First 30 minutes of the call center shift makes all the difference

The contact center game begins when agents walk through the door for their shifts. The supervisor gets a split second chance to start things off right. When supervisors fail to start the process correctly, agents fail to respond. The first thirty minutes of any contact center shift should be controlled entirely by the supervisor, not the agents. Make the entry to your contact center PHENOMENAL. And create a theme that resonates from the minute agents walk in the door.

Do you feel that your contact center lacks an introductory game plan each day? If you or your supervisors don’t have a solid plan to keep your agents motivated and focused, then you are probably failing to do all you can do to affect performance, and retention.

Imagine a restaurant where you seat yourself but no waiter comes to serve you. Or a restaurant where you try to serve yourself at the buffet table but there’s no food in the trays. Imagine an airplane full of passengers while the pilots are in the employee lounge, or a stadium packed with fans while security employees are just beginning to organize their duties.

The communication presented to contact center agents in the first 30 minutes of their day sets the stage for the rest of the day’s performance.

Behavior from management matters greatly; providing agents with messages of hope and letting them see your positive spirit  helps create a culture that brings out the best in people. The mundane nature of the agent’s job dictates they should come to work leery. Every day has to be fresh. They need management to set the tone, to create an environment they want to do their best work in. When managers lead, contact center agents fall into step.

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Call Center Zen

A recent study found that call center managers who spend their floor time listening to call center agents are 999% more effective than their competitors.

True or False? Well, false, there was no actual study done, but it’s definitely true that managers and supervisors who spend more time listening than talking are wildly more successful. The best communicators are the best listeners. And I would say that to a certain degree, the same can be said about managers and supervisors. The zen of call center management says, “Seek to understand”. Don’t worry about being understood. Take yourself out of the primary position. Even as a manager with a capital M, you don’t come at every situation with the answers already figured out. Heck, you don’t even have to come to a new situation with all the questions figured out! Instead, approach employees and customers seeking to understand.
I play a game with myself these days. Every conversation I have, I’m trying to be the one who does the least talking. I’m really competitive, so it’s a struggle, and there are even some awkward moments, but I’m forcing myself to focus my attention on the other person, what s/he is saying and NOT saying. The zen is getting out of my own head and into the space between us where so much that is communicated is usually lost.
You know how people say “read between the lines” or “listen for what’s not being said”? Well I never knew what that meant, and I still don’t what that means, but good listening skills are more than common sense, they speak to something deeper. The something that’s a little deeper is humility. This year be willing to try something new, listen for what’s not being said.

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