Martin Jukes recently contributed to a feature in Call Centre Helper titled ‘The 10 Pillars of Employee Experience’
An extract from the article is shown below, you can link to the full article here.
Ask Contact Centre Agents What They Think
One of the biggest missed opportunities is not asking contact centre agents what they think. They have a unique insight into what customers want and the issues they face.
They see the failure that organizations have in meeting customers’ needs or expectations, or in the products or services being delivered. They have their ‘finger on the pulse of the customer’ and they know what the current issues are.
When I am reviewing contact centres, I always spend time with the agents. I talk to them about their roles and their experience, I listen to their calls and observe the processes and systems they use.
I observe them dealing with different channels and the tools they use. I explore the things that are not working for them and get an understanding of the difficulties that they or their customers are facing.
Yet despite having this real insight available, very few agents are ever asked about what they think or how things could be improved. It takes a short amount of time to ask, but can inspire those being asked as well as motivate them, increasing self-esteem and finding out a huge amount of insight. This investment is real engagement.
Anecdote – The CEO in the Car Park
It reminds me of the story of a CEO I once knew. He arrived at a different time each morning and parked in the car park at the point furthest from the entrance.
I walked in with him one day and asked him why he did this and he told me it enabled him to have a different conversation with a different person every morning.
He asked them how they were and what they were working on, he showed an interest. It was one of the most powerful examples of employee engagement that I have seen, and it had results!
With thanks to Martin Jukes, Managing Director at Mpathy Plus
