LEADERSHIP TRAINING

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

Outstanding team leaders understand and use different approaches to getting the most out of their teams' management and leadership. Understanding and effectively using both methods is essential to team leaders because they need to manage tasks and lead people. In my experience coaching or mentoring call center managers and team leaders worldwide these past 35 years, I’ve found that many team leaders spend too much time using the management approach and far too little time using the leadership approach.

Now, when we look at the differences between the two approaches, The Management approach can be said to be very task-oriented. It is very skills-based. It’s rational. It’s about events, processes, and calculations. Just consider the vocabulary we use when we’re in management mode. You either hit your KPIs as sales targets, or you didn’t. And, because I’m telling you what to do, that puts a lot of pressure on me as a team leader to know it all.

That’s what’s called a Push approach because you’re telling a team member what to do, and it’s coming from you to them, which also puts a lot of pressure on the team leader to have a lot of cognitive intelligence or IQ because you need to know it all. You’re not leveraging the team at all.

Now, leadership… is very people-oriented. It’s not really about your skills but about your behaviors and attitudes. Leaders are inspiring and motivational. They want to understand more about individuals and are interested in their strengths. They want to know what makes an individual tick and use that to inspire them.

Leaders also paint an appealing picture of the vision and where everyone is going with the team. Thus, they motivate individuals to follow rather than push them to do something. Following is a voluntary action; you can’t force people to follow. That’s why the leadership approach is a Pull approach.

Leaders ask many questions and are genuinely interested in your words. They tell you what to do as a manager does. And, because leaders are so interested in people, in the individual, they have a high amount of emotional intelligence. Of course, cognitive intelligence is vital for a leader. But emotional intelligence is also essential. It involves being inquisitive, asking people questions… genuinely listening to and understanding people, and understanding human psychology.

Team leaders must manage tasks and lead people, so they must combine these two approaches to be excellent.

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

Most team leaders understand they must regularly coach their teams to achieve team goals and KPIs consistently. However, many, especially new team leaders, face limited coaching experience and little training. They certainly want to coach their teams, but as they consider getting started, many quietly ask themselves: What is coaching, and how do I do it?

Below are four key coaching fundamentals that team leaders must understand and implement to become effective and exceptional coaches.

Fundamental 1: Building Strong Relationships

Indeed, the first fundamental of effective coaching is developing our people. We certainly have to be good at that, and we do this by sharing our skills and expertise. However, you must have good technique and experience to be a fantastic coach. You must also be skilled at building relationships with your team members so they feel comfortable coming to you. Over 75% of the time, the person you’re coaching already knows (or thinks they know) where they need help. So, if you can build relationships where team members have no fear about raising their hand to say:

• I need help with my closing skills.
• I’m having a real problem handling objections.
• I need to improve my product knowledge and understand what is expected of me.

That would be the ideal situation rather than constantly seeking them out, wouldn’t it? Because when they come to you, you know they are committed, ready to listen, and open to trying something new.

To build good relationships, constantly adjust your style to each person’s needs. What works for one team member may be wrong for another.

Fundamental 2: Providing Clear Direction
The fundamentals of effective coaching are providing clear direction. Team Leaders need to let their team members know exactly what’s expected of them, where the team is headed, what’s going to happen, and how they can contribute.

This means Team Leaders need to be prepared and very clear with everyone on their team about the results they expect from them and when they expect them to deliver these results. Most team members are genuinely interested in knowing everything; it matters and is critical to clarifying expectations and directions.

Fundamental 3: Providing Corrective and Nurturing Feedback

Team Leaders are responsible for regularly giving their team members constructive, honest, and helpful feedback. Team members must know how they are doing, where they are going, and whether they contribute to the overall team goal. A big part of this is choosing to provide encouraging feedback over criticism. When you must criticize, give that feedback as soon after the event as possible. Be honest but compassionate, and then move on.

Fundamental 4: Expecting Results

Whether in business or sport… all coaches want results, they want to win, and they want those they coach to win, and they want the team to win, too.

So, have high expectations and believe in your team. Don’t ignore or sideline underperformers. Your team is only as good as your weakest team member. Instead, help them improve by making progress tangible, setting clear goals and milestones, and celebrating achievements when goals and KPIs are reached.

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

Don’t you hate feeling stressed and frustrated when your team struggles to reach its targets simply because it didn’t get off to a flying start and build momentum? And, with many teams working remotely, it can be particularly challenging to develop and sustain momentum!

Over the 35 years I’ve been running call centers worldwide, consulting with businesses, and coaching and mentoring their Call Center Managers and team leaders, the biggest challenge I've encountered has been teams regularly missing their targets and KPIs. It can be stressful and frustrating to watch the clock slowly wind down and know you won’t be able to meet your weekly or monthly target.

Here is a simple process exceptional Team Leaders use to build and sustain momentum with their team to reach, or even exceed regularly, their goals regardless of whether the team is working remotely or with each other in your call center:

Step 1: Set Clear Targets

• Setting clear targets is the first step in getting your team off to a flying start and continuing to build momentum toward reaching team goals.
• You need to ensure that everyone on your team understands the team’s target and what the team needs to do to reach it.
• You must also speak with each member and tell them what they are specifically accountable for achieving themselves. You want everyone to be crystal clear about what the team needs to do, particularly what each team member needs to do daily and weekly to hit the target.

