Part 2: How Top Team Leaders Spend Their Time
The success of a call center hinges on the performance of its agents—and no position in the organization has more impact on call center agents than team leaders. Organizations need team leaders with the talent to lead and motivate agents while limiting agent turnover.
But if team leaders are a key component to agent engagement and development, then what makes a good team leader? What characteristics define high-performing team leaders who can survive and thrive in the fast-paced, high pressure call center environment?
In last week’s blog, we highlighted two decades of research that Employment Technologies has conducted, examining contact center performance and the role of team leaders. Specifically, we summarized research findings that identified the top five competencies and top five personal attributes that the best team leaders have in common. Today’s post features research related to the key job activities and time management techniques of top team leaders.
5 Key Activities of Successful Team Leaders
Even with core competencies and essential personal attributes in place, a successful team leader must spend time on what counts. Based on interviews with hundreds of effective contact center team leaders and supervisors across the U.S, the following activities top the list:
Monitoring Agents and Evaluating Performance. A successful contact center team leader spends time monitoring calls and reviewing performance data to ensure team members are meeting performance standards. A strong team leader provides immediate and specific feedback supported by facts.
Coaching and Training. Effective call center team leaders spend time coaching and developing team members to help them achieve performance goals.
Motivating the Team. The best leaders give public praise and offer critiques in private. He or she finds ways for the team to have fun and get away from the routine of the call center.
Administration. Top contact center team leaders effectively prioritize tasks and spend time taking care of administrative duties, like scheduling, in a timely manner.
Customer Interaction. A successful call center team leader spends time with customers, modeling effective techniques and connecting with team members as they interact with customers.
When contact center team leaders invest time in these pursuits, they will experience what those we surveyed found to be most rewarding: equipping team members to reach their potential and achieve success.
“The best team leader I have seen is a great communicator with his team. He lets them know where they are at all times and specifically what they need to do to get to the next level.”
– OPERATIONS MANAGER
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For a detailed summary of our contact center team leader research, click here to request our full report, Profile of Top Performing Team Leaders.