Key performance indicators or KPI’s are a know evil in business.  Although it doesn’t have to be like that.  KPI’s which are aligned with the company strategy are very useful to  keep the team aware of the company’s goals and if we are reaching them or not.  At the other hand strictly siloed departmental KPI’s can be very dangerous and even damage the business. The call centre KPI game is a simulation which shows how wrongly chosen KPI’s can damage the business.

In our call centre, call centre ‘hell-oh’, there are 2 managers. A sales manager and a Quality manager. The managers do not talk a lot to each other. 

The sales manager want to have the call as short as possible since the shorter the call, the more contracts he can conclude.  The quality manager wants to get a good quality score for each call, and a high quality call takes times.

Between the call centre operators and the managers there are different team leaders. 

In order to reach the targets a bonus system exist within call centre ‘hell-oh’

When I give the training I just call it the “Hell-Oh” call centre game and not the “Hell-Oh” call centre KPI game. Since it give already a part of the lessons learned away.

By the way this game is also a great game for conflict handling.

What do we need?

In order to run the call centre KPI game you will need:

• 5 dices per operator
• A pen per operator
• Computer / printer (optional)

Preparation

• You need to nominate a sales manager and a quality manager
• The other participants are divided in groups of 3 to 5 people.
• Within each group there is one team leader. The others are call centre operators.

The sales and quality manager should not speak to each other. Preferable they sit in other rooms than the call centre operators and their team leaders. Like it should in a silo based organization 😉.

Each call centre operators gets 5 dices and a pen.

Rules

Phone call

A phone call is represented by throwing the 5 dices several times after each other. Each single dice can be thrown again. The quality is represented by the sum of all 5 dices at the end of the throw series. This means the higher you try to get  the quality score, the longer the call will be.

Let’s illustrate this with an example For example:

An operator starts the phone call and throws  2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 5. He decides to throw the 2 and 3 again. After the second throw he has 1 – 6 – 4 – 5 -5 . He decides then to throw the dice with the 1 on, one more time.  After the third throw he has 3 – 6 -4 -5 -5. The final quality score is 23.  The operator writes down the score on a paper. This ends the phone call.  He can start a new phone call by throwing again the 5 dices.

Bonus

In order to reach the targets a bonus system exist within call centre ‘hell-oh’.  The sales and quality manager get 100 points each per round.  Plus they get 25 extra available per group of operators.

For example if you have one group of 3 operators and a team leader they both have 125 points available each per round. If there is one group of 3 operators and a team leader and another group of 4 operators and a team leader, they both have 150 points available per round.

They have both to give minimum 25 points to each team leader per round if he reaches the target. But, they can give more points.

The managers should not know from each other how many points they have available per round. 

Targets & target negotiation

 The tables below give the targets per round for the different managers. The quality manager is the only one who get the targets for quality and the sales manager is the only one who get the targets for sales. As already mentioned, the sales and quality manager should not speak to each other. They should not hear what each of them is discussing with the team leader.

Before each round starts (except for the reference round), the team leaders have to pass by the quality manager and the sales manager.  The managers decide if they want to see all the team leaders at once or one team leader at a time.

The manager tells the team leader what the target is. He does not have to follow the targets from the table below.  For example the sales manager could say to the team leader that for round 1 he want to see an increase of the number of call of +15% even if his target is only 10%. 

The manager has to give the team leader a bonus when he reaches the target.  The bonus should be minimum 25 points but can be more. He can not give more than he has available per round.

The manager get also a bonus if the target in the table above is reached. The bonus equals the points he has available in a round minus the points he has to give to the team leader when he reaches the target.

Let’s illustrate this with some examples.

There is only one group. The quality manager agrees on an average score of 21.25 and a bonus of 50 points for round 1 with the team leader.  The sales manager agrees on a +15% increase and a bonus of 25 points for round 1.  The team leader reaches 21.61 as an average score over all calls and +12% increase.

 The quality target is met. The team leader will get 50 points from the quality manager. This means that the quality manager get the remaining 75 points (125-50). 

The sales target from the table is met, but not the agreed sales target. This means that the sales manager get 125 points and the team leader gets 0 points.

Let have a look at a different scenario. The sales manager still agrees on a +15% increase and a bonus of 25 points for round 1. But the team leader decides that this is unrealistic and puts everything on reaching the quality target.  After round 1 there is only a 2% increase. In this case the sales manager and team leader both get 0 points for the sales target.

Team coordination

The team leader can steer his team likes he want.  He can tell the real targets he got, change the targets or do not tell the targets.

He can define a strategy if he wants. For example throw every dice under 4 again or do only throw 3 times maximum per call. Or he can micro manage his team per throw. 

Training

The team leader can decide to train his people, but they do not have to. By training the people they will be able to have better quality call in a shorter time.  This is done by adding an extra score on the average quality score.  The score depends on how many money is spend on the training. See the table below.

The cost of the training is deducted from the bonus of the team leader.  He can only spent points that he has.  Once the training is given the extra quality score remains for the next round unless stated otherwise. The training has to be given before a round starts.

The training can be given in steps. For example after round 1, before the beginning of round 2. He can spent 50 points to the training (assuming he has earned more than 50 points in round 1).  In round 2 the team can add a score of 2 to the average quality score. After round 2, before the beginning of round 3 the team leader can spent 100 points (in total he has spent 150 points).  The team can now add a score of 3.25 to the average quality score.

Goal

The managers and team leaders want to have as much as points possible after 5 rounds. Depending on the company culture you could even get a small price. For example a cookie for each 50 points they get. Don’t forget to give the operators as well one. You have to pay them too 😉.

