Do you ever wish you had all winners instead of whingers? Committed producers instead of sluggish performers? Even when they’re all magnificent (yeah, right!) have
you ever wondered what it takes to turn those enthusiastic, energetic, demanding, individuals into a focussed, successful and committed prize winning team?
The growth of the Australian contact centre industry could rightly be identified as being in the “teenager” stage of our development. Yes, there are still some difficult times and challenging situations. But the strong, innovative, energetic and people focussed teams that we do see around us everywhere, are the result of our learning and growing together. The number of places we’re getting it right is a reflection of our growing levels of maturity and wisdom.
My corporate experience includes managing and leading teams in three highly competitive industries, Banking and Finance, Stockbroking and Telecommunications. For nine of those years I thrived in the fast paced, ever changing contact centre industry where my teams and I were recognised with ten industry awards for excellence. I’ve learned from my mentors, my leaders and most particularly my staff, what works and what doesn’t, in helping them to pull it together instead of tearing it all apart.
And here it is - my proven formula for turning your prize fighters into prize winning teams.
“Nothing but the BEST!”
Quite simply, the high performance teams I have built, are all the result of adopting a policy which I have called ‘Nothing But the BEST’.
It works for two reasons.
First of all, it sets a standard. The expectations are clear, the commitment required is obvious, the agreement to live up to it is made initially and recommitted to after every coaching interaction.
Secondly, it provided for me a simple step by step management guide, born out of many hard lessons I have learned in the contact centre industry. I could use it as a reminder, a testing model and a framework for the decisions I had to make.
The BEST acronym was an obvious one for me to work with, not only because of the standard it establishes but also because for the last three contact centre leadership roles I held, we utilised the exceptional systems and skills provided by the BEST Training programs. I’m now an owner and Managing Director of that company.
In this instance, my formula for cultural team excellence is:
B – BELIEF
E – ETHICS
S – SPORT
T – THEME
BEST – B for Belief
Take every possible opportunity to ensure your people have the strongest possible belief in what they are doing. That’s where they will find the energy, for the toughest customer, on the hardest day.
Recruit for attitude, not for skills or knowledge. You can teach those, as long as the attitude is good. A recruitment agency that is aligned with your personal and company values is a good starting point. Get to know the agency staff and explain to them that “I can give the staff the skills and knowledge……find me the attitude.” That’s a tough call for any agency but if you can work together to discover what type of people work best in your environment you are off to a great start. This honest, open approach coupled with a clearly defined job description and innovative interviewing methods invariably resulted in securing the best candidate.
As part of our recruitment strategy, potential team members were required to take time and observe our contact centre in action. In this way they were given the opportunity to get a feel for the environment and the advertised position.
After all questions and points of interest were addressed, an opportunity to double jack with an existing team member provided a hands on approach to identifying potential candidates who could work with our successful established team. The double jack session was an ideal opportunity for candidates to ask further questions arising out of this first hand experience. It was only after this session that I mentioned to the group that I only take the best candidates into my teams.
One of my goals during this time together was to let the potential team member know who I was and my style as a manager.
We learned that this simple exercise of inviting the candidates to see us in action was a powerful and provocative tool for recruiting the best candidate. It also gave the potential team member real clarity around what their job is and my expectations of my teams.
I would end this meeting by asking each candidate to go away from the day and think about what they have seen and decide if this was the right “fit” for them. My parting words to each group were “know in your heart that this is the job that you want to do and the place you want to work.”
When day one arrives for the successful candidates they should be welcomed with a firm handshake and a well structured induction program. It was during this first day of induction that I would congratulate each new staff member on joining our team and I would take the opportunity to remind them that I only take the best into my teams!
From the outset team members were introduced to the idea that our choosing the best required the best performance and could only be achieved within company policy and guidelines, which brings us to the second letter of my BEST acronym, E, which represents ethics.
BEST – E for Ethics
Ethics requires an attitude of discipline. Educating staff on company policy, the importance of punctuality and attention to rosters promoted good morale and developed the best high performance teams.
Many successful companies understand the value of developing a healthy culture underscored by strong company values.
Open discussion on company policy provided the opportunity for staff to contribute any number of creative ideas, where upon implementation; a more positive working environment for all staff was developed.
When managers and team leaders understood the power of providing honest feedback, and at times just telling it like it is, staff then understood appreciation on a job well done was equally genuine.
Support for under achievers, understood in the context of discipline, developed high performers with pride in both their work and environment.
Moreover, a disciplined corporate culture was the outcome of managers and team leaders being a model to all staff.
In my quest to empower staff to achieve their personal best I can think of no better example of success born out of discipline than the sporting arena.
BEST – S for Sport
For this reason, I use the third letter S as in sport in reaching for the best.
A personal best is achieved with the use of targets and performance measures. Assisting a team member to a personal best is achieved by raising personal beliefs through training, coaching and rewarding and recognising their successes.
Product and procedural training is a fundamental part of a staff member’s induction into the team. I’ve learned however, that to take a team member from ordinary to extraordinary there is a need to really develop their communication, sales or service skills.
I’ve also learned that this type of skill development doesn’t happen overnight and that effective behavioural change occurs over time, with good on the job coaching and support.
My training and development background provides me with an understanding of why some training programs work and others don’t.
For those of you without a training and development background, these tips may help in your selection of a training provider or designing your own in house people development training programs.
Make sure your people development training programs are built around Spaced learning, Peer Group learning, On the job learning and Management involvement.
This methodology ensures that newly learned knowledge and behaviours become part of your organisational culture.
Knowing that staff have been well trained and that team leaders coach for personal bests allows me to utilise the sporting theme even further.
My daily communications to staff often draw on sporting activities happening at the time. We used “Think like Grant Hackett” when we needed inspiration and “We’ve done a Bronco’s – dropped the ball” was our call when results were less than best.
More importantly this attitude reminded all staff that nothing less than a team effort produced high performance teams.
BEST – T for Theme
The T in BEST represents theme. As in all sports, team identity and team spirit are represented by team names, dress up days (used very successfully by many organisations within both the corporate and non profit sector) and team themes.
Consistency creates a theme as well. Ensure that you model the behaviour you want your staff to mirror.
Regularly communicate your goals to your staff. During induction I mention that “This may not be your job of a lifetime, but it’s the one you have chosen to do at this point in time in your life. If there is one discipline that I can help you develop whilst you work with me, it’s to be the best you can be at every job you do. Those disciplines will become natural behaviours and you will take them into every facet of your life.” It’s a powerful message to send to your teams.
Any leader willing to empower staff with up to date industry knowledge and promote an attitude of success can only develop the best high performance teams.
Finally, Louise Hay’s words have been my inspiration in a variety of leadership and management roles……”You don’t always get what you want in life, or even what you deserve……you get what you settle for.” I say settle for nothing but the best because this attitude has given me the pleasure of turning my wonderful, demanding, energetic prize fighters into prize winning teams and I know it can work for you too!!
I didn’t know those words came from Louise Hay – I thought I made them up? Have you found them in her work?
I know she says ‘Would you rather be right or happy?’ so I’m happy to be wrong.
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