#3
Newsletter March 2008
Published March 5th, 2008When it Comes to Recognizing Your Agents Keep it Simple
by Barbara Burke
Praise and recognition are essential to making your contact center a great place to work. Your service reps need to be recognized as individuals and feel that their efforts are appreciated. Employee recognition does not have to be complicated — or costly.
I was reminded of this recently as I reviewed the results of an Agent Engagement Survey conducted by one of my clients - a call center with 200 customer service agents. When the agents were asked what their supervisor could do to show their appreciation for their hard work, the response of one agent summed up the feelings of many: “I seldom hear anything positive from my supervisor. Whenever we meet it is always about what I am doing wrong.”
Supervisors are under increasing pressure to meet service level standards and other key metrics with as few agents as possible. That is why it is easy to understand why many of them spend a large part of their day addressing performance and attendance issues with their low-performing reps and spend less time recognizing the important contributions that their medium and high-performers make.
Many supervisors hold to the outdated philosophy that if a rep doesn’t hear from them, they can assume that they are doing well. While that may have worked in the past, agents today have different needs. When good reps don’t receive the positive recognition they crave, they lose their motivation. And worse, if that very basic human need is not met, they quit and go to an employer that has a reputation for recognizing and rewarding their employees.
Investing in a costly, formal recognition program isn’t necessarily the answer. That was one of the findings from the Ascent Group’s 2007 study of Reward & Recognition Programs and Best Practices. “– most of a company’s recognition activity should be informal. It indicates a culture or atmosphere that acknowledges good behavior when it happens. Informal recognition is a critical component in human nature and the social structure - it’s a major motivator and results in people feeling good about themselves and their achievements.”
Providing your reps with the recognition they need (and deserve) is simple and only costs a minute of your time. Try the following experiment and see the benefit for yourself:
1. Think back over the last few days (the more recent, the better) and make a note of something that each of your reps did that “made a difference” to a customer, to a co-worker, your team, or the company. (This can be something as simple as coming back from break on time or helping a new hire find some information for a customer.)
2. Pay a visit to each rep and ask for a minute of their time.
3. Roll up a chair. Relax. Smile. Look them in the eye.
4. Sight the specific behavior you observed that “made a difference.”
5. Explain why and how what they did was so valuable.
6. Observe whether this moment of praise “made a difference” to that person.
7. Repeat Steps 1. thru 6. as often as you can.
Aha! #12. Great supervisors follow the Golden Rule and do the right thing.
Judy Heinen : A Champion Who Makes a Difference Every Day
It is only fitting that the first Make a Difference Award go to Judy Heinen. Judy began using the book with her team in 2005 even before it was published. Since then she has introduced the book and its philosophy of empowerment to just about everyone she knows! Her positive energy and generous spirit makes a difference every day in the lives her fellow employees at Otter Tail Power Company as well as her family, friends and community. Thank you, Judy!
“A good idea will never succeed without a champion.”
Colin Powell
Suffering Turnover From Fatigue?
If you are tired of losing good agents to your competition or tired of seeing too many new hires head for the exits after a few months, please consider participating in an innovative Agent Attrition Reduction Project.
We are looking for two contact centers or call centers to conduct similar projects in 2008-09
Ideal candidates have centers with 75 - 500 seats and 50%+ negative turnover in 2007.