Reducing Attrition in 90 Days: Eliminate Poor Team Leaders

There is a well-known saying that 'a team is only as good as its weakest player' and the same can be true within the contact center. If that weak player happens to be the leader of the team, it is highly probable that the team will never improve and will never perform as expected. The best solution: remove the problem and select a better leader.

 

In the attrition-ridden contact center industry, it is counterproductive to support an employee who is not supporting the goals of the organization. If this team member is also a leader, he or she will bring the team down with them, compounding the problem. These poor team leaders often cannot properly coach and do not work well with the team.

The impact that the team leader will have on new employees is not readily clear until the first 60 days has already passed. During this earlier period, more time is spent identifying the strong traits of the employee, training and then ensuring that the employee becomes acclimated to the environment and the processes involved with the job.

When time reaches 61-90 days of employment for the new team member, he or she is in production and allowances in performance requirements are likely to be over. It is during this time that these new team members are expected to perform and team leader ability really starts to impact performance and tenure.

Coaching, appreciation, motivation, etc. by the team leader will help the new hire to get through this critical 30-day period. If these elements are missing from the interaction between the team leader and the team member, the new hire is more likely to quit before the end of 90 days.

It is this trend that makes it critical that the contact center hiring manager spend more time evaluating Supervisor candidates against the job requirements to be a Supervisor. It is important to keep in mind that a strong front line performer does not necessarily become a strong team leader.

Person to person role play scenarios, such as those offered by FurstPerson, can be effective in the evaluation of the job candidate. Failing the right-fit the team member to the role of Supervisor can not only lead to higher attrition among new hires, it can also have a negative impact on the person selected as Supervisor, causing poor performance or separation from the company.

Attrition does not have to be an accepted consequence of operating within the contact center industry. By following some key guidelines, contact center leaders can easily reduce attrition and produce a happier and more productive team that can deliver optimal performance for the organization and the customer.