Award-Winning Tips From Citizens Advice

Ever wondered what it takes to run a successful charity-centred operation?

We’ve put the spotlight on the multi-award-winning Citizens Advice Gateshead site to find out how being creative and resourceful can pay dividends when budgets are tight.

1. Pass Round a “Mistakes Trophy” to Take the Stigma Away From Any Blunders

Buying a “Mistakes Trophy” is a great way to nurture a culture of continuous learning.

“People absolutely love seeing our Mistakes Trophy move around because it is a fun way to remind everyone that it’s OK to make mistakes, that you can just have a laugh about it, learn from it, and move forward. It’s really helped to remove some of the stigma away from mistakes.

It even appears on my desk too (because everyone makes mistakes!) and sparks positive conversations about “what have you done?” and learnings to be had.” – John Pearson, Contact Centre Manager

Financially speaking, passing the same trophy round is also cost effective – replacing the need to budget for weekly prizes.

2. Play Your Own Version of Mastermind to Liven Up Training Sessions

Information overload is a very real problem trainers face when onboarding new recruits, but games can really help here – especially a Mastermind-style challenge (inspired by the BBC television quiz show).

For example, asking advisors to think of questions related to the training and then putting one of the trainees in the hot seat to answer as many questions as possible in one minute.

Another variation is Signpost Mastermind, putting advisors on the spot with quick-fire questions around “where would you signpost if X happened?” or “where would you signpost if Y happened?” 

3. Keep a Support Chat Open to Help Advisors Handling Emotionally Challenging Calls

Keeping a support chat open – monitored by more experienced colleagues – can really help advisors handling emotionally challenging calls, so they can dip in to ask for help as and when they need it.

“It’s so reassuring to know that someone is always there on the support chat to help – whether I’m having difficulties with the client, experiencing anxiety about handling the call, or even if I’ve just forgotten something simple. I know I can always ask for help with no judgement.” – Charlotte Anderson, Advisor on the Advice Line

This doesn’t just benefit the advisor on the receiving end of the support but also creates cost-effective opportunities for in-house career development across the wider contact centre too.

For example, at Citizens Advice Gateshead, the chats aren’t serviced just by team leaders but also by more experienced advisors as part of their development pathway – giving them additional responsibilities to provide peer-to-peer support.

4. Introduce a Weekly “Wacky Races” Challenge

It’s not always possible to pull advisors off the phones for a quick morale boost, so it can help to pivot to ideas that are easy to do at their desks – just like the “Wacky Races” challenge.

“We run a weekly challenge where teams compete against each other to get to 100%.

We try to get the teams involved with creating a name and mascot, and also share the grid multiple times across the week to encourage a push towards that week’s focus – whether quality or quantity of calls.

We find it’s a very adaptable game and that the variety stops people from getting bored.” – Annalisa Hughes, Team Leader

5. Look for Trends in Your Next Round of QA Scoring and Send Out Helpful Reminders to Top Up Team Knowledge

Don’t just focus on individual performance during your next round of QA scoring.

Also look for out for trends and collective weaknesses and then pull together a monthly round-up document of reminders to help everyone improve.

Oftentimes, this can put the spotlight on lasting habits or where changes to the QA framework haven’t quite embedded yet.

6. Try a Limerick Competition

Why not also try a limerick competition? This could be a fun exercise on a Friday or tied into wider celebrations such as Christmas.

It’s as simple as asking everyone to submit a limerick (a 5-line poem with an AABBA rhyming scheme) by 12 noon on a Friday, with some fun prizes up for grabs for the best one. It’s great for a quick burst of creativity – whilst everyone is still on the phones.

7. Put a Positive Spin on Any Feedback So Advisors Don’t Feel Ashamed of Their Weaknesses

It’s so easy to leave an advisor feeling bad about failing and for them to carry that negativity into the rest of their week – but a quick bit of reframing can make the world of difference.

For example, if you can put a positive spin on it such as “This what you’ve done… but this is what you need to do in the future… because then you’ll smash it, as everything else was fine!” they will leave the feedback session feeling more confident.

For advice on how to use the Sandwich Technique to provide feedback, read our article: How to Use the Sandwich Technique for Customer Service

8. Gradually Add to the Complexity of Role-Play Exercises as You Progress Advisors Through Your Training Programme

Role-playing scenarios are fundamental in training delivery – but advisors need to build up their experience and familiarity with them for them to be most effective.

“I always add to the complexity of the role-plays as we go through the training, so they get gradually more in-depth and require more questioning from the advisor.

Regularly running these role-playing exercises also lets me, as a trainer, assess general understanding and address any weakness in the middle of the training programme – rather than waiting until they are out on the floor.” – Louise Bradley, Consumer Law Trainer

You could also use mock calls to support training. For advice on this, read our article: How to Use Mock Calls to Improve Agent Performance – With Free Exercises

9. Make Time to Get to Know New Starters at Partner Sites Too

Don’t just focus on welcoming new starters in your own team, make a habit of getting to know new starters across other sites (and taking your new starters along to meet them too!) – all to help keep communication paths open.

“When I get new starters in my team, I always take them along to Newcastle Crown Court, so they can see first-hand the support people get when they go to court.

And when they’ve got new starters, I always set up a meeting with them just to let them know what we do in the hub and how we can support them and how they can support us.

We all do the same job, just in a slightly different way, so it makes it all that little bit easier in the long run.” – Claire Hedley, Witness Service Referral Hub

10. Regularly Remind External Partners and Colleagues HOW You Can Help Them

When partnerships rely on passing information and clients between multiple teams and sites, it’s critical to keep those relationships front of mind. That’s why it can really help to set up semi-regular sessions to remind one another what each partner does, to maintain a healthy pipeline of work and collaboration.

Recent Award Wins

We’ve also put together a list of some of the recent awards they have won:

With massive thanks to the following representatives of the Citizens Advice Gateshead contact centre who shared their experiences for this article:

• Annalisa Hughes – Team Leader 
• Bethany Gill – Smart Team Leader on Digital Services
• Charlotte Anderson – Advisor on the Advice Line
• Claire Hedley – Witness Service Referral Hub
• John Pearson – Contact Centre Manager
• Louise Bradley – Consumer Law Trainer
• Natasha Surtees – Social Welfare Advisor Level 2

For more best practices and fun tips from other contact centres, read these articles next:

• 15 Ideas We Heard at Costa Coffee’s Contact Centre
• 15 Award-Winning Ideas From the Teleperformance Contact Centre
• 20 Innovative Lessons From Simplyhealth’s Contact Centre
• Behind the Scenes at Ocado – 21 Simply Soup-erb Ideas

Author: Megan Jones