bricks-and-mortar and/or virtual i.e. home agents. There is always a mini-crisis that keeps them engaged: team members calling in sick, or late that disrupts schedules, service levels dipping out of adherence, customer (or client) complaints, program/scripting changes…

The RCCSP Professional Education Alliance has just the call center training solution: a comprehensive multipart web Call Center Supervision Web-Based Training Series with optional supervisor certification. The web-based method keeps transportation to mere footsteps, or short drives from nearby satellite locations, without drawing down on tight travel budgets.

Participants will learn best practices in staffing, workforce management, monitoring form design and calibration, agent monitoring and effective coaching techniques and performance management. Additional focus is directed toward the unique aspects of call center operations, such as calculating staffing requirements, understanding call center technology, and complying with labor regulations. Concepts are presented in easy-to-understand modules, using basic terminology language and real-world scenarios.

This training series, says RCCSP Professional Education Alliance ceo Nina Kawalek “is designed specifically for the specialized training needs of supervisory professionals and leaders that monitor and manage frontline agent performance.”

The spring series begins in May and runs through July with one class in August with a few courses available on a choice of days. The sessions are conveniently spaced to absorb the knowledge and keep it fresh and are in most instances at the same date and time for easy-to-plan/remember/remind scheduling.

Here is the schedule (all times CT):

--Call Center Supervision Essentials: Skills and Competencies (May 5, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Defining Performance Objectives and Measuring Results (May 12, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

--Diagnosing and Treating Performance Problems  (May 19, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Fundamentals of Coaching: Techniques for Shaping Employee Performance (May 26 or August 25, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. both days)

--100 Ways to Improve Motivation and Morale (June 2, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Techniques for Building and Managing Teams (June 9, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Proven Strategies to Increase Employee Retention (June 16, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Time Management: Planning for the Supervisory Day (June 23, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Introduction to Workforce Management: Understanding Call Center Staffing and Scheduling (May 6, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. or July 14, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Introduction to Key Performance Indicators (July 21, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

--Sales Coaching for Supervisors: Techniques for Maximizing Sales (July 28, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.)

What’s needed? A training room at your facility, with an Internet connection, projection unit, projection screen, phone line and audio amplification capability. Two days prior to each seminar, the RCCSP Professional Education Alliance will e-mail access instructions for the web portion and the telephone number to call.

The price is $2,750 for the entire series for an unlimited number of employees around a single connection. The registration/connection fee includes a single Internet and single telephone connection to the web-based seminars and a course manual master for internal duplication and internal distribution only. Mastery Certification exams for the Call Center Supervision Series attendees may be purchased separately at $25 per exam administration.

Want to join-in a series that's already started? That's not a problem. It is not necessary to attend these seminars in any specific order. When you sign up for a series that's already underway, the RCCSP Professional Education Alliance will automatically enroll you in the next series for the sessions you missed.

The optional Mastery Certification in Call Center Supervision certification consists of two parts: attendance in all eleven sessions of the Call Center Supervision Series and a certification exam. The exam is web-based, open-book, and must be proctored.

Candidates are to be given two hours to complete the 40-question exam and must achieve at least 80 percent accuracy in order to obtain certification.  Certification exams administrations may be purchased for $25 each.

The two-hour certification session at your location must be proctored by an independent leader from your organization. Candidates will be advised of their exam scores within two week following the completion of the exam.

“For one low price, all your in-house leaders and supervisors can hone their skills and learn innovative ways to raise your agent's quality of service,” says Kawalek. “Taught live by leading experts members of the Professional Education Alliance, and delivered in-house in a virtual classroom at your location, the Call Center Supervision Training and Certification Series brings the best the U.S. has to offer in supervisor techniques directly to leading call centers worldwide.”