What are the best sources for call center administrator professional development and networking?

Online courses that are video based present flexible learning options that have different benefits from classroom learning. The power of online courses extends beyond the learning. Collections of trainings that were most helpful can be organized into a “greatest hits” collection for training others. When working with call center teams, it’s important to enable the everyone involved in the team. Study groups can be organized as well, when there are others with the same learning goals - online content is easy to share with others meaning there is no need to work alone for those who prefer learning together. Train yourself. Train your team. Study with others!

Reading expands the mind. Citation is a powerful thing, it helps us avoid reinventing wheels. Regardless of more formal trainings that exist or videos that are helpful, nothing can replace reading and the written word. When trying to grow a company, not everything is going to work so reviewing what someone else has presented in a blog or publication can quickly help rule things out that don’t work. When identifying information that helps grow your business, blogs and publications are easy to save and store in a “knowledge base.” Keeping a knowledge base is not only helpful for teaching others later, it also allows you to easily go back to check on information that might have been forgotten. The more you read, the more you grow.

Regardless of the job, role, industry or position you hold, I think you should always have a mentor. For me having a mentor helps me do a few things: 1. Challenging you to learn and grow. 2. Keeping you honest and checking in that you have done what you set out to 3. Calling you on your BS, not accepting nonsense answers for why you did or didn't do something 4. Offering a different perspective on challenges or triumphs. I have always found to better to have a mentor that is not in your same Org, as it can then run into a business check in rather than a career development.

Mentors can change your life. While reading and online trainings can be helpful, having someone who has been where you are trying to go can be transformative. The closest thing any of us have to peeking into the future is looking at how something went for the last person doing what you are working toward. Sometimes bosses and colleagues at work don’t have time to sit down and cover concepts or review ideas. Mentors present not only a sounding board, but the feedback you can gather from a mentor can dramatically speed up business goals. Human beings are a tribal species, we weren’t meant to go at things alone so asking better questions leads to better outcomes. Social media and coaching companies can be great for finding mentors.