By
Laura Sikorski
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Date Published: July 23, 2014 - Last Updated September 26, 2019
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Comments
A contact center leader (whether executive management, director, manager, supervisor, or team lead) should consider these words: how you are perceived is how you are received.
Sometimes leaders forget to remember the journey to the management team and what it was like being a frontline staff member. It is not easy working on interactions minute after minute and trying to be upbeat, pleasant and knowledgeable call after call after call.
I would like to share my personal tenets on building leadership:
- Lead by example
- Motivate through empowerment
- Delegate responsibility
- Recognize that employees are your company’s greatest asset
Leaders are mentors and should be consistent listeners. They are self motivated, charismatic, work well independently and most importantly are respectful. Finding staff members who have these attributes creates an environment of trust and openness.
Want to build leaders in the contact center? When conducting your staff meetings start looking for individuals who:
- Ask questions
- Listen and do not doodle – yes I wrote doodle
- Make suggestions on policies or procedures
- Offer to be part of special teams or task forces that will work on solving a problem
On the opposite end, team supervisors should have mini-staff meetings to seek out individuals that they would like to mentor. Agenda items/questions for group discussions can be:
- What do our customers like about us?
- What do our customers dislike about us?
- If you could, what do you wish you could change?
Involve your staff and you will see them getting excited because they know their opinions can make a difference. Develop teams to work on the customer initiatives that are inspired by staff meetings. Remember, you can never underestimate the power of enthusiasm!
Team players are leaders of the future. It is management’s responsibility to identity these employees and support them in their career development.
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