Boost Your Culture Sessions
Choose a Conference Track:
Working in a contact center has always been a bit of a hard sell. (Let’s face it, it’s not for everyone!) But with unemployment at historical lows, creating and nurturing a culture that both attracts and retains top talent has never been more critical. Sessions in this track will provide valuable strategies for successfully hiring and onboarding, as well as creating a positive culture that increases engagement and minimizes attrition.
Session 102
How to Transform Agent Training with Microlearning
Tuesday | 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Jeff Toister
Contact centers constantly face pressure to make agent training faster, cheaper, and better. One way to achieve this is through an innovative approach called microlearning where agents learn new content and develop skills in small chunks at a time. Discover how microlearning can speed up training, improve retention, and dramatically reduce training costs. Explore ways this learning approach increases learner engagement and performance. Identify ways to use microlearning to rapidly train new content or reinforce new concepts. Identify simple, low-tech tools you can use to create your own microlearning content. |
Session 202
How the TriMet Customer Support Team Added Agents, Hours, and Channels Without Sacrificing Service Quality
Tuesday | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
LESLIE OFLAHAVAN, Jon Bell
In just one year, TriMet (Portland, Oregon's largest transit agency) scaled its 8-person, Monday-Friday phone-based support team to a 20-person, 24/7 omnichannel powerhouse. Under Jon Bell's leadership, the customer care team added social media and SMS channels and rolled out support for Hop Fastpass, the first-ever fare card to be used in Apple's wallet. With this "lifestyle product" fare cardwhich can also be used to unlock bike lockers and pay other fares, TriMet is a pioneer in the industry. How did TriMet grow so fast and improve service quality at the same time? By focusing on developing agents' skills. In this session, Jon Bell and Leslie O'Flahavan will describe their template rewrite project and their training project. Together, these efforts enabled everyone on the team the long-tenured phone reps, the newly hired social media reps, and the former bus drivers now assigned to the customer care team to serve customers through digital channels.
Session 302
How to Keep Toxic Agents from Ruining Your Culture
Tuesday | 2:45 PM – 4:15 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Jeff Toister
Toxic agents are all too common in contact centers. One study found that 1 in 20 contact center agents are fired within their first year for toxic behavior such as fraud, harassment, theft, or other flagrant policy violations. These employees sap morale, hurt productivity, and take up way too much of our time. This interactive session will share some surprising research that explains why contact centers attract toxic agents. You will walk away with concrete steps you can take to prevent toxic agents from ruining your culture.
Session 402
So You Want to Promote Your Agent to Supervisor…
Tuesday | 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Justin Robbins
One of the most common scenarios in the contact center is that the best agents become the next generation of supervisors and leaders. But, is that really the best approach? What if being a bad agent is actually the sign of a great leader? In this spirited debate among the panelists who have grown through the ranks you will hear what it really takes to develop a successful contact center career. You will learn: the key characteristics needed to succeed in a contact center leadership role, and how to spot those characteristics in employees, how to develop more strategic career paths for contact center employees and what the future holds for careers in customer service.
Session 502
Supporting Employee Growth: Developing a Successful Career Path
Wednesday | 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Beth Gauthier-Jenkin, Sarah Gibart
With unemployment rates at record lows and the growing popularity of the gig economy, contact center leaders are under enormous pressure to develop and retain current employees. Gopher Sport's award-winning approach to employee development scored them the coveted ICMI Global Contact Center Award for Best Small Contact Center in 2018, and more than a dozen of their employees landed on the 2018 ICMI Customer Experience Movers & Shakers list. What's their secret? In part, their commitment to supporting their employees growth and development and their unique approach to career pathing. If you're looking for practical ways to develop your leadership pipeline, boost morale, or improve performance, don't miss this opportunity to hear Gopher Sport share their approach to supportive leadership and focused growth.
Session 602
An Extraordinary Workplace Is More Than Ping Pong Tables and Bean Bag Chairs
Wednesday | 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Description Coming Soon
Session 702
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?: Engaging Employees in the Contact Center
Wednesday | 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Conference Hotel
Fancy Mills
Much attention is given to employee engagement given its correlation to customer satisfaction, but employee empowerment – which drives both employee engagement and customer satisfaction – is often overlooked. This interactive session will focus on defining team empowerment and understanding its three core components. Explore the key challenges to empowerment and discover tactics for overcoming them. We'll share industry insights as well as real-world examples of what has worked to empower and motivate our own contact center team.
Supporting Employee Growth
Developing a Successful Career Path
Wednesday | 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
Digital Experience
Beth Gauthier-Jenkin, Sarah Gibart
With unemployment rates at record lows and the growing popularity of the gig economy, contact center leaders are under enormous pressure to develop and retain current employees. Gopher Sport's award-winning approach to employee development scored them the coveted ICMI Global Contact Center Award for Best Small Contact Center in 2018, and more than a dozen of their employees landed on the 2018 ICMI Customer Experience Movers & Shakers list. What's their secret? In part, their commitment to supporting their employees growth and development and their unique approach to career pathing. If you're looking for practical ways to develop your leadership pipeline, boost morale, or improve performance, don't miss this opportunity to hear Gopher Sport share their approach to supportive leadership and focused growth.