Pledge now to make your contact center meetings better in 2013, because new research suggests they weren’t so good last year. Here’s why.
Managers, executives and frontline employees agree that meetings are valuable in any workplace. But about half the time, those meetings aren’t effective, according to recent research from ManageElite.
These are the biggest issues that get in the way of effective meetings:
- People protecting their turf (48%)
- One or two people dominate the conversation (38%)
- Defensiveness (35%)
- Internal policies (32%), and
- Unprepared people (31%)
Now that you know what derails most well-intentioned meetings, here’s what you can do to make yours more effective (so your contact center agents are more effective and operations run smoothly in 2013):
- Set the written rule. If people want to criticize other people’s ideas, have them write their criticism on paper before speaking. That encourages them to think through the ideas that are shared and a suggested alternative before spewing out potentially offensive criticism.
- Set a timer. Robert’s Rules of Order aren’t just meant for student government. If they’re practiced and enforced in department meetings, agents and managers will get used to sharing their ideas in a set amount of time and countering thoughtfully in a shorter amount of time. That will help all meetings move along quickly and with purpose.
- Send an agenda. Arm meeting attendees ahead of time with an agenda and material that will prepare them to make on-the-spot decisions in the meeting. If they can form opinions and think through possibilities before decision-making time comes, their quick in-meeting decisions will help move progress.
- Clear the gate before meeting. If you will be discussing and acting on new information and actions, talk to the powers that be before meeting to determine your parameters. Know what you can and can’t do, so no decision-making is delayed.
