How to Set KPIs for Call Centre Team Leaders
"You can't expect what you don't inspect" — an old management adage a mentor shared with me many years ago. Whatever goals you have, you need to regularly examine the outcomes of what you and your team do to make sure you're all moving towards them.
KPIs aren't goals; they're the metrics that track your direction and speed — an early-warning signal that tells you when to adjust. Every department has them, and a call centre is no different.
This guide covers the KPIs commonly used in call centres, what makes a good one, how many a Team Leader should carry — and the leadership and coaching KPIs most centres forget to set.
Inspect what you expect
KPIs keep you on track and warn you early when something's drifting. Set them for the needs of your operation, and check them relentlessly.
Don't overburden your leaders
Aim for 2–3 KPIs per objective, worked down from your most important goals. Too many and Team Leaders spread themselves thin or quietly ignore half of them.
The KPIs most centres miss
Almost everyone sets team-performance KPIs. Almost no one sets KPIs for the coaching and leadership activities that actually drive that performance. That's the gap this guide fixes.
What KPIs Are (and Aren't)
If you don't regularly check the direction and speed of your operation, you can quickly find yourself adrift — like sailing a vessel without checking the compass, speed or radar, and never reaching your destination on time.
The ultimate goal of any business is to be profitable, and profitability is checked weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. Key Performance Indicators are the metrics that track your progress towards those long-term goals.
The distinction that matters
KPIs aren't goals — they're indicators of progress towards your goals. They measure success and failure, predict what's likely to happen next, and act as an early-warning signal that you need to make adjustments to arrive on time.
Each department sets its own KPIs to track progress, and it's no different in a call centre. The key is to select the KPIs and targets relevant to your situation, set to drive the company's goals.
Common Call Centre KPIs
Below are some of the more commonly measured call centre KPIs, grouped by area, with example starting targets. Treat the targets as a starting point to tailor — and remember, each metric is defined in depth in the ACXPA glossary.
Human resources
- Recruitment — the Team Leader's involvement in recruitment campaigns, measured by their required participation.
- Absenteeism — e.g. under 10% of FTE per week.
- Staff retention — e.g. over 65% of FTE per quarter.
Voice of the Customer
- NPS — set a target and raise it as scores improve over time.
- CSAT — set a target and raise it as scores improve.
- Customer Effort Score — on a 1–7 scale, an individual effort score of 5 or more.
Match each measure to the moment — CSAT and CES for interactions, NPS for the relationship.
Efficiency & service levels
- Abandonment — around 5–8% for most inbound centres.
- Service Level (Grade of Service) — e.g. 80% of calls answered in 30 seconds.
- Average Speed of Answer (ASA) — e.g. 80% answered within 20 seconds.
- Wait time — set the maximum you can afford and drive it down (e.g. under 1 minute).
- AHT, ATT & ACW — set from a fair, reasonable time to engage properly; benchmark against your top performers' average.
Sales performance
- Revenue per Call (RPC) & Revenue per Operator Hour (ROH) — lower the target for new hires, then raise it as they become competent.
- Gross Sales %, Cancellation/Rescission % & Net Sales % — benchmark to your top performers and adjust as gross rises or cancellations fall.
- Sales Target % — set with team makeup in mind (new hires vs "top guns"), not just a flat division of the total.
You won't use all of these — select the handful that are relevant to your operation and its goals.
What Makes a Good KPI
A good KPI provides objective evidence of progress towards a required result. It's clearly understood and agreed by all parties, and easily measurable — no grey areas: you either hit it or you didn't. It should only cover areas the Team Leader has direct control over (or, if shared, be specific to their part).
Every KPI should be
- Clearly defined and simple to understand
- Specific and focused on improvement
- Objective — not based on opinion
- Aligned with the call centre's overall goals
- Relevant, with a clear purpose
…and also
- Easily and exactly measurable
- Reasonably achievable
- Timely for the needs of the team
- Agreed by all relevant parties
- Visible to everyone — management and team members
How Many KPIs Should a Team Leader Have?
The key is to consider your call centre's main objectives as they relate to the overall goals of the business — then resist the urge to pile them on.
Overburden a Team Leader with too many KPIs and you risk one of two things: they spread themselves too thin, or they concentrate only on the areas they're comfortable with and pay lip service to the rest.
The rule of thumb
Take your main objectives each quarter and set 2–3 KPIs per objective. Always work down from the top objectives to the less important ones — and if some need to roll into the next quarter, let them.
The KPIs Most Centres Miss: Leadership & Coaching
Here's the gap. Most of the performance indicators above apply to a team's results. But the leadership and coaching activities that actually drive those results are rarely set as KPIs for the Call Centre Team Leader themselves.
The main purpose of a Team Leader is to lead their team to consistently reach (or exceed) their targets. Yet what usually happens is a Team Leader's boss says "get this KPI up" — maybe suggests more coaching — and then never follows up. And if authority asks for something and doesn't inspect it, the message is that it doesn't really matter. So why would anyone bother?
Unless you make (and measure) specific leadership activities as KPIs, you can't expect what you don't inspect. Set these as explicit Team Leader KPIs:
Call monitoring & scoring
A minimum of 3 team members' calls scored per week. (The QA Sample Size Calculator helps you set a statistically fair number for your team size.)
Constructive feedback
30-minute feedback sessions, based on the number of team members whose calls were scored that week.
Skills audits
Conducted quarterly — or 4 weeks from a new hire's start date.
Coaching plans
Usually created quarterly, after completing the skills audit.
Training & coaching sessions
30–60 minute one-on-ones with at least 3 team members (or group sessions for product/systems knowledge).
