Almost every agent can do at least a little better. All they need is the right kind of inspiration from their leaders.
Great leaders keep contact center agents on their toes and enjoying new challenges that come their way. They can foster great relationships and inspire better performance with these four tips from management expert Marc O’Brien.
- Don’t confuse productivity with busyness. Good contact center leaders help agents focus on being productive, not just busy all the time. So try using metrics and personal observations to find agents’ best skills. Ease them away from tasks that don’t contribute to their top talents.
- Take agents out of their comfort zone from time to time. Many employees leave companies because their jobs fail to challenge them any more. The boss may have stopped encouraging them to develop new skills. Try keeping agents’ jobs fresh by assigning them new tasks, delegating your own higher-level responsibilities and getting them involved in off-site industry training.
- Connect them to others. Contact center employees can feel disconnected from other personnel because they’re so focused on customers. Help staff connect by arranging events that involve other departments. Work with other managers to allow cross-training.
- Keep it personal. Relationships employees have with their boss are still the most important factor in their job satisfaction. Make time monthly to chat professionally and personally.
