Project Summary
Coaching With a Purpose is a scenario-based eLearning experience designed to put frontline managers in realistic workplace situations where they can practice coaching—not just learn about it.
Learners step into the role of a manager coaching an underperforming employee and must identify the root cause of the performance issue, use emotional intelligence to maintain psychological safety, and apply effective one-on-one coaching techniques to help the employee succeed.
Audience
Contact Center Team Leads
Supervisors
Frontline People Managers
My Role
Training needs analysis
Action mapping
Storyboarding
Visual design
eLearning development
Tools Used
Articulate Storyline 360
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Affinity
Miro
ChatGPT
Gemini
Adobe Color
The Problem
A contact center was seeing a decline in Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) alongside rising Average Handle Time (AHT). A needs analysis revealed that managers were responding by focusing heavily on the numbers—telling agents to reduce handle time, improve their CSAT, or simply “do better.” While these conversations addressed the metrics, they often failed to uncover what was actually causing the performance issues. The needs analysis also revealed that the managers lacked the emotional intelligence and soft skills needed to navigate their one-on-one coaching with the agents.
As a result, coaching conversations became reactive and sometimes left agents feeling criticized rather than supported. Managers needed a more effective way to identify the root cause of performance challenges, create a safe space for honest conversations, and work with agents on solutions that could lead to lasting improvement.
The Solution
To address the need for stronger coaching and diagnostic skills, I created Coaching With a Purpose, an interactive, non-linear branching eLearning experience designed to help frontline supervisors practice effective one-on-one coaching in a realistic workplace scenario.
Rather than testing abstract concepts through static quiz slides, the experience puts learners in the role of a manager coaching an underperforming agent, Eric, who is struggling with low CSAT scores. Through authentic dialogue choices, learners practice balancing empathy with accountability, identifying the root cause behind the performance issue, and uncovering an operational barrier—in this case, difficulty navigating the Knowledge Base. Learners receive immediate feedback along the way, giving them an opportunity to practice root cause analysis, emotional intelligence, and hands-on coaching techniques in a safe environment before applying those skills on the job.
Design Process
Throughout the project, I followed the ADDIE framework to guide the design and development process. I moved through each phase—from needs analysis and planning to storyboarding, visual design, and full development—with each stage building on the one before it.
This process helped ensure that every design decision supported the learning objectives and, most importantly, the workplace behaviors learners were expected to apply on the job.
Storyboard
I began by creating a text-based storyboard in Microsoft Word to establish the narrative, learner interactions, dialogue, and instructional flow before moving into development.
[Insert screenshots of storyboard]
Once the core experience was outlined, I used Miro to map the branching structure and learner flow. This allowed me to visualize each decision point, consequence, feedback moment, and possible learner path before building the experience in Storyline.
[Insert screenshots of Miro board]
Visual Mockups
Before moving into development, I created a visual mockup in PowerPoint to establish the look and feel of the learning experience. I used Adobe Color to develop a cohesive color palette and then defined the supporting visual elements, including character styles, typography, and button designs.
This gave me a visual foundation to work from and helped ensure the final Storyline experience felt consistent, intentional, and aligned with the tone of the scenario.
[Insert screenshot of PowerPoint visual mockup]
Full Development
With the planning and visual foundation in place, I moved into Articulate Storyline 360 to develop the full learning experience. Throughout development, I focused on creating an experience that was engaging, accessible, and purposeful, while giving learners multiple ways to interact with and process the content.
I incorporated a variety of visual, audio, and interactive elements to support the learning experience, including character expressions, animated text, narrated content, and hands-on practice through activities and branching scenarios. Rather than simply presenting information, these elements were designed to keep learners actively involved and give them opportunities to apply the skills within the context of the scenario.
Accessibility was also considered throughout development. I added appropriate ALT text to meaningful images and included closed captions for voiceover content to help ensure the experience could be accessed by a broader range of learners.
I also kept cognitive load in mind when making visual and interaction decisions. The interface was intentionally kept clean and focused, with minimal decorative elements and no distracting backgrounds or imagery. This allowed the scenario, dialogue, and learner decisions to remain the primary focus of each screen.
[Insert screenshots of project in Storyline]
Results and Takeaways
Because this is a concept project, I do not have learner performance data to measure the effectiveness of the experience. However, the project demonstrates my ability to take an instructional design project from an identified performance need through planning, design, development, and deployment.
More importantly, this project allowed me to demonstrate how I approach instructional design: starting with the performance problem, designing around specific learning objectives, creating opportunities for learners to practice the desired behaviors, and making intentional decisions around accessibility, engagement, and cognitive load.
If implemented in an organization, the next step would be to evaluate the experience in practice. This could include reviewing learner feedback and assessment results, monitoring relevant performance metrics, gathering feedback from managers and other stakeholders, and identifying opportunities for improvement. Those findings would then inform future iterations of the learning experience.
The biggest takeaway from this project is that effective eLearning is about more than building something that looks good. It is about creating an experience that gives learners the opportunity to practice the skills they need to perform better on the job.