So, kick off the week or month with a quick team meeting to inform them of the team’s target and specifically mention each team member’s target that they are accountable for reaching. Now, be sure to listen to any genuine concerns about individual targets and look at these concerns as opportunities to provide the coaching and training needed to help them achieve their target.

Step 2: Keep Everyone Accountable

• You want to hold everyone accountable for reaching their target. During the pre-shift huddle, give everyone a daily update, telling them whether the team is on target and where each team member stands with their target.
• You also need to regularly update the team and its members’ progress throughout the day so everyone can see how the team is doing collectively and how each member performs individually.
• Prominently displaying a whiteboard is an easy way to do this. However, if they are working remotely, you can still do this easily by emailing an update.
• If specific team members are falling behind after a couple of days, you need to chat with them privately about their performance, and discuss ways you can help them catch up with some training or coaching.
• It may even involve something simple, such as moving them away from team members who could distract them if the team is working together, if they’re working remotely, discussing their work habits, or anything that may distract them in their working environment.

Holding team members accountable this way helps them understand that you are focused on them and the team achieving their targets, creating urgency and building momentum.

Step 3: Get Off To a Good Start

Other ways to build and sustain momentum are to concentrate on reaching your team’s target for the first hour of every shift, the first day of every week, and the first week of every month.  Many team members like slowly getting started and easing themselves into the day. The problem with that is all too often they blow the first hour of the day or the first day of the week screwing around and quickly find themselves behind the eight ball, and then frantically try to catch up.

Just imagine how stress-free everyone would be if everyone hit or even exceeded their target for their shift every day or were ahead of target for the first week of the month?

If they weren’t stressed about hitting their targets, how confident would they be about reaching them and putting in extra effort if needed?

• Be sure to have your energy levels up for the first hour of every shift and the first day of every week so your team can feed off you and concentrate on getting off to a good start.
• Even if your team is working remotely, you can encourage them and keep their energy levels up by contacting them for a quick chat.
• You also need to regularly and sincerely recognize and praise your team members each time they get a win, especially when they reach their daily and weekly targets.

You can do this every shift during the team huddle and throughout the day, particularly if you have a whiteboard that shows how people are achieving their targets, or email an update on the goals. It can be as easy as praising them when they update the board with another achievement.

Step 4: Celebrate Wins

Finally, you must celebrate when your team hits its target and recognize everyone’s effort. You don’t have to go overboard. If you’re all working together in the exact location, you can do simple things they enjoy, like having a pizza night or having everyone bake something for the team to enjoy during the next shift. You can also have a fancy dress day or add a casual dress day.

If you’re working remotely, set up an online ‘Toast Party’ by having everyone log onto a site to see each other and interact. Raise your glass, toast each other for your efforts, and make special mention for those whose achievements are worth recognizing. Just do something your team will enjoy that recognizes and shows appreciation for all the hard work they put in to achieve their target!

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

Achieving any success in life starts with how we think and what we think about because our mind moves to its most dominant thought, and as Henry Ford said many years ago: Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right!

Let’s face it, every one of your team members has a lot on their minds when they come in to start their shift. They’re thinking about all the good and bad stuff that’s going on in their lives, right?

Regardless of their thinking, you need to quickly focus them on what they need to do and how to achieve their targets for the shift. Outstanding team leaders use a visualisation technique Dr. Denis Waitley used when he worked with NASA staff and athletes on the US Olympic team to change their thought processes and pre-frame the Team members positively.

Having your team condition or pre-frame their mind before they begin a shift is a positive and beneficial way to achieve the outcomes both you and they want. And, it’s not some Star Wars Jedi mind trick!

All top athletes and successful business people who demonstrate excellent ability use this technique.
Dr. Waitley did a study with the US Olympic team, where they wired up athletes with electrodes all over their bodies to see if anything had happened when they had visualised what they needed to do while competing. He found that when these athletes started to visualise the activity they were about to do, he could measure the impulses sent from the brain to trigger various muscles and organs in the athletes’ bodies to prepare them for the physical activity to come.

After this study, visualisation became a fundamental technique widely used in sports and business today. The same principle applies to your team members, too! In their pre-shift meetings, exceptional team leaders guide their team through a visualization exercise in which they see themselves enthusiastically engaging with everyone they speak with on the telephone.

They have them visualize having great calls, successfully handling objections, closing sales, and achieving their targets and KPIs. And, especially counting any commission they earn and how good they feel spending it! It’s essential to be as specific as possible when doing this exercise and adding as much emotion as possible because the degree of success you achieve is measured by the intensity and clarity of what you visualize. That’s why you want them also to visualize counting their commission and how good they’ll feel spending it on whatever they want.

Try this simple technique that Olympic athletes regularly use themselves with your team for the next two to three weeks to allow your team to get used to it, and I promise you, you’ll be amazed at the results!