LEADERSHIP REVIEWS

Industry Content Supporter:
Marc Carriere
Managing Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccarriere/

One of the easiest ways for Call Center Managers to identify any skill deficiencies in their Team Leaders is to conduct a Skills Audit that covers all the team-leading, functional, and technical skills needed for outstanding leadership.

Regular skills audits are a great way to identify training and coaching priorities managers can implement to ensure that team leaders have the skills to coach, nurture, and lead winning teams.

Another benefit of conducting regular Skills Audits is that it’s much easier for you to identify any skills areas in which a number of Team Leaders need help, so you can decide whether to provide individual face-to-face coaching or group training sessions.

When you create your Skills Audit form, use a spreadsheet and break all the skills areas you’ll audit into two regions: Team Leading and Functional/Technical skills. List all your team leaders in the left column.

Then go along the row for each Team Leader and either place a tick under the skills area if you’re comfortable that they are on top of that skill, or place an X in the cell if you’re not. If you place an X against any skill area, add a note to remind yourself what you feel the problem needs to be addressed.

You can quickly get your team leader back on track with some feedback, or you may need to have them attend specialized training if it involves product knowledge or working with your systems or processes.

If several Team Leaders need the same type of training or coaching, using a form will be helpful. You’ll be able to see this quickly and then decide whether to handle it with one-on-one or group coaching or training.

You should do a Skills Audit every quarter and include it in any reviews and feedback sessions with your Team Leaders. And, if you have any new team leaders come on board in between quarterly audits, give them a month or two to settle into their role and then conduct their audit.

Industry Content Supporter:
Marc Carriere
Managing Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccarriere/

Are you stressed or anxious about chatting with your boss when your team misses its monthly target? Most Call Center Managers and team leaders feel this way because they fear appearing defensive or making excuses.

Here is a simple process I’ve coached Call Center Managers and team leaders
mentored over the past 35 years, that relieves the anxiety around these chats and, more
importantly shows your boss you’re on top of the problems and have an action plan to fix them!

Identify What Went Wrong

The first step is to be honest and straightforward about why your team didn’t hit its target. Don’t look for excuses because this only makes you look defensive and unaccountable, or even worse – unaware of what’s going on with your team and that you don’t know how to fix it. You don’t ever want your boss thinking that, do you?

So, identify the real reasons why your team missed out by asking yourself a few questions like:

How close were we from hitting our target? Was the month such a disaster that your team requires a significant overhaul, or if you were only off by a little, think about what you can do to ensure your team hits its targets next time.

Getting the team back on track may involve specific coaching or training, introducing performance-related games, or combining all these things. Then, ask yourself: Who fell short, and why? Identify all the team members who didn’t hit their targets and whom you need to work with to get back on track. Think about why they fell short. Do they need more coaching or training on specific aspects of their call skills or more product knowledge?

Industry Content Supporter:
Marc Carriere
Managing Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marccarriere/

Before you reprimand someone, you need to think before you act! With the constant changes in call centers today, team members continuously learn new processes, technology, and call handling skills. There can be a lot going on, and mistakes are bound to happen. Because of this, in many cases, it’s much better to redirect team members rather than reprimand them.

Over the past 35 years, I’ve owned call centers and been involved in managing them or consulting with businesses that use call centers worldwide. One of the things that inescapably comes up is providing reprimands. I came across an interesting conversation with Dr Kenneth Blanchard a few years ago about what call center managers and team leaders should know when considering giving a reprimand.

Dr. Blanchard suggests that when someone does something wrong, the first question to ask yourself is: Should this person have known better? If the answer is No, the team member is still in the learning stage, obviously unfamiliar with their responsibility or task, and needs redirection.

He stresses that you should never reprimand a learner, whether a new hire learning the ropes or an experienced team member working on a new task, because doing so will only cause confusion or outright discouragement. In these situations, your role as a leader is to help, or redirect, the team member who is having a problem. 

Here are the 5 Steps Dr Blanchard gives for an effective redirection:

1. Give the redirection as soon as possible after the problem happens. Prompt feedback is vital.

2. Explain specifically what went wrong and how it could affect others.

3. Take responsibility by saying, "I must not have made it clear enough/there must have been a miscommunication on my part"… This reduces the pressure on the employee who needs supportive redirection.

4. Reiterate the importance of the task, and

5. Reassure them that you still believe in them and want to help them progress on the task. The purpose of redirection is to set up an opportunity for praise as soon as possible.

If the team member should have known better, you must ask yourself, "Did this person make the mistake deliberately or because of a lack of confidence?" Remember that you only reprimand deliberate or unusual regressive behavior. You must figure out why, if the problem is a lack of confidence. It could be that a new situation is unsettling them. 

For example, let’s say you’ve changed a few of your dispositions for call outcomes, and an experienced team member is making many mistakes when handling their calls. The reason is most likely a lack of confidence due to the change from what was familiar. They don’t need a reprimand; they need training on the new dispositions, with support and understanding. This isn’t cause for a reprimand. However, a reprimand may be appropriate if you have good reason to believe they are not disposing their calls correctly on purpose. 

And, when you deliver the reprimand, remember these four steps:

1. Similar to redirection, reprimand is delivered when poor performance or behavior is detected. A reprimand should never be saved for an annual performance review.

2. Be specific about what was done incorrectly and the impact it could have on you or others. For example: If you don’t dispose calls correctly it affects our call strategy and puts the business at risk of fines by having calls made that shouldn’t be made in the case of Do Not Call, or reducing our data pool by in correcting disposing a call as not interested when they were just too busy to talk to you.

3. Share your exact feelings about the situation. If you’re frustrated, disappointed, or surprised, tell them.

4. Finish by speaking about their past good performance and letting them know the reprimand is not about them as a person, but about their behavior or actions. Say something like:

"This upsets me because it’s so unlike you. You’re one of my best people and usually dispose of all your calls correctly."

This last step is essential because you want them to walk away thinking about what they did wrong, not how poorly you treated them. Also, always remember to catch team members doing something right and praise them at every opportunity. By doing so, you’ll build up goodwill.

So, if you need to withdraw for a redirection or reprimand in the future, the sting will not last long, and they will be much more motivated to do better next time.