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Nearly every call center manager has experienced those times when your work responsibilities to clients and senior managers keep you glued to the computer answering emails, sitting in on conference calls, and running reports to measure service goals and forecasting. During those busy times, don’t forget about the most important resource you have—your staff!

Your staff keeps your customers and clients happy, generates revenue for your company, and makes performance indicators shine on reports. As a manager, you know the importance of communicating with your team and getting their feedback. Most call centers have a variety of tools in place to facilitate communication, such as regular staff meetings, employee surveys, and a suggestion box. These are all good ideas for sharing information with your team and influencing performance, yet each has its limitations. Surveys are limited by the questions asked, and some people are uncomfortable speaking in group settings or unmotivated to stuff a suggestion box. An addition to these useful tools is to engage your team members informally in one-on-one chats. But hold back on mentioning performance indicators, which are so often discussed in team meetings and emails. Show yourself as a leader who takes the time to engage and listen to your staff, not an administrator who only cares about their performance.

Stand Up

Stand up from your chair and pull yourself away from the computer screen. The emails will be there when you return. The voice message system will capture any missed calls. You can make a thousand excuses on why you should keep sitting at your desk diligently working, but once you stand, the excuses fade and the next steps come easily.

Walk, Talk, and Listen

If you manage a large team, chances are many people don’t know you that well. Their impression of you is limited to your giving directions in group meetings or through electronic communications. To overcome this incomplete picture of you, walk around the office and engage your team informally. Start with the basics by asking how their day is going, is the equipment working well, or is there anything that you can do to help? Keep the conversation light. Most importantly, listen to what they say in response.

Allow Yourself To Be Influenced

Don’t be distant and artificial. Allow yourself to be influenced by what they say. Good leaders seek diverse opinions and cherish the creative ideas of others. If someone offers a good idea, tell them it’s good and put it into action. Let your team know whose idea it is. This will build your team’s confidence that their contributions are worthy of their time and effort. You probably can’t implement every suggestion or solve every problem, but you can work on the ones that are important to them and improve morale in the process.

Influence Them Positively

Influence your team positively. This isn’t the time to point out faults. If you know someone is performing weakly in a task, address that issue at a different time. Use these informal talks to focus on positive aspects of their job and the team. Be sincere and tell them you appreciate their hard work. And especially thank them for offering any suggestions they may have.

As managers, we too often focus our attention on quantitative measurements that demonstrate the activities of the call center but fail to give appropriate attention to quality issues that can influence staff performance. Informal chats with your team members can provide early warning about issues that will ultimately show up in performance reports. As a leader, you should use all your tools, including informal chats, to connect with your team and improve morale. It doesn’t take much effort or time, and even if the results can’t be quantified, you may be rewarded with a more engaged and motivated team.

About the Author
Justin Gray is the Inquiry Response Center Manager for American Institutes for Research, one of the world's largest behavioral and social science research organizations (www.air.org). He can be reached at 240-629-3238, or jgray@air.org.