I enjoyed the recent article on Empathy and have already follow some of the advise. Some individuals seem unwilling to role play and this minimises it's effectiveness. Can anyone come up with a way to ease them into role play or a game that would allow them to improve empathy without role play.
improve empathy
Call Centre Helper Forum » Call Centre Management
(6 posts)
... i myself have experienced a similar issue, ive tried to get my agents to be in the custoemrs hsoes, i got them to call the contact centre and have them log queries on behalf of customers. After the 3rd or 4th call , the general attitude seemed to changed and ive noted an improvement in most of the agents on task...
Posted 2 years ago
One thing is to lead by example. Also try to figure out why they won't want to roleplay. Perhaps it is that they think they do not need it or perhaps they are afraid. They can be afraid of several things. First of not being good at what they do and afraid to get fired if that is known.
Some people will realy hate (not only find it strange) to hear their own voice. Or they might just be afraid to talk in public.
So you need to figure out what the problem is. It might well be something unrelated completely. They don't like their boss or job or something else. Find out what the problem is and the solution will present itself.
One importand thing is to make it fun. Laugh at yourself. If it is too sereious, people are more likely to block.
Posted 2 years ago
There is an alternative to role play. It is called Forum Theatre and is something our company organises. It basically means that rather than learners worrying about their turn to role play we use two actors and a facilitator. They act out scenarios for the learners who effectively direct the action. The Forum Theatre can be based on real phone calls that were recorded and become scripts for the actors to use or the scenarios are improvised. The learners direct the action by telling the actors about their own experiences so the actors change how they play particular situations. For example, they may say that in their own experience a caller was much more aggressive. The scene is then replayed.
Rather than worrying about role play employees can focus on learning and will discuss what they have seen the actors do.
Posted 2 years ago
Thanks for all your helpful advise. The team appear to find it embarrassing. I have therfore tried to "lead by example" and role play for them to discuss. However I don't think this has the same power as doing it for them selves.
I like the idea of them calling in on behalf of customers however I am not sure of the constraints on data protection for this so am nervous to use this.
I do however love the idea of them directing a call. I am definately going to use this. I think I will script a live call and ask them to modify the script first and then act it out.
The team seem able to identify when empathy is needed as they are using empathy phrases at the correct times "I do apologise about that" but these are hollow words and neither add value to the customer or aleviate the customers concerns.
Any other help and advise would be really helpful.
Posted 2 years ago
Hi Moira,
Just a few thoughts that might help. Not so much on how to encourage it, but on what it is you are trying to encourage.
If empathy phrases which are being used at the correct time still sound hollow and add little to the customer, then maybe true empathy cannot be bottled into well placed phrases and still come over authentically?
In which case it may work to go back to the team and ask them to consider what it is and is not. You certainly recognise a phoney version. Maybe they did as well hence their reluctance?
Ask them to describe their own examples, explore what made that interaction empathetic? Decide as a group what it is and is not - a technique, a place the listener comes from inside themselves, a set of words used at the right time, a tone of voice etc.
Then having raised awareness, keep coming back to the topic in team sessions so everyone develops greater sensitivity to 'the real thing' and can share insights.
In my view, empathy is an easy thing onced experienced but a very difficult thing to bottle up and reduce, So a subtle, ongoing approach using the broad net of everyone's life experience is often the best way to crack these type of learning challenges.
Hope that moves your thinking on.
Posted 2 years ago
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