My favorite American football team, the Washington Redskins, is preparing to kick-off the 2010 season with a new coach, Mike Shanahan. Mr. Shanahan was hired earlier this year to replace Jim Zorn, who was fired last year after coaching for only two seasons. Mr. Zorn’s successful career as a player (he was a quarterback in the National Football League and threw for over 20,000 yards during his career), however, was not a very good predictor of his success as a coach: in two seasons as head coach the Redskins were an abysmal 12-20, including an embarrassing 4-12 last year.
How could a former player, someone who seemingly knows the game so well, fail miserably as a coach? Well, like brokerage statements say: Past performance is not an indication of future success.
And the mistake that the Redskins made in hiring a coach based on success on the field is similar to the mistake many contact center leaders make when they pluck star performers from the floor and make them supervisors, even though the star performer may not have shown any aptitude (or interest!) for coaching. And ask anyone who’s made a hiring mistake and they’ll tell you, it’s easier to get someone in the door than it is to get them out!
How do you overcome making a poor hiring decision, especially when it comes to such a critical service organization role? Here’s some guidance to follow as you think about your next round of supervisor hiring:
- Look Beyond the Stars – Expand the candidate pool to include not just star performers, but middle performers, too.
- Gauge Their Interest – Ask your candidates “reluctance” questions to gauge whether they’re truly interested in coaching, or simply want a position with a pay increase and time off the phone. Click here to read my colleague’s take on reluctance.
- Show Both Sides of the Coin – Allow candidates to observe supervisors with various degrees of expertise: seasoned supervisors with strong coaching skills will show candidates what good coaching should look like, and newer sups give a sense of how the candidate’s early sessions will go.
- Let Them Test Drive Before You Buy – Set-up role play scenarios for candidates to practice coaching interactions with staff members to get a sense of whether they’re ready for the job. Struggling with the interactions is okay here, but you should be able to get a sense of whether candidates possess, or lack, a natural ability to coach and lead staff.
Do all great players make terrible coaches? No, there are plenty of former professional athletes who found success as coaches, but success on the field (or contact center floor) doesn’t always equate to success as a coach. Following this guidance will help ensure that your coaching selection process nets you a winner and not someone who can’t succeed at the next level.
CCC Members: Want to learn more? Click here to learn how one member uses a super-smart approach to selecting supervisors. And, click here to learn how to screen for reluctance to coach.
Related posts:
Commenting Guidelines
We hope conversations will be energetic, constructive, and provocative. All posts will be reviewed by our editors and may be edited for clarity, length, and relevance.
We ask that you adhere to the following guidelines.
1. No selling of products or services.
2. No ad hominem attacks. These are conversations in which we debate ideas. Criticize ideas, not the people behind them.