We had another great experience at this year's QATC annual conference in Nashville in 2024. We met some wonderful people, and we saw a lot of content about the connection between QA and Training.
One theme that came through loud and clear is that integrating training and quality assurance is still a major challenge across many industries. While companies may excel at each discipline separately, bringing them together in a meaningful way, one that drives outcomes, often falls short.
One of the big takeaways? Many companies still struggle with this important connection.
In many companies, QA lives in one department and Learning Management in another. As long as the two groups are in sync, this works. But many times, there's no feedback loop from one side to the other.
Quality Assurance (QA) monitors and evaluates performance standards. Customer Experience (CX) conversations are top of mind in every organization these days. So, QA plays a significant role in shaping a company's brand voice.
When these two functions operate in silos, it leads to missed opportunities, inconsistent messaging, and inefficiencies in onboarding and coaching. Creating intentional links between quality assurance and training helps unify processes and keep everyone aligned with business goals.
Training gives your team the tools needed to deliver on defined operating processes. Put together, quality assurance and training help employees deliver on your company's CX promises. Plus, a solid learning management process empowers your team and builds confidence.
In our work with clients, we see a lot of outstanding performances from QA and Training teams. We also see opportunities to improve the effectiveness of these groups by using a structured feedback loop. If you don't have a "closed loop" approach, you could be missing out on chances to improve.
The most successful companies use shared dashboards and linked scorecards to bridge quality assurance coaching and real-time training reinforcement.
A well-executed loop makes it easier to reinforce positive behaviors and quickly correct the ones that miss the mark, saving time and improving consistency.
Here are some ideas to help you build a great working relationship between QA and Training.
Success starts with Quality and Training being in sync on priorities and goals. A good quality assurance approach identifies what needs to happen. Effective training uses best practices in content creation and delivery to help employees to succeed.
Alignment is also the foundation for companies that want to scale QA and calibration training efficiently. When your QA scores point to trends, your training strategy should be ready to respond.
Companies that invest in aligning training and quality assurance from day one see faster onboarding times and fewer errors in customer-facing interactions.
This means alignment on the basics:
The most effective organizations we work with make time for QA and Training to meet on a regular basis. A simple but effective agenda for these meetings centers on three questions:
We'd advocate for having these sessions weekly but monthly is a great start.
Quality and Training are sources of data that can - and should - inform valuable conversations.
The Quality team can provide great feedback to Learning Management. Examples include:
Likewise, the Learning Management team can provide great intel to QA:
When quality assurance teams and training managers operate from shared data, they reduce redundancy and reinforce the same goals. This collaborative insight allows teams to close performance gaps faster, especially when coaching is personalized and data-driven.
Most companies have some sort of calibration process, but often it's not defined very well. Or, calibrations happen "when we can get around to them." Done right, calibrations offer tremendous value for Quality Assurance and Training teams.
Here are a few calibration best practices we've observed from clients:
Many clients find success by turning calibration into a multi-team initiative, not just an internal QA task. When you integrate calibration feedback into ongoing QA coaching, results become repeatable.
Having the right tools can be a huge help in building the connection between QA and Training. Without them, you have to rely on manual processes, which consume time and aren't efficient.
C2Perform brings quality assurance coaching and learning content together under one roof, empowering both QA analysts and trainers to focus on performance improvement.
At C2Perform, we offer a comprehensive, all-in-one performance improvement and employee engagement solution. Our QA tools allow you to automate workflows, so you can say goodbye to spreadsheets. Plus, you can drive developmental activities and recognize your team based on rules you create.
Whether you’re looking to train QA team members, improve calibrations, or align your training and quality assurance strategy, we’re here to help.
Schedule a demo to see how C2Perform helps brands in 25 countries get better every day.
Insightful Analysis on Contact Center and Customer Support Trends
Check out our eBook, New Thinking About an Old Problem
Join contact center and customer support professionals around the world who can’t wait to see the C2PI every quarter.