Inside View: Suzette Robinette, Hiway Federal Credit Union
Credit unions are known for their commitment to serving their members. At a time when a growing number of businesses seem narrowly focused on using automation to deflect customer calls, many credit unions still...
America’s Top 200 CEOs Want You to Fight for Your Agents
Did you feel it? In the business world, the earth just moved below us all. Luckily, it was not an actual earthquake, but instead was the leaders of some of America’s 200 largest businesses...
The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get
This simple phrase was on a plaque in my home when I was growing up. For the longest time, I just couldn’t make sense of it. Decades later, the phrase has become abundantly clear,...
When Dysfunction Strikes
When it happens, you know it. We’re not talking about the garden variety slump, or the occasional, inexplicably poor decision. Even the greatest organizations deal with these hiccups from time to time. We’re talking...
Avid Readers Make Better Leaders
I have grown up (personally and professionally) over the past 30-plus years working in the call/contact center business. I began in the early ’80s when my husband David and I owned an “interconnect” telephone...
Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Contact Center Leader
We are now well into 2021, and I hope this year will be a much better year for all.
It is interesting that, although 2020 was such a tough year with so many challenges, for...
Inside View: Award-Winning Managers
What defines best-in-class performance? ICMI recently announced the finalists for its Global Contact Center Awards Program. The winners in each of the 12 categories will be announced on May 5th at ICMI’s Contact Center...
The Covid-19 Crisis: Do We Put Our Energy into People, Process or Technology?
COVID-19 has impacted everyone’s lives in so many ways. As we all learn to navigate our way through this global crisis, there are increasing demands on our contact center agents as well as the...
Inside View: Matt Medina, Dun & Bradstreet Emerging Businesses
Launching a contact center is like a juggling act. You may want to start simply by throwing and catching one ball correctly, but soon there are three or four balls that you’re trying to...
A Q&A with Bob Furniss, ICMI’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
In May 2017, the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) recognized Bob Furniss, VP, Global Service Cloud Practice, Bluewolf, an IBM Company, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. According to ICMI, the recipient is “a person...
A Stitch in Time… Saves Nine
A stitch in time saves nine” is an idiom that first appeared in print in 1732… a long time ago. Its meaning is timeless and simple: DON’T DELAY! Take on tasks as they arrive...
The Fine Art of Contact Center Management
The earliest definition of contact center management that I know of came from Gordon MacPherson, founder of the Incoming Calls Management Institute (ICMI) in 1985.
Gordon authored the Essentials Skills and Knowledge course, which...
Moral Leadership in the Contact Center
Since the publication of my first article in Pipeline (“Don’t Ignore the Economics of Your Contact Center,” October 2018), I have tried to bring a new voice focused on those that we govern, and...
Getting Buy-In for Change
Often it can be quite challenging getting buy-in from your team when you need to introduce new coaching methods, processes, and call guides. Or just about anything else that’s New.
Why? Because most people don’t...
Communication Styles to Build Deeper Rapport
In today’s call centers, employers aren’t just looking for professional expertise or experience in team leaders. They’re also looking for other qualities like the ability to build rapport with customers, team members and other...
Leading with Empathy: Demonstrate Understanding, Care and Compassion for Customers and Employees
Everyone could use a little more empathy these days. The desire to feel heard and understood is a basic human need, and one that has a proven impact for companies. Numerous studies have linked...
How to Quiet the Ego and Lead with Humility
Great leadership is not always about being “right.” In fact, it rarely is. The leader’s job is to bring out the best in employees and to engage them in working together to do what’s...
Is Your Contact Center a Fantasyland… Or Not?
I am not the biggest fan of Disney, but I have always had a warm spot for Fantasyland. A young friend of mine recently visited Disney World and among his tales of the trip...
Seven Contact Center New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
Congratulations! Your contact center made it through 2020. Last year compressed five years’ worth of digital transformation, work-from-home initiatives, and massive customer contact volumes into just nine months. However, the New Year brings new...
14th Annual NECCF Vendor Expo: Executive Talk Interviews
I had the privilege to attend the 14th Annual NECCF (NorthEast Contact Center Forum) Vendor Expo at Gillette Stadium—Home of the World Champion New England Patriots—in Foxborough, MA, last week.
I held Executive Talk Interviews...