Perhaps as Managers there is the opportunity to understand what is expected from us behaviourally and with that understanding prepare more thoroughly for any interaction or intervention by looking at the detail of how we behave; our body language, the way we use our voice, the language we use. These little things – the pointing of a pen, the use of “but” as previously mentioned, the hardening tone of the voice can seriously affect the outputs and the outcomes for those we are working with.

If we desire to motivate others it isn’t enough to simply ‘do the job’ – we are responsible as managers for breeding great behaviours and that means picking ourselves up on the tiniest of detail to ensure effective behavioural cascade.

With work that can become monotonous, with little to look at, minimal physical movement, it isn’t surprising that everything we do as managers is observed and noted by our frontline staff.

So perhaps we do need to be more self-aware in order to promote positivity and motivation within our Centres. We are being watched so lets watch ourselves.

I am a new manager of a call centre (3 months). I have never managed people or had this level of responsibility. I had worked in a call centre 10 years ago (and am realising I was probably a bad employee back then). We only have a small call centre staff of 7, so my managers thought I would cope.

The call centre changed to a different section of the business 6 months ago. The manager at the time was replaced after saying in the middle of the room, in front of staff, that he hated it and wanted ‘out’. The team had 3 managers (including me) in 3 months and by the time I started it was a very toxic environment – I suspect had been this way for a long time. There was a clear divide between the staff who had worked in the centre for 5+ years and the new staff, to the point of nasty and derogatory comments about new staff, to customers.

I was warned that there were ‘bad eggs’ and ‘lazy staff’; one staff member feeding negative comments and stirring up reactions in her colleagues; a lazy staff member who would sit in wrapup or ACW for 10+ minutes following every call; the ‘drama queen’ who would end up in tears and disappearing for hours from the office because it was ‘too busy’.

These behaviours rang true from my observations. There were clearly reported patterns of behaviour with previous managers that did continue when I started.

I decided to approach the team with a clean slate. Took on board what I had been told but decided that I wasn’t going to treat them any differently. The first performance management discussion I had with a staff member was 6 weeks in. It went badly. For the most part it was as much my own nerves about what to say that affected the meeting as their reaction to receiving bad feedback. The best results I have had was when I noticed a decrease in performance and asked the staff member if they were ok, if they knew why their performance was decreasing and offered them support. Within a week their performance had improved dramatically, they told me later that they a) didn’t realise they had slipped so much b) they appreciated that I was trying to help them.

I think the big thing about managing staff is not making assumptions about their motivations – I guarantee that they are making assumptions about you – rather trying to build their trust so they tell you what they think the issue is. Sometimes they are way off the ball park of what is actually going on and being open and honest with them made a huge difference to get my staff onside and working with me.

I like to refer to my job as ‘managing personalities’. It has been an utterly exhausting 3 months but I have reached a point with the team that, while there are still clearly issues, they are happy most days, they feel like I do care and I am trying to help them and that in the long term they are going to see improvements.

This is all so true. It almost seems like a lesson on common sense should be the first lesson taught. Perhaps early on, training the rep to say to themself “would I want to be told this?” might help.

I bring this phrase out simply because it has been used on me and gave me the impression that my manager didn’t give a crap about the problem that I was presenting to them and didn’t want to work with me at all at finding a solution.

As an employee I take the view of ” My problem is also your problem” when it comes to my manager. I always thought that my manager was there to help me sort out issues whether they are based on a client issue, technical issue or personal issue that requires me to lose time at work.

By avoiding using that phrase, the employee will feel that their manager is willing to help them in any situation that they may need help with. This will also help with attrition and morale.

Give feedback in a positive manner as a manager, you will be appreciated by all and you will see every of your team members making efforts to improve on their performances.

I have found out that negative phrases by call centre do not always bring about the much desired result in the long run.

Thanks

I have been in a leadership role for many years now and have gone to all the training and nothing works better than practice and only you can choose what works for you.

If you want success the only way you can achieve it is through the people you lead. The choice is yours, people leave managers not jobs.