Introducing our Team Leader Series of articles, designed to share what really helps and inspires Team Leaders in Customer Service and Contact Centers to be better.
And by ‘better,’ we mean that they feel more fulfilled in their job and can perform more effectively.
It’s a virtuous cycle.
We’ve been teaching new and experienced Managers and Team Leaders how to be better for the last 25 years.
So we have the insights, stories and real-world examples earned from thousands of training Participants across more than 75 countries.
If you’d like to jump straight to the posts that I’ve added to the Team Leader Series so far, I list those here:
Help your Contact Centre Team Leaders do better – Part 1
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/help-your-contact-centre-team-leaders-do-better-part-1/
Help your Contact Centre Team Leaders do better – Part 2
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/help-your-contact-centre-team-leaders-do-better-part-2/
How Team Leaders can talk like a Leader
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/how-team-leaders-can-talk-like-a-leader/
The industry challenge
Almost nobody goes to school to become a Customer Service or Contact Center professional.
Most folks end up in the industry by accident. And then end up learning on the job. Which is a very hit or miss way to master an industry.
This lack of professional know-how doesn’t just hold individuals back. It holds their Organizations back too.
You probably wouldn’t go to an amateur dentist to have your teeth fixed. You’d expect them to have a formal background in dentistry along with relevant experience.
The same approach applies for Team Leaders.
Because even if your Team Leaders were Agents before, they need more than on the job experience.
They need real industry know-how.
We treat the Customer ecosystem as a business discipline
An ecosystem is an environment that involves relationships and interdependencies across multiple Stakeholders.
Think of a natural ecosystem like a national park or nature reserve.
In your nature reserve you probably have plants, animals and aquatic creatures, all thriving together.
In a healthy ecosystem, an elegant balance has been achieved.
The Customer ecosystem is similar.
In the Customer ecosystem, the Stakeholders include our Customers, Employees, Colleagues, Bosses, Partners and Owners.
Achieving a thriving community—one that meets the needs of all Stakeholders—is both an art and a science
So we treat the understanding and managing the Customer ecosystem as a business discipline.
One that – like finance, law or marketing – requires specific industry know-how and skills.
There are six domains of core industry know-how in our Team Leader Series
We’ve identified six domains of core industry know-how for Team Leaders that address the art and science of the Customer ecosystem.
We know what’s required because we deliver a unique training course for each domain listed below. And where we have written articles specific to each domain, we share those links below each domain.
The six domains and links to additional articles on that domain
- Contact Center Operations Management
- People Management
- Leadership & Business Management
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/how-team-leaders-can-talk-like-a-leader/
- Customer Experience Management
- Quality Management
- Self Management
As I write the articles in this series, I will cover our learnings from each of these six domains in detail and add them as hyperlinks above.
I’ve never met a Team Leader who didn’t want to do a good job
One of the most common comments we receive after any Team Leader training course is this –
“Dan, I’ve been in the industry for 5 (or 8 or even 14) years and I wish I had taken this course back when I started. Because I would have done a much better job.”
Because we don’t know what we don’t know.
And working with bits and bobs of knowledge when you’re managing a complex ecosystem is bound to be problematic.
Now and then I see well meaning ‘CX experts’ write that training for Team Leaders has been overlooked.
I disagree.
The Team Leader job role has been analyzed, sliced, diced, written about, talked about and trained for decades.
So something else is going on…
So why aren’t Team Leaders out there doing better?
We see two key conditions that hold Team Leaders back. With both conditions coming from the Organization’s side – not the Team Leaders.
The first condition: How serious is the Organization about developing their Team Leaders?
First off, not every Organization prioritizes Team Leader development the same way.
Imagine a continuum here with two endpoints.
At the far right endpoint you have the Organizations that do prioritize management development.
In these Organizations, Team Leaders are formally taught what they need to know and then placed in environments where they can apply – in the real world – what they’ve learned.
At the far left endpoint you have the Organizations that don’t understand or even believe that the Customer ecosystem is a business discipline.
These are the places where you’ll hear the bosses talk about ‘on the job’ learning as the solution to building Team Leader competency.
Or the bosses there will say that their Organization is somehow ‘different than everybody else’.
Which is almost never true.
Or they may be Organizations that pay lip service to the Customer ecosystem — ‘talking the talk’ — without actually dedicating resources or qualified leadership to manage the ecosystem, othewise known as ‘walking the walk’.
The second condition: How competent is the Organization to develop their Team Leaders?
Here we are back to the industry challenge again.
That people don’t go to school to become professionals in Customer Experience, Customer Service and Contact Centers.
Because to develop an effective curriculum for Team Leaders – who work in the Customer ecosystem – requires specialized know-how.
To be fair to Learning & Development folks, not everyone has the background or know-how to develop this specialized curriculum.
And often what Team Leaders get is pretty basic. Sometimes it’s just a generic management course.
Not one that addresses the art and science of the Customer ecosystem.
If you’re in charge – and you take the Team Leader job role seriously – don’t accept basic.
Because basic doesn’t move the dial on being ‘better’. With all the great benefits that come with that.
When will I know my Team Leaders are gaining mastery of the job?
There’s no question that a Team Leader needs to master each of the six individual domains I’ve shared in this article.
And there’s a lot to know within each individual domain.
But do you want to know when you’ll know that your Team Leaders are gaining job mastery?
That’s an easy one.
When they begin to confidently connect the dots across the six domains.
Which happens as their knowledge grows.
I love it when a Team Leader can accurately describe the impact of a proposed decision or action across the multiple domains – including Operations, People and Customer Experience (as an example).
Because they’ve connected the dots.
They see the big picture and how these domains interrelate.
I also love when a Team Leader can articulate the leadership and self-management behaviors that they employ to craft and embrace their own mindset around how to be at work.
That approach to self-management and leadership is always powerful.
And as Team Leader mastery of the Customer ecosystem increases, their confidence, the quality of their decisions and their results increase as well.
https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/help-your-contact-centre-team-leaders-do-better/
Thanks for reading the introduction to our Team Leader Series
Thanks for reading and for coming along with me on this journey!
If you’ve read this far, it’s likely that you believe – like me – that the Team Leader job role is important. And that the scope and depth of industry know-how required to be better is significant.
After 25 years of teaching Team Leaders,I want to share what I’ve learned with you. With the intent that it helps you do better. Whether you’re a Team Leader, a Team Manager or concerned and caring Leader.
Want to explore more stories and strategies?
Subscribe to my updates on our website. Or drop me a line — I’d love to hear from you!
Daniel Ord
[email protected] / www.omnitouchinternational.com
