Most contact centers fill their supervisor positions from
their frontline agents. Do you have a process that is effective in identifying
potential supervisors? When you identify these potential prospects what is your
next step? Does your organization have a formal process for developing these
candidates or is it one you make up on the fly?
The proactive identification and path for new leadership is
critical to delivering consistent results in the call center so if you struggle
with keeping up with building leaders here are a few things to consider…
If you are like a lot of contact centers turnover is a big
issue. It is not a surprise that people come and go in call centers so why is
it that we are always reacting to turnover rather than taking it on
proactively? We get busy, real busy in the call center. Whether you are inbound
customer service, help desk, or a sales center, the calls and the issues the
calls create keep us in a defensive posture rather than a proactive posture.
The time we have to spend on developing talent in our centers is often pushed
to the side due to these circumstances. This is an easy way to fall behind when
you find yourself in need of a new supervisor.
Highly effective organizations follow a couple of basic
principles. The first is they have a career path plan. Centers that have a
career path tend to keep their most talented agents. Most agents want to be
promoted and if there is a plan that is documented and communicated, these
talented agents will tend to stay as long as the path is clear, the selection
process fair, and the leadership team is working with them developing their
skills.
The most effective career path plans have steps in the
process that allow leadership to evaluate the talent at each level of the
process. The first step of the process is a written test to evaluate the skills
of the agent that will be needed to be effective at the supervisor level. Do
they understand the values of the organization, can they write effectively,
understand the product and service details and can communicate why this is
important. Does the agent possess analytical skills, numbers proficiency, and
strategy? Do they have urgency?
The most successful programs have a level between the
supervisor and the agent sometimes called the Team Lead or Subject Matter
Expert that allows the leadership to evaluate the agent’s ability to interact
with other agents. This process determines if the candidate has the personal
skills needed, finesse, coaching, and ability to operate under stress. This
part of the process has no particular timeline and agents should not be rushed
through this process before they have been evaluated thoroughly.
The final step in the process is to certify that the candidate
has the skills to run a team on their own. With the help of the training
department you can come up with the key skills critical in your organization
but some fundamental areas are, running huddles, coaching skills, and managing
to a schedule. This process should be overseen by the Operations Manager and
he/she should observe and sign off on the certification.
Depending on the size of your organization you may have
multiple candidates in mentorship at any given time. You may have as many
mentors as you have supervisor teams. But the important thing is that you have
an organized process that will help you evaluate your next supervisor.
The supervisor role in the contact center is critical and
every operation manager knows that they excel or struggle based on their level
of supervisor talent. If they are critical to the role it only makes sense to
spend time developing a plan but more importantly developing your people…
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