Quick Tip: Show Appreciation for Agents Working Holidays
Working on a major holiday is tough for anyone. Your agents’ bodies may be in the contact center, but their thoughts and hearts will be with family and friends.
Show your agents how much...
5 Ways to Improve Engagement
Universities, consultants, authors and experts all have a lot to say about employee engagement. The attention paid to this topic is encouraging, as it is a critical ingredient in a high-performing company. The best...
Inside View: CARiD
When you think of brands that deliver service that “wows” customers, an automotive aftermarket parts and accessories business may not be the first thing that springs to mind.
CARiD is working to change that. The...
Employee Advocacy: Common Missteps to Avoid
While a successful employee advocacy program can boost your company’s credibility, visibility and even revenue, the reality is that many companies attempt to launch one without ensuring that the key elements are in place....
Elements of an Employee Advocacy Program
If you are considering rolling out an employee advocacy program, there are a few critical core elements that need to be in place to be successful. According to Christopher Hannegan, Edelman’s executive vice president,...
Quick Tip: Consider an Internal Advocacy Program
Employee advocacy can be very impactful if there is a really clear and articulated business case for the program, and if every element of the program is anchored in the business case, says Christopher...
Contact Center Skills & Roles Evolving
Contact centers are in the midst of significant strategic and technological changes that will have a lasting impact on the workforce. The explosion of digital channels, tech-savvy mobile consumers willing to air their grievances...
Quick Tip: Act on Employee Feedback
Berlin Packaging has a long history of business success, which its leaders attribute largely to its focus on employee engagement and a culture of shared commitment to “Being Greater, Faster.”
It’s a culture that...
Quick Tip: Give Agents a Voice in Process Improvement
Despite the growing popularity of the collaborative corporate culture, the more traditional directive model is still common today. In a directive organization, leaders give their subordinates specific orders on what to do and how...
Quick Tip: Give Agents a Voice in Customer Initiatives
Successfully transforming into a customer-centric culture requires agent buy-in. Anna Convery, CMO & EVP Strategy at OpenSpan recommends getting agents more engaged in customer initiatives upfront by making sure that they have a voice...
10 Survival Tips for Call Center Agents in 2016
It’s no secret that the work of a call center agent requires saintly patience and nerves of steel, and as customer expectations go up, the job becomes ever more demanding. In fact, Gartner reports...
5 Tips for Leading Millennials
The millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) has been described as the most high-maintenance workforce to date, but it can also be the most high-performing, if you learn what makes them tick.
We...
4 Key Drivers of Agent Engagement
What is it that makes the agents in certain contact centers especially enthusiastic about their jobs and more committed to delivering a high-quality customer experience on call after call? Higher pay alone won’t produce...
Executive Interaction on the Front Lines
Interaction with the staff is important in most any leadership position, but it is absolutely critical in a contact center. The agent’s job success depends on interpersonal skills, and it is the supervisors, managers,...
5 More Tips to Boost Engagement During New-Hire Training
In my last post, I offered five tips to reduce your new-hires’ training jitters, while increasing their knowledge retention and engagement. The following are five additional ideas to ensure that new agents can make...
9 Things My Latest Book on Employee Engagement Lacks
To keep my latest book—First, Engage Yourself—short enough to read over, say, a long lunch, I omitted nine things.
1. Buzzwords and Wonky Terms
OK, I do talk about “employee engagement.” But that phrase...
Author Q&A: First, Engage Yourself
We all know that creating positive customer experiences requires highly engaged employees. The link between employee engagement and overall organizational success has been proven again and again.
Why, then, are organizations continuing to struggle with...
What’s the End You Have in Mind?
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey articulates this habit so clearly when he asks the reader to picture ... their own funeral. He describes the setting and the speakers, one...
Why Is Engagement Important?
A few thousand years ago, Aristotle articulated a simple truth when he wrote: Well begun is half-done. The first step, the step most often overlooked in the millions of conversations on how to engage...
A New Approach to Employee Engagement
Albert Einstein defined insanity as ”doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.“
Business books rarely start with quotes from Einstein or ones about insanity.
However, we’re talking about employee engagement (actually...