Active Listening Skills
MY PROCESS FOR
Responsibilities: project manager, instructional designer, graphic designer
Tools Used: Articulate Rise, H5P, Adobe Illustrator, Narakeet
Audience: Customer Service Agents
The Problem and Solution
The Problem
The client identified a critical need to address declining customer satisfaction in their contact centres. In 2023, there was an increase in unresolved inquiries and negative feedback, with 26% of customers reporting unresolved issues. This contributed to higher churn rates and repeat calls. The primary cause was a lack of practical active listening skills among agents. Many agents failed to engage with customers, missing key verbal cues and struggling to build rapport.
The Solution
To tackle this issue, I created an eLearning program to enhance active listening skills for the client’s customer-facing agents. The program emphasises the development of active listening techniques, including paraphrasing, demonstrating empathy, asking probing and reflective questions, and responding to verbal cues. This tailored training will enable agents to manage customer interactions more effectively, resulting in increased satisfaction, reduced repeat inquiries, and stronger customer relationships.
Key Behaviours Observed
Agents struggled to fully connect with customers, leading to incomplete understanding of concerns.
Key customer signals were often overlooked, causing unresolved issues.
Interactions felt impersonal and lacked trust-building.
Unresolved inquiries increased contact volumes and customer frustration.
Declining satisfaction due to ineffective issue resolution.
Supporting Documents
Click on the images below to view the supporting documents.
Design Proposal
Action Mapping
MIRO Board Activity
Online Workshop Video
My Design Process
To bring this project to life, I leaned on the structure of the ADDIE Instructional Design Model to ensure its robustness.
Analysis: I met with subject matter experts (SMEs) to review performance metrics and customer feedback to identify gaps in the agents' active listening skills. This allowed me to pinpoint the core challenges impacting customer satisfaction. I then created a design proposal to address the need for an eLearning program aimed at improving customer satisfaction metrics while upskilling employees.
Design: I crafted learning objectives and mapped out interactive modules via a storyboard that would serve as the blueprint for the eLearning program, teaching techniques like paraphrasing, empathy, effective questioning, and verbal cue recognition. The focus was on practical, real-world application using holistic teaching and learning strategies. Generative AI tools were utilised to fine-tune text, scripting, content, audio, and imagery.
Development: Once the storyboard was approved, I created engaging multimedia-rich content using Articulate Rise 360 for the eLearning program and H5P and MIRO to incorporate simulations and gamified learning artefacts to increase participation and retention.
Implementation: Once the content was developed, new onboarding staff received training on the new content through a pilot program and train-the-trainer sessions to ensure a smooth handover of learning content and address any delivery/implementation concerns.
Evaluation: Once the eLearning was fully developed, I asked SMEs and professional instructional designers to evaluate the project and provide feedback so that I could apply iterations and ensure smooth functionality and consistency across the design. I also assessed the program’s effectiveness through assessment results, participant feedback and performance metrics, continuously refining the content to meet learners’ needs.
