Success Story: How Introducing Team Leaders Helped to Achieve 100% KPIs and Happy Employees

Written by Daria Littlefield , Deputy Head of the Customer Success Department at Social Discovery Group

Maintaining motivation and engagement in distributed teams is a significant challenge. With team members spread across different time zones, asynchronous communication becomes essential. However, this often limits the manager’s ability to offer immediate support, ensure presence, and resolve issues promptly as they arise. To address this problem, the customer success department of SDG has recently launched the Team Leaders program, which extended employee average tenure almost twice.? Read on to discover how we achieved this transformation!

?ISSUE

Social Discovery Group unites 65+ apps within dating and entertainment, with 500 million users all over the world. Our team of customer success managers operates around the clock, spanning various time zones and countries to ensure constant client engagement.

Over the past three years of working remotely, we have perfected the art of hiring top-tier customer service talents and equipping them with the knowledge needed to provide exceptional service to our customers. Our new hires have benefitted from continuous support and guidance from their direct managers and dedicated training and adaptation manager.

However, once employees began working their assigned shifts, particularly during evening and night hours, they started to feel a disconnect. Despite having supportive colleagues on the same shifts, they often missed the close connection and supervision that morning shift reps enjoyed.

The absence of regular feedback on their efficiency metrics, improvement recommendations, and personal check-ins to discuss their feelings and struggles became evident. This gap highlighted the need for more structured one-on-one interactions, ensuring that every team member feels valued and supported, regardless of their shift.

?? RESOLUTION

We identified four employees in each shift who already held positions as Senior Customer Success Managers, demonstrating dedication to department goals, initiative, proactive work with challenging tasks, and leadership abilities. It didn't take us long to identify the right fit for this new emerging role.

The journey began with an extensive Team Leaders Boot Camp Training. The curriculum was divided into four parts and included comprehensive training sessions tailored to the skill sets needed for team leadership: Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, among others. A significant focus of the training encompassed topics on Team Management, Self-Management, and Communication—highlighting communication as the primary tool for achieving these objectives.

? OUTCOMES

Team’s Efficiency Metrics

We elevated the average KPI completion rate: right now 100% of the team members are consistently achieving their KPIs, when before this percentage fluctuated from 70 to 90%. We significantly improved consistent adherence to shift start times as well.

eNPS?

One of the metrics that indicate team happiness is the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS). Since the TeamLeaders launch, we observed an eNPS improvement from 45% to 61%.?

Average Employee Tenure?

We managed to considerably increase an Average Employee Tenure - so, from the day one till the last day in the department the period lifted from 12 to 20 months. More and more team members are finding their ways to develop, grow, and stay satisfied with the professional journey and day-to-day tasks in average for almost 2 years. We nearly doubled the expected number - for the customer service industry, the average lifespan is only 11 months.

? WRAP UP

As a result, the Team Leaders program has been a real win for our customer success department. By empowering senior team members with leadership training and responsibilities, we bridged the gap in support and supervision, ensuring every employee feels connected and valued, regardless of their shift. The idea not only boosted employee satisfaction but also significantly extended their average tenure, enhancing our overall team stability and performance.