Fun Theory

Good Day Everyone

I recently saw a video clip. To summarise: It was shot at a subway station. There was a flight of stairs and an escalator next to the stairs. The initial behavior was that most people used the stairs. A group of individuals then fitted giant piano keys to the stairs that played sounds as you stood on them. The result was that 66% of the people then preferred to use the stairs. The question is how can we apply this to our workplace?

I think what is lacking in current call center environments is the word "FUN". A call center agent will do almost anything to get off the phones.

Has anyone successfully applied any techniques to make a contact center a fun place to be? Looking for a "Fun strategy" for 2010.

Hi

I think the real problem is that in many organisations, the call centre staff are perceived as the lowest of the low and the onus should be placed on senior management to make what is often the backbone of the business feel more valued!

I would be very interested to know what sort of business you are in, sales, service and the data you are using?

Good Luck

Sue

Agree with you Sue. We sometimes forget that they are our link between the customer and the company. Recently was at a presentation and the speaker made the following statement "The average working person spends 17% of their lives at work, why shouldn't it be fun?

Some other evidence of a workplace that uses "fun" to drive performance is google. Received an email of their office space - they make it look like a place you want to be and there performance is evident.

Thanks for the ideas pinazdarius.
Looking forward to more responses - the crazier the better. Any call center agents out there now is yur time to speak up.

Hi all,

One option to explore is the use of Interactive Games and Wallboards where you display agent performance against success metrics in a much more fun way. For example, each time an agent hits a particular target they get to play an interactive game there and then or during a break. The results of this are reflected in either their individual performance or their teams performance. We've used this approach with clients and helped them increase sales revenues and productivity. Most importantly it usually introduces a healthy competitive spirit with the agents that increase morale and creates a more motivated working environment. Your options are to develop these solutions inhouse (as some call centres do) or use a professional organisation such as ourselves to provide the service.

I agree with pdinys, the Fish Philosophy really helped change some attitudes at my place. It was so successful that we included it in our induction training.

For the uninitiated, this is a video you can get hold of and is about a fish stall in the Seattle Fish Market. This is a very successful place and everyone who works tehre is really happy.

The four basic principles of the Fish Philosophy are:

Play - Have fun at work, make it into a game or something you enjoy

Make Their Day - Put your customers first and give them an experience they'll remember

Be There - For each other and for your customers.

Choose your Attitude - It's a simple choice. You chose to come to work, you might as well choose to enjoy it while you're there.

See if you can get hold of the video and play it to some of your staff. See if it makes a difference.

Sean, what about giving something back to customer too .... example, if they are the lucky caller that day.... send flowers .... tickets for footie ... word of mouth is powerful. Its a positive msg for the contact centre staff to offer a genuine no strings attached gift in all their scripts and lists of do's and donts... it helps them remember why they got into the job in the first place .... good luck