Call Center Management Featured Article
Open Communications and Trust Critical to Great Workforce Management
While most companies stick to schedules of some kind, the contact center (along with other labor-intensive functions) lives by the workforce management schedule and forecast. Schedules are prepared by managers using historical information and estimates, and they represent the best-case scenario for operations. Unfortunately, workforces are made of humans, and humans go off their schedules for a variety of reasons. Many organizations are not good at communicating to workers how important the role they play in keeping to schedules to improve operations is.
In a recent article for LinkedIn (News - Alert), Brian Graham, Workforce Management Analyst at C3/CustomerContactChannels, Inc., explored the links between workforce management and operations.
“Workforce management does many things,” he wrote. “The most important of which is to assist operations in keeping our associates efficient, and ultimately profitable. The main goal of operations is… you guessed it; to generate profit. So what can we do to ensure both operations and workforce management are operating on the same page? The answer is; a lot.”
Improving communications around the schedule is a very good place to start. Many workers could use regular reminders, and a fast and easy way to communicate with managers and other team members if, for example, something has come up that will make them late. This way, managers can adjust the schedule, coworkers and fill in the gaps and there is no drop in quality of service. According to Graham, it’s better to focus on the solutions rather than the problem. This approach can help build trust between employees and managers, and once again, it starts with communication, particularly if team members are geographically disparate. A little communication goes a long way toward building trust.
“Something as simple as picking up the phone and talking out an issue, or even just quickly catching up with the other teammate, can open up a line of communication that builds trust,” wrote Graham. “By showing that other person through voice tonality and active listening, that you really care, they are able to then trust your judgement as a person. This speeds up business processes immensely. If you make a judgement call, and need Operations (or workforce) to take immediate action, this can be done with ease if the person you are addressing knows they do not need to question your motives.”
Breakdowns in communication are remarkably common, and they’re also remarkably easy to solve. Many people are not great communicators, however, and issues that shouldn’t be causing problems can lead to a breach of trust. Managers should ensure they’re not talking too fast or using industry jargon with new hires, for example, and team members should ask managers to clarify issues if they’re confused rather than trying to figure it out on their own. The next level, according to Graham, is to really understand each other’s functions so team members and managers aren’t working against each other simply out of ignorance.
“How can workforce best work with operations if they do not both have a firm understanding of what each party does, day to day?” asked Graham. “This would be like a pilot coming in for a landing, trusting the air traffic control without having some understanding of how that process works on the ground. It all comes back to trust. It is easier to trust someone’s decision, if you know where it is coming from.”
Agents need to understand that being 10 minutes late may not seem like a big deal, with a complex schedule to maintain, it can be the catalyst that throws the entire day into chaos. Managers need to realize that agents are humans and not robots. If they’d just had a really bad call with an unpleasant customer, for example, don’t expect them to be on their best with the next call. It’s also important that managers know how to prioritize, and solve problems in their order of importance.
“Connect with one person from the other department and open up a line of communication,” Graham recommends.
The initial outreach may surprise you in how effective it is. Turn cross-departmental communications into a habit, and you may find the open lines of communication solve a lot of problems inherent to both the contact center and other operations departments.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi