Call Center Management Featured Article
The Secret to Effective Call Center Management
Call center agents have what many consider to be a tough job. It’s one thing if your call center exists only to provide good news to each and every caller – that would be a dream job. Instead, call center agents often have to provide information, solve problems, provide bad news or calm a frustrated customer, among other things. Without the proper motivation from call center management, it can be tough to stay in the game.
A recent Call Center Café report explored this topic, highlighting the responsibility call center management has in motivating their staff. Two reasons where suggested for why things don’t get done the way management expects: the individual or group of individuals given the task didn’t know how to complete it; or the individual or group of individuals didn’t want to complete the task.
When given an assignment and the agent doesn’t know how to proceed, this is clearly a training issue. They may have the right and proper intentions, yet lack the skills or knowledge necessary to complete the tasks according to expectations.
In such situations, call center management must step in and show agents how to complete the tasks. It is important to teach and lead along the way, demonstrating what needs to be done and encouraging agents to attempt completion on their own.
It is a bit more difficult for call center management to correct the behavior of those not wanting to perform. When managing a group, it’s highly likely that 95 percent will get the job done just because of simple persuasion on the part of call center management. The other 5 percent will require force to take the task to completion.
The latter tends to breed frustration that can spill over onto those who are willingly doing their jobs. And, force or threats rarely produce the desired result. Most employees will react badly to threats, especially if they are related to the security of their jobs or potential raises.
Fortunately, call center management doesn’t have to resort to ineffective tools to get the job done. The not-so-secret secret solution is to focus on training. All training will have an inert factor of motivation, ensuring that managers are engaged in two major management functions at the same time.
With the right training, individuals become more and more motivated to perform as expected as they have an increase in the knowledge, skills and experience on the best way to get the job done at or above call center management expectations.
Call center management should never ask an agent to complete a task for which they were not trained to do. Proper training empowers agents to be the best they can be at their jobs, which helps them hit performance targets and produce a better call center overall.
Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli