Five phrases a Call Centre Manager should never use
Words have the power to build up or to tear down.
The way managers and team leaders communicate within call centres has massive impact on the people within the business and, by knock-on effect, on the customers with whom they communicate. Here Nick Drake-Knight shares his experiences with us.
I’ve identified a series of the most common damaging phrases I’ve overheard in call centres. These language patterns are toxic and cause psychological discomfort to call centre colleagues, and to their customers if they are ‘transmitted through infection’.
So, what are some of these damaging language patterns?
1. Never say…
“What you NEED to do …”
“What you SHOULD do …”
“What you MUST do …”
Should, must, ought to, have to, have got to, and need to are words or phases that demand something of an individual. By using such demanding language a call centre leader is (perhaps without even knowing) placing an irrational suggestion into the mind of the team member.
In reality, the team member doesn’t have to do anything at all. There may be repercussions for her if she doesn’t do what is being demanded, but the fact remains that the team member can do whatever she damn well chooses!
The use of such emotive language has no place in a professional call centre that cares for its people. It’s not even particularly effective. It merely creates temporary compliance.
As one of our colleagues sometimes comments,
“That manager just musts all over his staff. It’s very messy.”
People who consistently use this type of language are known as must debators, or mustabators. Mustabator language has no place in coaching call centre staff.
2. Never say…
“Why can’t you?”
This is one of our favourites. When we sit alongside a new team leader, or a relatively experienced manager who has been poorly trained, we hear this language pattern time and time again. “Why can’t you do it?” or “Why do you find it so difficult?” This is the worst possible question a manager can ask a team member.
Asking someone why he or she can’t do something just reinforces that he or she can’t, even when with a little resourceful thinking and some behavioural changes, he or she probably can. Use “Why can’t you?” and you will perform poorly as a team leader.
3. Never say…
“You’ve done well…BUT…” (The But Monster)
The But Monster is a word that joins two sentences together. In team communication it can also act as a destructive rapport breaker.
Imagine a scenario – Pam, a customer services manager, meets with a customer services assistant, Tom, perhaps at an appraisal meeting, and proceeds to explain how some of his work has been quite good and that he has achieved some of his objectives. Maybe the manager goes on to add that other parts of Tom’s work have been quite good, too. Now, imagine also that Pam (the manager) is using a spoken syntax that has a downward inflection to the end of each sentence – ‘sentence dropping’ as it is sometimes called.
The impact of the customer services manager’s message is already disempowering for Tom. He has, remarkably, broken the code of the message, even before it is has been delivered completely – the employee knows instinctively that the next word to be uttered by the manager will be ‘But…’ followed by a message that is either critical or negative, or both. How does he know this? By what means does he have the mind-reading capabilities to second-guess the manager’s thinking?
Look closely at the following examples:
“You were quite friendly with the customer but you should have spent much more time on the phone with her.”
“Yes, when he called you did acknowledge him, but you ought to have used his name.”
“Your performance dealing with that enquiry was OK but you need to up-sell more while you are processing the data.”
Have you noticed the impact of the word ‘but’ on what is being said? In the examples shown, the use of the word negates all that goes before it.
In call centre team leadership, we recognise that the But Monster erases all the good positive language that precedes it. As one young manager told us,
“You just know that everything before the But Monster is bullshit.”
4. Never say…
“How many times have I told you this?”
This is an absolute killer of self-confidence. The lack of sensitivity and awareness from some call centre team leaders is staggering. If a team member has been told ‘time and time again’ about a given work process, maybe the team leader’s method of communicating is not as effective as it could be?
Imagine the frustration for the team member, as she feels bad, has rapidly deflating self-esteem, and struggles to find any sense of confidence that she can do the job. You can almost hear the team member silently cry out “Try helping me in a different way then!”
Not everyone is cut out for call centre work and sometimes consistently poor performance really is an indicator that the employee’s skills or ambitions do not fit the role. That’s not always the reason a call centre employee performs poorly, though. I’ve discovered that, too often, it is the style of a team leader’s communication that is causing the difficulty.
5. Never say…
“If I were you…”
Well you’re not, so shut up.
______________________________________________
This article is extracted and adapted from the book “BOOMERANG! Coach Your team To Be The Best And See Customers Come Back Time After Time”, Nick Drake-Knight, 2007, Pollinger, £14.99, available via www.ndk-group.com or on 01983 401982.
Nick Drake-Knight is an author and change consultant with NDK Group.
© Nick Drake-Knight
I never realised how damaging simple phrases could be.
I was always taught that by building people up before you criticise them it would not sound so negative.
If you cannot use but, what language can you use?
Comment by jamesportcullis — April 16, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
you could always try “a different approach to that would be….” or “one thing that would have made that call even better would have been….”
it’s funny how much forethought needs to go in to what we deliver to an agent in order to prevent these issues.
Comment by Debra — April 16, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
Start with the bad bits, get those out of the way and finish on a positive. Also, carefully plan what you have to say in advance.
Comment by Colin — April 17, 2008 @ 10:29 am
Most peoples reaction to hearing the word “but” is defensive and ignore whatever came before it. One way you can avoid generating that reaction by using the word “and” instead.
