Leading High Performance Teams
High Caring & High Accountability
Industry Content Supporter:
Shuping England
Director of SBU
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shupingengland
Understanding High Caring: When leaders show high care for their team members, they develop a relationship that rests on empathy and trust. Team members go to work because they want to, not because they have to. A “Want To” environment and a “Have To” environment are the kinds of environments a leader can decide to cultivate within their team. Leaders can decide to focus on making sure the prevailing culture at the workplace is one that has employees wanting to show up to work, work hard at their tasks, and record results of the highest possible quality.
Understanding High Accountability: Accountability should follow from the top to the bottom. People cannot be held accountable unless the leader demonstrates that accountability themselves. Accountability should begin with a clear understanding of the desired outcomes. Accountability cannot exist in the absence of authority, and accountability isn’t inspired by fear. To establish a culture of accountability, the leader must be careful of how it might backfire to create the very opposite of what had been hoped for. Establishing a culture of accountability provides an opportunity to align team members with the intentions of the company, but if this is wrongly done, the very opposite culture might be created.
Leadership Strategy
What is leadership strategy? The word ‘strategy’ is common in business lingo. A strategy is a plan that is formulated to achieve some aim, usually in the long term. This means that a person or a leader who formulates a strategy is doing so to achieve some goal or hit a target. How does this work with leadership?
Specifically, strategic leadership is the ability of a leader to create a strategic vision for an organization or a part of it and motivate and persuade others to see this vision for what it is and follow the leader, offering their services in labor for what would be their mutual goals. The adopted method, if fitting to the organization and effective in the industry, would keep the organization competing in a competitive and ever-evolving technological and economic industry.
Is your leadership strategy effective? If these five things are on track, then a leadership strategy is effective:
● The team knows and loves the vision.
● The different activities connect easily to each other.
● Core values are written and discussed on a regular basis.
● A clear execution plan is set for the next twelve weeks.
● Weekly figures like operation numbers and marking numbers are curated to evaluate the direction and position of the organization.
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Be People-Oriented
What Being People-Oriented Looks Like: It is a common thing nowadays for organizations to adopt a people-oriented style of leadership. This style of leadership focuses on interpersonal relationships with the intention of improving said relationships in a bid to create a positive work environment and increase productivity. Understanding the principles and benefits of a people-oriented style of leadership can inform the reader to better decide if they would like to adopt these ideals in an organization or team they lead.
People-oriented Leadership Styles:
● Recognition and rewards: There is usually an understanding of the importance of relationships and rewards. The action of recognizing and rewarding a hard-working employee informs the team that their performance is appreciated. This inspires them to perform at an even higher level. These rewards can be formal awards or increased compensation.
● Facilitating positive relationships: Positive relationships are seen as just as important as the completion of tasks by people-oriented leaders. These leaders believe that employees are more productive when they operate in a working environment that is generally positive on a social level. Because people-oriented leaders manage to achieve job satisfaction and increased productivity, many individuals prefer to work with leaders who are people-oriented over task-oriented ones.
● Coaching and development: Employees can improve their skills without fear of consequences when they are coached. People-oriented leaders place an emphasis on coaching team members to improve their relationships with others as well as their productivity.
● Communication: Honest and open dialogue is of great importance to people-oriented leaders. This style of communication shows employees that all opinions are valid and valued, making the decision-making process in these groups democratic. This freedom to share provides a wide range of opinions that increases the diversity of thought. This also positively affects the decision-making of the organization.
An Interdependent Team
When teams are interdependent, the service rendered will be congruent across the whole of the team, so there is consistency in communication with clients from contact centers.
Markers of an Interdependent Team:
● Team members exist in service of ‘we’ and not ‘me.’
● A sense of unconditional curiosity exists.
● The shared purpose that provides meaning to the work done by the team.
● Team members offer support and advice to one another.
How to Make Your Contact Center Interdependent
● Encourage team members to share their experiences. It could be something that is related to work, something from their personal life or something else. The process helps with fostering mutual care and empathy and deepens the connection they feel to one another.
● Social events should be scheduled. Family members can be included. This helps with bonding as well. ● Effective team meetings that provide opportunities for entire teams to collaborate on real and meaningful tasks. A task where the team’s common interests or goals are rehearsed there.
● Hold unscheduled talks with team members. This helps break down the barriers, affording the leader a chance to bond with the team members on a personal level.
● Practice areas where group work will be more important than individual tasks. Examples of this are complex problem-solving, planning for the future, and developing new approaches.
● Face-to-face interactions should be encouraged more than virtual interactions between team members, whether work-related or otherwise. It is harder to be dismissive or disrespectful to people who are present with you than to people being viewed on a screen or spoken to over the phone.
● Feedback should be given frequently. Appreciation should be specific. So should the communication of areas where there might be a need for improvement. Be timely. Points should not be brought up for discussion or contention months after they’ve occurred. Excellent performance should be praised and regarded publicly.
● When these are done, the walls that separate the leader and members of their team will start disappearing. The walls separate team members from one another as well.
INDUSTRY SERVICE TIPS
Why Assertive Communication is Needed in Workplace?
● Straightforward conflict resolution: People are at ease discussing ideas and solving issues with other people.
● Effective collaboration: Instead of encouraging competition, assertive leadership promotes teamwork. ● Capability to work with others to achieve goals: People may be more motivated to contribute to the achievement of goals if they believe their leaders value them.
● Optimal working conditions: People are more content at work when business culture fosters a sense of community.
● Professional growth: As a leader, success may be influenced by the ability to lead with assertiveness.
● Lower turnover: Teams that are more content are less likely to look for work elsewhere.
● Company expansion: The success of individuals and teams benefits the entire organization.
● Respect for supervisors: Respect is fostered between managers and their teams when a leader is assertive
NEXT STEPS
Vision, strategy, and grit are three factors that mostly ensure the success of all businesses, contact centers inclusive.
A vision is necessary to get teams and their leadership onboard towards the achievement of a goal. A strategy is a plan of steps and approaches that would be implemented towards the achievement of these goals, and grit is the perseverance that is shown at times when the strategy is met with adversity and issues.
So, these three are very essential for the success of any contact center out there. This doesn’t mean that a simple application of these three aspects of running a successful business or enterprise would result in sure success.
The organization could apply all three combinations and still fall short because there might be something wrong with its vision and/or strategy.
No amount of grit would assure the organization of high performance or even make it even slightly likely.
VIDEO FROM OUR EXPERTS
NETWORKING FOR CONTACT CENTER PROFESSIONALS
ABOUT NACSMA
NACSMA brings together like-minded professionals focused on advancing the customer contact industry and creating career growth.
BEST-IN-CLASS
Management of a best-in-class contact center sites require the continuous review of Agent Sourcing Models, Organizational Training and Management Development Programs.
NACSMA MEMBERSHIP
NACSMA is a professional, non-profit association whose members represent customer contact organizations and the vendors who support them.
IMPLEMENTATION
When a contact center organization expands to an additional site or requires new space, the steps to properly implement are unique to each organization but do have standard phases.