What are the best ways to manage a call center team with resilience?

Assessing your teams resilience begins with analyzing the leadership, both formal and informal leaders on the team. Leaders set the tone and formal and informal leaders have a significant impact on the resiliency of the team and their ability to performance. Formal leaders undoubtedly set the tone for what is celebrated and what is addressed. Informal leaders have a strong voice that may not be visible, but also has a strong impact on the overall teams performance. Start be fully understanding and connecting with your leadership team to asses strengths, weaknesses, gaps and potential.

A useful tool is a resilient wheel or a short self questionnaire to identify how resilient the team is. An area which can be difficult for teams is to be confident in their ability at work. They may be competent in their role but lack confidence. This is often a weakness and is an area which does require additional help such as coaching to enable them to believe in their skills. Another area I have found which does require additional belief is to identify strengths rather than focus on weaknesses. Where there is a weakness the best tool is to work on it and identify how it can become a strength with additional work and belief.

Staff with employees who best represent your organization. Employees who will remain calm regardless of the situation being called-in. If possible and practical, do not place your caller on hold, have your employee ask for as much information from the caller as possible/practical, name, call-back number, witnesses, etc. Reassess yourself on a regular basics and pass-on update to your employees. Monitor their efforts and have regular team meetings to pass on info. Listen, with big ears, to your employees objectively. Never know, you may learn something that improves the quality of your team. Remember, your efforts keeps the sign about your entrance door shiny. My law enforcement career began in 1975, retired in 2005.

Identify your teams strengths and opportunities. Utilize appropriate strengths to tackle tasks or projects. Continue to work and develop opportunities. Must have candid dialogue.

The most important indicator to measure the resilience in a call center team is the communication. Working in the travel assistance industry, it is very important to support the teams with effective communication to empower and motivate them. This industry is particular due to the balance between knowledge and customer service. Teams must think and coordinate fast especially during life-threatening situations. I personally do regular 121 meetings to measure their mindset, their needs for training and motivate my team. In these meetings I usually listen more than I talk. It is a good time to keep all the team on board.

I would suggest the first step for some call centres would be to provide training. This will ensure that all the team understand what resilience is. Once they have been trained, they can identify what resilience skills, attitudes and behaviours they have and what they require to do to improve their resilience. Some examples they may require to improve on are emotional awareness, self-belief and problem solving. Further training may be required to equip the team with the skills to be more resilient. Improving resilience does take time and short courses could help such as problem solving or goal setting.

All of the call centers offer an initial training which is mostly standard and no room for people who can't follow it (new hire who doesn't meet the requirements= end of the notice period). Then, organizations should invest in continuous training for personal growth. In big companies, there's a training department scheduling sessions. This department usually copes with rigidity. I remember a time that I had to train 3 people in my team due to a long waiting period in which the training department couldn't book a slot. For operations needs, I trained successfully these 3 agents, preparing myself the supports and taking time to empower them.

Building a supportive culture is key to having a successful call center. This is especially true if your call center is virtual. A team that supports each other and is courteous of each other requires creative communication. Ways to build relationships, ask questions and communicate availability.

Having a supportive culture helps all the team to be healthier and happier at work. This can help to reduce stress and be more proactive in their approach to work and support of others. It helps to ask others for help and support so that they in turn can ask for help and support. This is so much better rather than feeling under so much pressure and afraid to ask for help and support. It is also good to talk to each other about any issues and in turn improve resilience skills.

In the assistance industry, I worked in many call centers and I could experience a great teamwork. People helping each other. And teams become more resilient when managers lead by example answering calls time to time to maintain the SLA. Managers must be supportive to meet the objectives, available for their teams and on the top of that, manage with empathy. Regular meetings are necessary to follow the trend. They can be collective or individual but in any case, the manager must be dynamic, close to the team sharing information and talk about emotions. All my 1:1 meetings start with "how do you feel?"

Empathy and emotional intelligence are important to encourage team's wellness. First, the manager must have a high knowledge of his/her own feelings. Self-awareness and mindfulness are key to understand my own feelings. This enables me to understand better my team. Everyday starting my shift, I greet them and I can read their state of mind. I see first physically how they are just scanning their face: are they sick, have they slept enough... According to situations, I can arrange adjustments in their shift so that they can feel their shift shorter.

Feedback is essential for the wellbeing of a team, and a powerful tool for motivation. For that, managers must know the qualities of each member to listen to them, encourage and motivate them. Managers must adapt the format of a feedback. Each team member is different and a unique talent. Some prefer recognitions in front of others. Others are shy/introvert and prefer to be recognized individually. Listening to a team is also to understand them with empathy.

It is essential for all the team to have meal and tea/coffee breaks and ensure they are away from their desks or work station. Some call centres time toilet breaks and this is an area which should not continue. Find out solutions from all the team as to what will work well for them all and this will lead to being more assertive and resilient.

Managing a call center team with resilience involves fostering a supportive and adaptive environment that equips agents to handle challenges effectively. Here are some best practices: Effective Communication Set Clear Expectations Provide Training and Development: Promote Work-Life Balance Empowerment and Autonomy Recognition and Appreciation Encourage Collaboration and Teamwork Promote Stress Management Techniques Lead by Example: As a manager By implementing these strategies, you can effectively manage a call center team with resilience, enabling them to navigate through obstacles and thrive in their roles.