A few years ago, I was delivering a change initiative in a telecoms business. An element of this was changing mindsets in the contact centres. Inevitably, some training was involved.
Values of this business included “Commitment”. For the contact centre advisors, partly that translated into being on time and managing shift adherence. “Shift adherence” is all around how a person manages time against their rostered shift. So if I’m an advisor whose shift starts at 9am, what am I doing at 9am? It’s not good enough for me to be simply walking into the building. It’s insufficient for me to be sitting down at my desk. Because according to the call volumes forecast, I need to be sitting at my desk, fully logged into my systems with my headset on and “ready” to take my first call.
It’s the same for any volume-based activity. For the advisors, though, this means that a moment’s lateness is chided by management and time management is completely directed by the shift. “Commitment” is when advisors turn up on time, go to break on time, return on time, go to lunch on time and, throughout the day, micromanage their time according to their shift pattern.
So, just for a moment, let’s put on the hat of one of these advisors, sit in their space and look over their flat-screen. What do we see?
- Oh, my manager hasn’t turned up yet. She’s “running late” or “caught up somewhere”. Note the different language of lateness here? If I’m late, I’m “late”, and that lateness is frowned upon and dealt with through performance management. But when managers are late, the language is softer and excusing.
- Oh, now where’s she gone? Oh, she’s over there, talking to her friend, another team leader. I expect they are having a gossip about last night. Look, off they go, I expect they’ve popped downstairs for a coffee.
OK, advisor hats off! What was all that about?
Well, a number of things:
- If we don’t know what’s happening, we’ll make up a feasible story. Sure, the manager might be late, but she might have gone straight into a managers’ meeting. That conversation with her colleague might also be work-related.
- If my time is so tightly managed, I’ll perceive it as unfair if my manager (or others in the business) seem to have so much discretion around their own time.
The bottom line – the use of the “Commitment” value here needs context.
Motivating with Values is all about context. If I’m a manager, perhaps I should be sharing a little more with my team. “I’ll be going straight to a performance review meeting in the morning, so will be late on the floor. While I’m away, Sam will be looking after you”. Now your team knows exactly what you’re doing, where you’ll be, and where to go for support. They’ll recognise your demonstration of “commitment” and more attracted to demonstrating their own.
Another Value in this contact centre was “Taking personal responsibility”. Let’s slip that advisor hat back on for a moment and take our seats:
- I’ve been sat here for nearly 2 hours and I still have a while to go before my break. I really need the bathroom, but I don’t want to feel like a schoolkid by putting my hand up to attract my manager. I want to take personal responsibility for when I leave, but there’s no information that can help me make a professional decision. Sure, the wallboards are telling me there are 2 calls in the queue, but when it says no calls in the queue, can I take the chance to go then?
- Bathroom breaks don’t seem to bother my manager. She’s off again: it’s so unfair!
Advisor hats off again!
Contact Centres use wallboards to show essential information around current call volumes and available resources. But if there are 100 calls queueing, one advisor can only handle one or two of them. So what if the wallboard, rather than displaying “calls queueing”, displayed “advisors available”? Then, an advisor could make an informed decision on, say, when to go to the bathroom, if there were a number of advisors available to take calls. Simple, surely?
The key thing here, then, is around acceptable behaviours. If my behaviour is deemed as unacceptable, yet my manager is applauded when she behaves in a way that appears similar, it feels unfair.
So here’s an idea – why not keep a few extra hats in your kit-bag. Pop on the hat of someone in your team and try to understand how they are interpreting things. That’ll give you the opportunity to set context with your people, so they understand the reason things are the way they are.
A different hat will give you a different perspective on reality
And while we are at it, there are a few extra hats you could try on. A customer’s hat, a shareholder’s hat, a competitor’s hat. Doing this will give you new insights into how you and your business is perceived, helping you develop empathy for other people’s viewpoints.
And imagine using this technique as a coaching tool!
The Values Blog 