TEAM DEVELOPMENT
15 Essential Habits of Amazing Team Leaders
Industry Content Supporter:
Marc Carriere
Managing Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccarriere/
Creating amazing Team Leaders takes a lot of work and it’s certainly not always easy, but, the surprising thing is it isn’t the hardest thing in the world either… especially if your Team Leaders adopt positive habits they consistently apply every day!
Over the past 35 years I’ve been involved with Call Centers either as a Call Center Owner, consulting with businesses or coaching and mentoring Call Center Managers and Team Leaders, I’ve seen the best habits in action that amazing Team Leaders use to successfully nurture, coach and lead winning teams!
And, I promise. If your Team Leaders learn these habits and effectively apply them every day, in a few quick months’ senior managers and team members will recognize them as a truly amazing Team Leaders.
Habit 1: Knowing Their Numbers
Amazing Team Leaders are obsessive when it comes to knowing their team metrics. They know these numbers are how they are measured every hour, day, week and month, so they keep track of where their team is in relation to their KPIs and sales targets every day and every hour of the day.
Habit 2: Setting Expectations
Amazing Team Leaders always remember they are leader, coach and mentor and they set the direction and expectations for the team and team members individually early and often. They set expectations on the key performance metrics and other areas like work behaviors and even dress code.
They also set expectations on what the team will get from them be it coaching, extra training or being a cheerleader and celebrating team and individual achievements.
Habit 3: Walking the Talk
Amazing Team Leaders handle calls each week to stay sharp and on top of any issues the team may be facing to show the team they’re invested in its success.
They know taking or making calls earns the team’s respect, and also helps them in other ways because if the team knows their Team Leader can do the job they’re more open to being coached and listening to suggestions and tips.
Habit 4: Clearing Roadblocks
Amazing Team Leaders find out what is getting in the way of their team members hitting their targets and doing a great job. They know it’s their job to try their best to address these issues and fix them.
And, for any issues they can’t fix, they let the team know why because they know the team will accept an issue once they know why it can’t be fixed.
Habit 5: Helping Team Members Be Great
Amazing Team Leaders remember how scary it was and how unsure they were when they first started on the phones, how much there was to learn and take on board. They remember how they needed reassurance and support from their Team Leader and how they wanted and needed constant feedback especially in the beginning.
So, amazing Team Leaders evaluate team member’s efforts often and give corrective feedback and reassurance to help team members become really good at their jobs.
Habit 6: Effectively On boarding New Members
When a new team member joins the team, the first thing amazing Team Leaders do is get feedback from the training team to get an understanding of what they were good at and what help is still needed.
They also want to check on the new team member’s attitude, their attendance, how they participated in training and how they interacted with others to get a sense of what still needs to be worked on.
And, amazing Team Leaders ease them into the job by having them sit with an experienced agent for a few shifts to settle them into the job and into the team and get comfortable with the job by watching and listening to how the job is done.
Habit 7: Getting Extra Help When Needed.
When amazing Team Leaders notice a gap in certain call activity, procedures or processes they look for help from the training or quality assurance teams by having them listen to extra calls or by giving extra training to the team to help them fill the gap.
Habit 8: Managing Absenteeism
Amazing Team Leaders work on absenteeism every day, seeing it as a trip wire, warning them there may be a problem with a team member who is thinking of leaving.
Apart from being concerned for their team member’s welfare and their duty of care to them, they see this as a great opportunity to fix a problem early before someone decides to leave.
They know often it can be a simple fix or these absences may be related to a more serious problem that can affect the whole team, so they want to find out what’s going on and if they can, fix it as soon as possible.
Habit 9: Showing They Care
Amazing Team Leader develop a high degree of emotional intelligence by constantly showing they care about their team members by being genuinely interested in their lives inside and outside work.
Habit 10: Recognizing Good Effort
Amazing Team leaders know that genuine recognition and appreciation for hard work, even if someone just missed out on a target is very rewarding and it can be as simple as a pat on the back.
Habit 11: Keeping Their Team Close
For the better part of the shift amazing Team Leaders manage their team by walking around their team, being available to answer questions, give tips or quick training sessions and fixing any problems people are having that comes up.
They know that it’s more efficient and easier to be accessible with the team is sitting around them, so they don’t have to wander all over the floor because when someone really needs their help, they need it right away!
Habit 12: Being Prepared.
Amazing Team Leaders work to a schedule for the upcoming week and follow their schedule.
They build their schedule with weekly activities they know come up every week and include any regular meetings they have with their boss and other meetings, and schedule time outside of peak calling times for admin tasks, answering emails, reading reports or updating them.
They especially schedule time to listen to recorded calls and coaching sessions to provide corrective feedback!
Habit 13: Efficiently Running Pre-shift Meetings
Amazing Team Leaders always have quick positive meetings for 5 to 10 minutes before a shift begins to share where the team is tracking against KPIs and targets and share any information on changes or updates to processes, systems or products the team need to know about, and hand out award certificates and providing recognition.
They’re also get each team member to commit to a personal target for the shift, and do a ‘Check up from the Neck up’ to make sure everyone has cleared their minds and is focused on their goals.
Habit 14: Learning Why a Team Member Quit
Considering all the time and effort they’ve invested in their team member, amazing Team Leaders really want to know if the reason why someone quit and if it could have been avoided or corrected to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Habit 15: Investing In Their Personal Development.
Amazing Team Leaders want to enhance their skills and take advantage of any training opportunity or leadership seminars the company provides or further their personal development by getting their hands on as many books, articles or videos like this one to grow further.
They also speak with other team leaders and senior people in the company to find out what books, courses or training materials they would recommend, and join online call center communities and t call center associations to learn more and improve their skills.
The quicker a Team Leader adopts these habits and applies them every day the easier their job will become and the quicker they’ll be recognized as an amazing Team Leader who effectively coaches, nurtures and leads a great team – someone worthy of greater responsibilities and promotion!
INDUSTRY SERVICE TIPS
1. Define your contact center’s leadership needs. What does leadership mean in your contact center? Be specific. Vagueness breeds more vagueness. Build a program around the specific needs.
2. Practice. When managers are away let leadership development trainees step in and get some practice. These hands-on experiences will prove to be invaluable with lessons learned.
NEXT STEPS
To sustain a viable pipeline of managers, contact centers want to invest in a Leadership Development Program. Companies prefer to hire from within but many times don’t have the right leadership talent available internally, which forces companies to look outside. Implementing an LDP can change that scenario. Leaders are developed over time with the proper structure, leadership and direction.
The best LDP programs include real-world work, education, training and coaching guided by a structured curriculum with tests or accountability checkpoints along the way. Providing Leadership Development Trainees with the opportunity to learn all aspects of the business backfills their experience. The program should include self-study as well as group training and discussion. Assign the trainee with a project; something they can call their own and are responsible for managing and reporting the results.
VIDEO FROM OUR EXPERTS
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
MARKETING TACTICS
Established in 2009 to provide consulting services to businesses involved in B2B and B2C lead generation and telemarketing activities.
With 30 years of direct marketing experience as a call centre proprietor, senior marketing executive and consultant Marc has been employed or provided consulting services to a wide variety of businesses involved in B2B and B2C activities in such diverse markets as Australia, Canada, Fiji, México, The Bahamas, United Kingdom and United States of America.
Companies out team has worked with – Accor Vacation Club, Club Noosa Resort, Diamond Resorts International, Elkhorn Resorts, GeoHoliday Club, Groupo Costamex, Holiday Resort Properties, Interval Property Management LTD, Resort Hotels of Australia, Shell Vacations LLC, Telstra Australia and the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra among others.
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