For example, pay attention to the impact the following sentance has
“it was a great strong opening but next time ask before putting the caller on hold.”
Notice what happens if you change nothing but the word “but” to become
“It was a great strong opening and next time ask before putting the caller on hold.”
Comment by jen — April 17, 2008 @ 11:24 am
Maybe all team leaders/managers could ask themselves a few questions:
- What is the culture in your call centre? what is important? getting the numbers? or are the people important?
- How does your manager speak to you when things are going well? and not going so well?
- Why were you chosen to be a team leader/manager?
- When you were made a team leader/manager, what help were you given in understanding how to get the best from people?
- Have you had any training on understanding others and appreciating diversity?
- Have you had any training on coaching and performance management (not just the process!) ?
So how important REALLY are people in your call centre?
And… what are you going to do about it?
Comment by Mike — April 17, 2008 @ 11:35 am
so… what can I say? The article is good BUT tells me nothing about what I should be saying in place of these phrases… ? help?
Comment by mark — April 17, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
What I have enjoyed most about reading this article, is the comments from people it has generated. You are all obviously very passionate about your roles, and this is just wonderful to hear. People caring about what they do and who they work with - fantastic!
Comment by Caroline Isaac — April 17, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
Hey…I’m in the US, Simon, and I’ve never heard a bigger laod of rubbish either! This advice stinks!
Comment by Vince Cooper — April 18, 2008 @ 1:16 am
Not sure if I agree with some of the comments.
If the article has provoked you enough to make comment then it has done its job and perhaps it is you who need to heed the advice!
Having personally been involved in a number of industries and call centers, the points Nick makes have been, and continue to be, invaluable in developing a team culture.
If it’s answers you are looking for now investing £14.99 in Nicks book Boomerang is money wisely spent.
Comment by Kim — April 18, 2008 @ 9:39 am
It’s funny how the people who would benefit from advice are the last to recognise this.
The best call centres operate with a management style not akin to that of a police state.
At times we don’t all agree on the best approach to take in coaching and if the langauge patterns used by those who have left comments here already are anyhting to go by it’s clear which people are clued into utilising productive feedback techniques (well done) and those who aren’t - you know who you are!
Comment by Fran — April 18, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
I have found all the comments above very interesting and can’t resist putting in my four penneth…
1. Ask how THEY could handled calls etc better. They may surprise you!
2. Ask them if they can offer suggestions as to how things can be done better or if they can offer an alternative. This empowers them.
3. Never use BUT……simple!
4. Take into account your the individual learning styles of members in your team. Everybody learns differently and as an effective manager this should be second nature to you.
5. I agree. Never say if I were you. You can discuss similar situations that you have found yourself in but don’t use that phrase. It’s like telling them what to do.
Fran - I agree with you. Some people just don’t want to change!
Comment by Donna — April 18, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
Having experienced some positive customer service from call centre staff, then some less than positive I applaud the different use of language. I used to be a shoulda and it has taken a lot of practice to change. Since being aware of the BUT monster I realised how much I used the word in my feedback as a trainer. Agreeably everyone has their own style and the author is not trying to create a robotic response.
I would suggest that anyone having doubts about the power of positive feedback, practice reframing a negative response. This works particularly well with teenagers who can so easily have their confidence undermined and therefore elicit a over exaggerated response to a request i.e. instead of using “how many times have I told you to do this” try pointing out the benefits to them of changing their behaviour.
I believe the “WIIFM” approach works far better than any negativity.
Comment by Linda — April 19, 2008 @ 5:53 am
Hi,
This was a great article and I needed it. I have been having trouble giving my team performance feedback. I am good at giving quality feedback, but when it comes to performance appraisal, there is not much I am able to say. Most of my team meetings and performance appraisal turn negative and I think this article will change that. Thanks.
Comment by Oliver Archer — April 19, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
I found some of this article very useful, especially the use of the word BUT, I imagine quite a lot of people use this in their everyday feedback with no realisation of the way it comes across.
I was however, disappointed with the rest of the article which did not offer many solutions to improving the feedback.
The bit about the mustabators was really weird and slightly disturbing.
Comment by Fiona — April 20, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
Some how I don’t agree with the author. Some time you need to strict to agents, when things going against you, your goals and target are pinching you every hour then some how you loose control.
I also agrees that TLs and Supervisors need to build vocabulary and sentences which are substitutes the absurd and de-motivating phrases and words.
Comment by Manoj Kumar — April 23, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
I have spent time in a call centre observing the working procedures and can only say that the term ’21st century sweat shop’ justly describes what goes on in these places.
The coaching advice given in Nick Drake-Knights article can only be a huge benefit to managers/team leaders with the unfortunate task of motivating these staff.
It is straightforward, easy to understand and the postive message can be taken away and used in daily life.
Nicks examples of words and phrases to avoid are amazingly simple and from the myriad of positive comments above, they have obviously made a huge impact.
For those of you who have left negative comments, I suggest you read Nicks book ‘Boomerang’, you will learn a lot!!
Comment by Penelope — April 24, 2008 @ 9:15 pm