Why can’t contact center professionals stay motivated all the time?
Three of the top reasons many employees cite:
- Customers demand more than we can deliver
- We aren’t equipped/empowered to do everything we’re asked to do, and
- We don’t get enough positive reinforcement.
Even circus clowns and professional athletes would find it hard to stay motivated under those circumstances. So when your contact center agents are stressed, help them stay positive and motivated with these three tactics:
- Focus on what they did right today. You can’t see and hear everything everyone does well. So encourage them to tell you when they do well. One manager created “Get a Buck from Bob” to get his people to stay positive. He encouraged them to come to his office after they did something extraordinary, tell him the story and he’d give them a dollar for doing it.
- Share what others did right. It feels just as good to recognize others as it does to be recognized. Start a peer-to-peer program. For instance, equip agents with note cards. Encourage them to write notes explaining what co-workers did well. Then post them where everyone can see the story and give more praise. And give them meeting time to share the story and praise.
- Keep demand and ability in check. Regularly ask your people what their biggest challenges are when helping customers. Act quickly to remove red tape and policies that make them feel hand-tied. If they feel overwhelmed, consider shifts in resources.