Performance reviews
For teams of 12–15, weekly one-on-ones of up to 15 minutes each. Bigger teams than that? Promote or hire another Team Leader.
Make them prove it
When you bring on a Team Leader knowing they'll be measured (fairly and regularly) on these activities, they'll do them — especially if you ask for proof. Have them give you a weekly schedule of who they'll work with, when, and on what, plus score sheets, feedback synopses, coaching plans and completed reviews.
Showing proof of what they agreed to makes clear you're serious — you'll be inspecting what you expect. Frameworks like QA sampling, the GROW coaching model and SMART goals give these sessions structure.
Monitoring KPIs
Many companies have KPI dashboards or reports covering the key performance areas. The best ones show exactly where each team and team member sits against each specific KPI.
Use a Pace Report
Especially in a sales environment, a Pace Report shows where a team (and individuals) are tracking against their sales or revenue targets through the month — and where they're likely to land. A brilliant tool for keeping everyone focused daily.
Review before every shift
Team Leaders should review their dashboard before each shift to prepare for what needs to be done, and share the critical points in their pre-shift huddle.
Weekly and monthly cadence
Review with their manager weekly to discuss progress and agree corrective measures, and monthly (or at least quarterly) to check the KPIs themselves are still relevant and measurable.
Driving Focus with Bonus Structures
Beyond inspecting the activities, tie targets and KPIs to bonus structures to really drive focus. One approach I've used with success is an "under and over" framework, where beating a target earns proportionally more.
How the "under and over" model works
If the reward for hitting 100% of a target is $100, then 110% pays $110, and so on. Conversely, 90% pays $90 — and below 90%, no bonus. In an outbound sales environment especially, the increased productivity reduces the cost of sale, and the savings usually more than cover the extra bonus.
Work the numbers with your Financial Controller's team — once they see how much the productivity saves even after paying the extra bonus, they usually get on board straight away.
What the 2026 Data Tells Us
The 2026 Australian Contact Centre Best Practice Report — the largest benchmarking study of its kind — makes the case for coaching KPIs plainer than ever. Its Team Leader chapter shows a cohort that's confident at the human core of the role but stretched at the edges.
Coaching is now the #1 duty
In 2026, Team Leaders rank Coaching & Development as their single most important duty — ahead of Leadership, and well clear of hitting KPIs or QA. The role is fundamentally people-focused.
Yet it's the most squeezed
37% of Team Leaders say they don't get enough time for coaching — the very duty they rank first — while 44% say they spend too much time in meetings, the single biggest time drain.
And under-developed
53% of contact centres have no structured development program for Team Leaders, and 42% receive Team Leader training only ad hoc, rarely or never.
Why this makes coaching KPIs non-negotiable
One in three Team Leaders say they'd consider leaving in the next 12 months if their key frustrations go unresolved — yet 68% want to stay and grow in their current contact centre. Coaching is what they value most, and it's the first thing crowded out. Setting it as a measured, protected KPI — and backing it with real development — is how you close that gap before it costs you your best leaders.
Frequently Asked Questions
What KPIs should a call centre team leader have?
A mix of team-performance KPIs relevant to your operation (service levels, quality, Voice of the Customer, and sales metrics if applicable) and — critically — leadership KPIs for the coaching activities that drive that performance: call monitoring and scoring, feedback, skills audits, coaching plans, training sessions and performance reviews.
How many KPIs should a team leader have?
Around 2–3 KPIs per objective, worked down from your most important objectives each quarter. Too many and Team Leaders spread themselves thin or only focus on what they're comfortable with.
What makes a good KPI?
It's clearly defined, specific, objective, aligned to the call centre's goals, relevant, easily and exactly measurable, achievable, timely, agreed by all parties, and visible to everyone. And it should only cover what the Team Leader actually controls.
Should team leaders have coaching KPIs?
Yes — this is the most common gap. The activities that drive team performance (monitoring, feedback, coaching, reviews) are rarely set as KPIs for the Team Leader. Making them explicit, measurable and inspected is what ensures they actually happen.
How do you keep team leaders focused on their KPIs?
Inspect the activities regularly (ask for weekly schedules and proof — score sheets, coaching plans, completed reviews), and tie targets to a bonus structure. An "under and over" model that pays proportionally more for beating targets is especially effective in sales environments.
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Summary
KPIs aren't goals — they're the indicators that track your progress towards them, and warn you early when to adjust. In a call centre, set them for the needs of your operation across service levels, quality, Voice of the Customer and (where relevant) sales.
Make each KPI clear, objective, measurable, achievable, agreed and visible, covering only what the Team Leader controls. Keep it to 2–3 per objective so you don't overburden your leaders.
Most importantly, set KPIs for the leadership and coaching activities that drive team performance — call monitoring and scoring, feedback, skills audits, coaching plans, training and performance reviews — and inspect them with weekly schedules and proof. Tie targets to a smart bonus structure to sharpen focus.
Do that, and you build Team Leaders who treat coaching as part of what they do every week — turning underperformers into productive team members and keeping top performers sharp. Because you can't expect what you don't inspect.
- About the Author
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Starting in his early 20s as a direct salesperson Marc began specializing in lead generation, telesales and appointment setting. And with the help of mentors and his natural ability, quickly became recognised as a direct marketing and call centre expert.
Over the past 35 years, Marc has provided call centre consulting and training services to a wide variety of B2B and B2C companies in Australia, Canada, Fiji, México, The Bahamas, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
With his worldwide experience managing call centre teams who have won 3 Silver and 3 Gold ‘Ardy’ Awards, mentoring and coaching Call Centre Managers and Team Leaders and having owned a call centre himself, Marc is well aware of the difficulties call centres face in consistently meeting their targets and KPIs.
