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Testy
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EnglishPrzydatne źródła informacji Zamów aktualizacje Przejdź do testów  (zaloguj się po otrzymaniu danych do logowania) ostatnia aktualizacja: 01.07.2010 © 2009-2010 by KICK |
[released on 2010-05-06] KICK, an on-line certification program has been put in place by the Polish call center industry. Between January 1 and May 5, 2010 call center consultants completed over 750 tests. KICK's Overseeing Board is composed of call center managers from banks, insurance and assistance, telecom, travel, medical, and database companies, as well as representatives of call center consulting and CCMA-Poland. At this stage, 6 basic tests exist. They are related to call center specialized terminology, proper speaking, writing and listening skills, telephone contact etiquette, and personal data protection. Passing these tests entitles a call center employee to receive The Basic Telephone Consultant Skills Certificate. Additional two tests (legal regulations related to remote selling and making cold call) lead to The Basic Telephone Selling Skills Certificate. Preparation of two other sets of tests (debt collection and customer support) is in progress. Tests for customer support skills as well as tests for call center middle managers are planned for the near future. All tests have been carefully standardized. They are normalized, checked for validity, reliability, and accuracy. Increase of skills level and homogeneity Each test contains a set of self-study materials. Test questions can be approached two times. If the results of the first attempt is not satisfactory, there is a chance to approach it again. The way the tests are constructed, brings about – as an addition to the basic function of testing skills – two by-products: increase of the level of skills acquired and decrease of variety of skill levels across the call center.  Difference between the result of the first and second attempt reaches (among those who made two approaches) 15–35% percentage points. When using the school grade, it would be like improvement by 1–3 grades. Dispersion of the level of skills acquired (measured by standard deviation of test results) is decreasing. This means that more homogeneous skill level is the end-result of testing process. Benchmarking Results of tests can be compared at the inter-organizational level. Moreover, it can be done as blind benchmarking: each call center gets information on how good its consultants are without disclosing its own data.  Reports received by individual call centers contain graphs (like the one above) indicating median of percentage points earned for correct answers by all call center. No names are provided. A bar related to the recipient of a report is marked by an arrow. This way the call center manager of this particular organization learns how good his or her call center is among other call centers. Alexanders To acknowledge consultants who receive best results an honorary title was introduced. Best consultants get Alexanders, a recognition named after Alexander Graham Bell. So far twelve consultants have been awarded. Public recognition has at least two dimensions. First, provides external rewards to the telephone consultants community. Second, it is aimed at building an image of call center consultants as people who have a lot to learn to be able to do their job. As knowledge workers rather than as under-paid sweat-shop slaves. Internal PR The majority of call center managers is not satisfied with perception of their work by managers of other organizational entities, including CEOs and CFOs. Test results may serve as an argument for better recognition of their efforts. Cost The above certification system is extremely cost-effective (budget-conscious). Access to a single test costs less than 13 euro. Access to a set of basic tests – less than 90 euro, and set of basic selling skills tests – less than 115 euro. International aspect Despite the fact that dozens of foreign and international certification exist, those who participated in the initiation meeting at the end of November 2009, decided to create its own certification scheme. It was recognized that legal regulations related to personal data protection cannot be simply translated from English, German or French into Polish. Tests related to proper speaking, writing and listening skills had to be created in the national language. Rules of etiquette differ between nations. So does the acceptance of aggressive vs. soft selling approach. The approach adopted does not eliminate the possibility of developing a better system through international cooperation. Actually, it allows for that. Existing international certification programs assume that one pattern can be applied in countries with various legal and cultural conditions. KICK assumes that the scope of testing is adopted internationally, but individual tests are developed on national level. Invitation If you share the above implementation of the concept “think globally – act locally”, please contact the author of this paper. - Marian J. Kostecki, Ph.D. is the Director of KICK (www.kick.edu.pl), as well as President of MasterPlan, a company with long track record in providing consulting and training services for call centers, nationally and internationally (www.masterplan.pl). He is also the President of Call Center Managers’ Association (www.ccma.pl). You may contact him at kostecki@masterplan.pl. |
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