Coaching is one of the most powerful tools a contact centre leader has to improve performance, yet in most organisations, it’s inconsistent, ineffective, or treated as an afterthought.

The problem? Many leaders think they are coaching when they’re actually just giving feedback or managing day-to-day performance. Without structured, high-quality coaching, frontline teams struggle to develop the skills they need to handle increasingly complex customer interactions.

YakTrak + GRIST are fixing this.

Why Traditional Coaching Falls Short

Despite the best intentions, many coaching programs fail to deliver real impact because:

• Coaching is inconsistent – Some agents receive coaching weekly, while others go months without a meaningful development conversation
• It focuses on metrics, not behaviours – Leaders try to ‘coach to the numbers’ (AHT, FCR, CSAT) rather than the skills and behaviours that drive those numbers
• There’s no structured follow-up – Even when coaching happens, there’s often no way to track progress or ensure behavioural change sticks.

“If you leave an organisation alone, it defaults to leaders managing tasks, not coaching people. It takes deliberate effort to build a learning culture that sticks.”  – Peter Grist, YakTrak + GRIST Managing Director

The Shift: From Coaching to Capability Building

The best-performing contact centres treat coaching as an ongoing process of capability development, not just a reactive response to performance issues.

YakTrak + GRIST ensure coaching is structured, consistent, and data-driven by:

• Embedding coaching into daily operations so it’s a non-negotiable part of leadership rhythms
• Tracking the quality and frequency of coaching conversations, ensuring leaders aren’t just coaching more, but coaching better
• Linking coaching to development plans, so managers can measure the impact of coaching over time

Now: YakTrak + GRIST ensure coaching is visible, structured, and tied to real outcomes—so leaders know who is being coached, how often, and on what.

Future: AI-powered insights will help leaders predict skill gaps, assess coaching effectiveness, and provide real-time guidance on where to focus coaching efforts.

The Impact: Coaching That Drives Real Performance

YakTrak and GRIST worked with an Australian energy provider to implement a structured and continuous coaching program, leveraging YakTrak data to assess coaching frequency and goal-setting quality. The data tells a clear story:

• Coaching frequency increased by 60% within the first two months, ensuring agents received timely development
• YakTrak data shows that out of 18,000 goals set in the last 12 months, only 50.3% were specific, 34.1% measurable, 47.1% behavioural, and 49.5% focused. Poorly defined goals lead to scattered efforts, difficulty tracking progress, and lower engagement. By improving goal-setting quality, leaders can drive more effective coaching and performance outcomes.
• Coaching effectiveness isn’t just about frequency—it’s about goal quality. When coaching goals are specific, measurable, and behaviour-driven, agents are more engaged, develop skills faster, and deliver better customer outcomes. YakTrak’s data reinforces that improving goal-setting leads to greater coaching impact.

For contact centres, this isn’t just about doing more coaching—it’s about ensuring coaching is deliberate, effective, and tied to skill development.

The Future of Coaching: Smarter, Data-Driven, and Proactive

The contact centres that succeed in the future won’t just measure coaching frequency—they’ll measure coaching effectiveness. YakTrak + GRIST are leading this shift, ensuring coaching isn’t just happening, but driving real behaviour change.

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