How Do Your Call Center Supervisors Measure Up?

[one_half]In surveys we’ve done over the years, QATC has found that over 80% of supervisors and team managers in call centers today were moved into that position from being a frontline agent. And while most new supervisors receive training on general supervisory issues, only about 20% of these supervisors receive any training related to coaching call center specific needs such as call monitoring and coaching or call center operations in general.

Supervisory knowledge and skills typically fall into two categories – people management and operations. Below is a checklist of the knowledge and skills needed by supervisors in today’s contact center, in addition to general supervisory and leadership skills. How do your supervisors measure up?

People Management

Recruiting and Hiring. Supervisors in some centers are more involved in this process than in other centers. But even with a specialized team of recruiters and staff to do screening, the supervisor will at one point get involved in at least the interview process. It’s important for them to have the necessary interviewing skills to ask the right questions and interpret responses to find the best match for the job.

Motivational Techniques. There are seven main types of strategies for keeping staff motivated and happy on the job, and every supervisor should understand basic motivational theory and how to select the motivational techniques that are best suited for each individual. Understanding which techniques work best in the unique world of call centers is critical to performance success.

Retention Strategies. Turnover is running rampant in many centers today. While compensation and job fit are the reasons in some centers, in many others, turnover can be directly attributed to supervisor/employee relationships. Each supervisor must understand what the key drivers are to team and individual satisfaction and strive to meet them.

Defining Performance Standards. Defining realistic goals and expectations and measuring their attainment are critical to every call center’s success. These goals should be defined with corporate and business unit objectives in mind and then be defined and communicated down to the individual behaviors that you want to see demonstrated by the frontline staff.

Diagnosing Performance Problems. Once goals and standards of performance have been defined, supervisors must be well-versed in comparing actual performance to the goals to identify performance gaps and diagnose the root cause of performance issues unique to the call center environment. Unless they understand the root cause of performance problems, it’s impossible to carry out a successful coaching strategy.

Performance Coaching. One of the most fundamental skills needed by frontline supervisors is the ability to coach and motivate employees. There are many things about working in a call center that make it unique and coaching skills that work in another environment may need to be fine-tuned to be successfully applied to call center issues. Different techniques are needed to coach for call content versus counseling for adherence or attendance problems and it’s critical to have the right skills for each.

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Operations Management

Staffing and Scheduling. Given that call center staff are at the mercy of incoming customer calls, the issue of staffing and scheduling staff is one that every supervisor will likely have to address. While each supervisor doesn’t have to be able to forecast workload and create staff schedules, every supervisory or management person should understand the basic concepts of call center staffing and the tradeoffs with cost, service, and productivity. All supervisors should understand and be able to communicate “Power of One” concepts to their team.

Call Center Math. Managing in today’s call center means managing by the numbers. There is a vast array of numbers available from today’s call center systems and the savvy manager will understand how to assimilate the statistics to isolate performance trends and exceptions, both for the team and for individual team members. Some of these numbers include average handle time, staff shrinkage, adherence, make-up of quality scores, and so on.

Call Center Technology. While most supervisors don’t need to be able to trouble-shoot problems or program the ACD, it is important for this group to have a basic understanding of the technologies at work in their contact center. Each should understand the basic concepts of call routing and delivery and how each technology is used to support the customer interaction, as well as what reports are available to shed light on team and individual performance.

Performance Measurement. Every call center should have a list of the top twenty performance indicators that cover measures of service, quality, efficiency, and profitability. Call center supervisors should understand what these measures are and how their team affects the overall call center’s performance success in each of these categories.

Return on Investment

Benjamin Franklin perhaps said it best, “An investment in knowledge pays the biggest dividends.” Whether it’s filling in some gaps in your frontline training program, or implementing an expanded supervisory/management training curriculum, you’ll find that the time and money invested will pay for themselves many times over in terms of increased call center operational efficiency, improved service, and decreased staff turnover.

Upcoming Seminars

Stay tuned to QATC for an upcoming seminar series with classes aimed at call center leaders. These web seminars will be free for QATC members and available for a nominal fee for non-members.
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