Holistic Approach to Support Consultants

Few people outside of a contact centre, front desk, or a sales floor understand the pressure customer service consultants face on a daily basis. From the angry to the sad, the quiet to the bad, consultants handle them all. As an example, I heard of a senior manager at a large corporation question why they required OSH policies for their contact centre staff as there was nothing to fall over or bang into!

Those of us that are in the customer service industry know the pressure consultants face. Dealing with difficult callers, striving to reduce their average handling times, attempting to meet their monthly performance measures, assisting junior staff, and the myriad of other pressures.

Building personal resilience is just one way of supporting your staff. Praise, professional development and external opportunities are other ways. Taking a holistic approach to support your customer service consultants will result in professional practices, engaged staff, minimal stress and a great customer journey. The rewards will be boundless.

Managing Change

There is nothing more certain in life than death and taxes the often-used saying espoused.  Today we can add to that, "and change".  Technology is the greatest contributor to change.  We have gone from posting letters, to sending faxes, to emails, to texts, to tweets, to photos, etc.  When previously we would meet and talk we now can phone from anywhere in the world or simply send a text message.

Our workplace has also changed dramatically.  Technological advancements require us to learn new skills, companies need to find different ways of operating, organisations have to restructure to compete.  

We have three options in dealing with change; we can refuse to participate and resist the change, educate ourselves as much as possible and hope that change won't impact on us too much, or we can embrace change and see it as an opportunity to increase our skills and be at the forefront.

The latter option is the most effective way of dealing with change, seeing it as an adventure and a challenge, a chance to prove to yourself that you have what it takes to be at the leading edge of change.  The advantages are endless - increase your skills, keep your mind active, increase your productivity, and become valuable to your company. 

Resisting change will only add to your stress levels as you become redundant.

I Understand!

How often have you heard someone say to you "I understand"?  Perhaps you are someone who uses this as a way to establish a rapport with another.  Unfortunately this short phrase has the opposite effect, it destroys rapport.

Each of us is very different - we see, feel, hear, and process things in varying ways.  This is due to our thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, emotional awareness, adaptability, etc., etc.  Additionally, we never know what else is influencing the person we are speaking with.  Our personal life has a direct impact on our emotions and again for each of us this is different.

Try to avoid using this phrase, instead replace it with an open question to allow the other person to explain how they are feeling and what they are going through.  "How are you coping", "that must be hard for you", and "I'm listening" are all valuable replacements to "I understand".    

Think Before You Speak

How many times have you said something only to regret it later?  Why did that last conversation go so badly?  How did we end up shouting at each other?  The answer is our negative emotions.  Those pesky things that generate adrenaline in case we have to fight or flee. 

The next time that you can feel your negative emotions welling up inside, hold back on saying the first thing that comes into your head.  Take a long, deep, slow (silent) breath to give your brain the chance to engage before your mouth starts operating.  This will allow blood to flow into your brain, will slow the conversation down, will place a lid on your negative emotions, and will allow you the time to reflect on what you are about to say.

If you have said something that you later regret and are feeling bad about it, be the first to say sorry.  Don't us the word 'apologise' because that is insincere.  Say you are sorry and mean it.  You will feel much better and have probably made a good friend from the negative encounter.

Let's Stay in our Comfort Zone

Sometimes when we are faced with a new challenge, it is so easy to say no and remain in our comfort zone.  "Why do I need the extra pressure in my life", "I don't need this right now", or "I am just too busy".  We all think this way.  I recall a few years ago when I was about to give evidence in the Coroner's Court and I was absolutely beside myself with nerves.  I spoke to the late Mate Frankovich, the presiding Coroner, about my predicament.  Mate in his measured style said, the day we don't get nervous about something is the day we must stop what we are doing.

Yes, we could stay in our comfort zone.  However I have found that pushing ourselves into new challenges provides greater rewards than we could ever imagine.  If you were to ask the top business leaders, key note speakers, professionals, or anyone that has started their own company, I am willing to bet that they all went outside of their personal comfort zone.

The next time you are asked to undertake something that pushes you outside of your comfort level, take the challenge and just do it to use a well known phrase.  Ignore the self-doubt that will inevitably creep in, you will surprise yourself at how well you can do.  The sense of achievement will lift your self-confidence and you will soon be looking for the next challenge.