New Contact Center Pipeline Articles
Filed under: Leadership, Management, People, Uncategorized
I recently had the opportunity to write several articles for Contact Center Pipeline. This is a great publication that offers REAL SOLUTIONS for contact centers and support services. The newsletter consistently showcases some of the best writers and editors in the business and I am proud to be on the team!
You can download my articles here:
“Developing A High-Powered Frontline” - Download CC Pipeline June
“Coaching Champions” - Download CC Pipeline August
You can recieve a 10% discount on the electronic or print/electronic version of the monthly newsletter enterning the code “BobF” in the special offer / coupon box at checkout: www.contactcenterpipeline.com
Nominate Someone Special Today!
Filed under: Engagement, Management, People, Relational Leadership
If you are a leader in a call center or support center, here is a great opportunity to recognize your top agents for their work with customers. ICMI (International Customer Management Institute) has an annual program to recognize top agents - The Spirit of Service Awards. I had the great opportunity to speak at the 2008 online awards banquet and will again this year be speaking to the participants. You can find out more about the nomination process by clicking here SPIRIT AWARDS.
“Because I said so…” Not good enough!
Relationships often define our happiness and our outlook on life. We are taught from the time we enter kindergarten, that we must relate to others. We must share our toys, respect others’ space and defer to authority. College psychology professors taught us that our relationships with our parents would profoundly impact our levels of success in life. Romantic relationships open doors to new happiness or heartbreak. But the one relationship that probably affects our daily lives more than any other is the relationship with a boss.
Almost everyone has had a bad relationship with a boss drive us away from what was otherwise a good job or company. But consider how many times you have hung on to a bad job when the relationship with your boss was strong?
In customer service jobs all across America, the relationship between the frontline employee and the direct manager is a key element in the happiness of the employee. In his book “Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without” Tom Rath drew from more than five million Gallup surveys and found that “when employees have close friendships with their boss, they are more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs.” He also found that this level of happiness usually converts into the positive treatment of customers. Happy customers are usually loyal customers and loyal customers equal higher profits.
When we work with companies in our consulting projects across America, we hear from frontline managers that creating friendships are sometimes hard – both to create and to manage. We teach managers, once the managers understand that they can develop relationships, while “because I said so” may have worked for my dad, it does not work with today’s employee. Over the past 25 years I have found that most employees want to feel that they are adding value and having an impact on the success of the company. The best ones want to know “why” and want to be able to participate in making decisions.
The first step in relational leadership is to take the time to get to know your employees. What are their passions? What are their needs and aspirations in the job? The next step is to show your employees that their opinions and insight are valuable. Instead of demanding success, the frontline manager must coach the employee.
“More time with me”
As a consultant, I speak to customer service employees across America. When I ask them what they would like to change about their daily interactions with their managers, they most frequently say they’d like their bosses to “spend more time with me, to let me know if I am doing a good job and to help me understand how to do better.”
One of my clients recently embarked on a new program in their call center to build stronger relationships between coaches, supervisors, managers and the customer-facing agents. One-on-one meetings focused on the employee’s perspective first, with a goal of calibrating the employees’ expectations with the company’s need to satisfy customers. The Senior Manager knew that these efforts were paying off in less than 90 days when she interviewed an agent for a new team lead position. The agent had been with the company for just over a year and was anxious to become part of the management team.
She asked, “How will you establish yourself as a leader on the team, or how will you build rapport with your associates?” The agent responded, “I think it is important to really know your team. I would make an effort to personally learn who they are, who their family is and what’s important to them outside of work. That’s what makes a connection, and that’s what builds trust, loyalty and teamwork.” She knew the “relationship thing” was working when it had made its way three levels deep into the organization.
Of course there is a need to balance privacy considerations, but I am not talking about snooping into the employee’s life outside of work; I am talking about paying attention to the daily discussions of their passions in life.
Ask yourself: Who was the best manager you ever worked for? Did he or she know you as a person? Did he or she care about your success and seek to support your aspirations in life?
Take this quick quiz to test your knowledge of your team: List the people who report to you, and write a sentence to answer the question for each team member in each of these areas:
• Person. What is his or her passion is life? What is the most important event in his or her personal life in the past three months?
• Player. Is he or she a team player? What are the life skills that you can share with him or her that will allow this person to become a better player on your team?
• Performer. What can you do to help improve this employee’s skills? What is the one thing that you will focus over the next 30 days to allow this person to become a better performer?
Building relationships is not rocket science or a deep methodology for management skills. It’s merely a good approach to helping your people realize their potential. Follow in the footsteps of the great managers in your life; know your people and seek to support their successes and passions.
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Bob Furniss
As founder and President of Touchpoint Associates, Inc., Bob Furniss has more than 25 years of experience in the customer service field - assisting organizations to increase productivity and profits by bringing out the best in their people. He has shared his experience in the areas of leadership and service with some of the top companies in America - companies like FedEx, Corporate Express, DePaul University, Delta Airlines, Hanley Wood and more.
Click here to email Bob direct -
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