During the game heavy discussion and frustrations can rise.  In that case make sure that they understand that it is just a game to learn something. The lessons learned are more important than winning the game.

KPI

Of course we need KPI’s for this game! After each round 2 different KPI’s are made per group.  One is the average quality score and the other one is the amount of calls done per round. The amount of calls done is expressed in absolute values and also in a percentage compared to the reference round. It is this percentage which is used as an inputs for the sales target system.

Operators and team leaders can see all the KPI’s. The sales manager is only allowed to see the sales KPI and the quality manager is only allowed to see the quality KPI.

the team leader can answer questions related to sales/quality If the quality/sales manager asks them. But he cannot show the KPI’s. 

Do not encourage the managers to asks question about the other KPI. But when they ask about it let them know that it is allowed.

game play

Explanation & set-up

1. The game is explained to the whole group
   • Explain that you will simulate a call centre
   • Explain that throwing the dices are representing phone calls
   • Divide the group in the different roles without going into detail on the content of the role. Give the operators there dices and pen & paper.
   • Explain that there will be 1 reference round and then 5 more rounds. Each round will be 1 minute.
2. the sales manager and quality manager are individually separated
   • explain the bonus and target system
   • explain that there goal is to have a big as possible bonus at the end of round 5
3. take the team leaders separated
   • explain their bonus and target system (do not reveal the targets or bonus for the managers, just explain that the manager will give them a target and that they receive a bonus when they get it)
   • explain that there goal is to have a big as possible bonus at the end of round 5
   • explain the training

Reference round

There are no targets. The reference round is to see how much phone call can be done on 1 minute. Each team leader has to use the same strategy.  The operators throw one time all the 5 dices and then a second time all the dices which are lower than 4. Thus, dices with 1n 2 or 3 eyes.  Then they end the phone call by noting down the total score on a piece of paper and start a new phone call.

After the minute has past the team leader calculates the average quality score for his team and the number of calls done by all the operators. The team leader passes the information to the facilitator who makes the graphs.

Personally I find it the easiest to create the graphs manual . The team leaders can show the graphs on paper to their team and the managers.  But if you prefer you can create them in excel and print them out. Or project them on a screen.

Round 1 to 5

Round 1 to 5 follow the same pattern.

1. The team leader goes to the manager
   1. To discuss the results from last round and corresponding bonuses
   2. to discuss the targets and bonus for the next round
2. The agreement is put on paper and given to the facilitator
3. The team leader decides if he want to train the team (not yet possible for round 1). If so he informs the facilitator to which level.
4. The team leader discuss the target/strategy with their team
5. The round starts (1 minute)
6. The scores are calculated
7. The graphs are made

The facilitator keeps track of the bonuses for the different team leaders and managers. It is advisable that the facilitator joins the first meetings between the team leader and manager.

After round 5 there should be a discussion on what goes well and what goes wrong.

But wait! The game does not stop here! Surprise there is a final round!!!

Final round

In the final round the team leaders and managers have to work together to get the best result for the company not for the department.

The management has done a survey under their customers. Based on this survey they have come up with a table on how much bonus they can give compared to the current bonus per round. This bonus is linked directly to the profit. The higher the profit the more bonus they get. The final bonus depends on the results of the amount of calls and average quality score per minute.

Let’s illustrate this with an example .If you have 2 team leaders and 2 managers the total bonus per round in the previous rounds was:  300 (= 100 + 2* 25 + 100 + 2 * 25).

If you reach in the final round an average score of 21.25 and 10% increase you will get 40 percent of the bonus. In this case 120 points (40% of 300).

Please note that if you look to the table you will see that if you would have used the table for the last 5 rounds you could have won 5 times the bonus if you got the targets each rounds.  

Now, calculate based on the real results what the average bonus should has been according to the new bonus system.   You can round it down to the nearest result.  So If you had in round 1 an average score of 21.1 and +14% improvement. Then you take 40% the value add 21.25 and 10%. Again, please note that this recalculated bonus has a direct relationship with the profit.

Now we play one last round. The goal of the round is to maximize the bonus (which is linked to the profit) . All participants have to brainstorm together on one new KPI. For the purpose of the game the bonus will be divided equally over all employees.

You can also decide to train the people. Since we will only play 1 round in stead of 5 the price is 5 times cheaper. For example, you pay 10 points for an extra quality score of 2. Finally you can give the training in the beginning even if you do not yet have the points, but the cost of the training will be subtracted from the end result.

Ready?

Let’s throw some dices.

After the 1 minute final round you can calculate your new KPI and the final bonus. How does is compare to the original average bonus, the recalculated bonus and the final bonus?  Was it more or less and what can you conclude?

Lessons learned

There are several lessons learned that you could observe during the ‘Hell-Oh’ Call Centre KPI Game:

• Conflicting KPI’s can seriously damage your business. These conflicting KPI’s are often seen in company’s which have department silos. They are often considered a necessary evil, but if chosen right can benefit the business. KPI’s have to be defined that reach across departments and benefit the business not the department itself.
• KPI’s that serve the business requires shared responsibilities from the different departments. These means also a change in mindset.
• Conflicting KPI’s create a lot of frustration and tension between departments. They bring a big amount of unnecessary stress in the company.
• In order to work a consensus has to be gained on the KPI. A lack of alignment is a breeding ground for frustration. The best KPI’s give you an indication on the progress you have made or the gap you want to close.
• You need to be careful when you use incentives to reach a target. People can be very resourceful to figure out how to bent the rules for their own gain

License

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