4 Strategic Contact Center Leadership Lessons

I remember my first promotion to a leadership role. All I could think about were the gaps in my experience, especially when it came to developing and executing strategy at scale. The pressure was real. Suddenly, I was expected to have a vision, make complex decisions and guide my team through ambiguity.

Strategy felt like an intimidating concept reserved for the C-suite; not someone who just mastered workforce schedules and queue reports.

Looking back, I realize I made strategic thinking scarier than it needed to be.

At that time, I felt inadequate. Sound familiar? You're not alone.

In fact, 61% of executives admit they were not fully prepared for the strategic challenges they faced when they moved into senior leadership. Recent research revealed an alarming trend: 84% of leaders report feeling underprepared for future disruptions — a significant increase from 61% in 2017.

However, here's what I’ve learned after years of leading in contact centers and mentoring both exceptional and struggling leaders: strategic thinking is a skill set, not a personality trait that you’re born with. And like any skill, it can be learned, practiced and mastered.

Here’s how to build that muscle:

1. Schedule Strategic Thinking Time and Protect It

If you don’t schedule time to think strategically, the whirlwind of daily fires will always win. Block 30 to 60 minutes weekly for strategic reflection and planning. During this time, zoom in and out:

• What are the key business problems in your area?
• Where can your team uniquely add value?
• What trends are emerging?

Encourage your leadership team to do the same to develop foresight and practice systems-level thinking. Research consistently shows that high-performing leaders deliberately carve out significant time for strategic thinking, even in the thick of operational pressures.

Share your insights during team meetings. This visibility helps align your leaders with your broader vision and invites them to contribute forward-thinking ideas.

2. Develop Strategic KPIs

We measure what we value. To grow strategic capability, integrate it into your performance expectations. Consider creating strategic behavior metrics that reward initiatives like process improvement, cross-functional collaboration or proactive issue resolution.

For example, one of my manager-level KPIs is to engage with our college partners on a monthly basis. Managers are expected to bring back insights, surface support needs and propose collaborative solutions. This simple expectation has strengthened our partnerships, increased our promoters and created enterprise ambassadors.

Work with your direct reports to develop a shared “strategy scoreboard” during one-on-one meetings. Identify one behavior or outcome area they can approach more strategically. Whether it’s staffing, training or service recovery, review and iterate on these areas together each month.

3. Seize Opportunities to Observe and Engage

One of the best ways to learn strategy is by witnessing it in action. Involve your team leads in upstream work: planning sessions, root cause analyses and cross-departmental projects. Don’t just present them with the outcome; walk them through how you got there.

When I’m preparing a proposal that relies on data to support a new initiative, I pull in my leadership team to help with the analysis. It’s not just about delegating, it’s about teaching them to build the case using data and sound reasoning.

What better way to cultivate better decision-makers than to let your team shadow your decision-making process? Walk them through your thought process as you go, and/or debrief with them afterwards, so they see the process from start to finish. 

4. Embrace the Ambiguity

The higher you climb the corporate ladder, the fuzzier the directions become. Strategic leaders don’t wait for clarity; they use their experiences as a reference to create clarity.

At times, this ambiguity can immobilize new leaders if they haven’t practiced navigating uncertainty. That’s why it’s so important to start building these muscles before the pressure is high. If your organization lacks a defined strategic planning framework, find one for reference and model it. Utilize simple tools such as SWOT analyses, business model canvases, or scenario trees.

Strategic leadership isn’t about having all the answers or predicting the future. It’s about asking better questions, identifying patterns and turning insights into action.