October, 9 2019 3:29 pm
When it comes to being a great call center supervisor, it may seem like some people are just born to be management team members. While it isn’t like that they were practicing their management skills in the nursery, they probably have been honing them for a while. Here are a few qualities that these so-called “natural-born” team leaders will have:
The first and perhaps most obvious quality that a great call center supervisor should have is the ability to lead. Without it, you cannot hope to achieve the role of supervisor - or to create a team that will be happy to collaborate with you on the kind of projects that will move your facility forward.
However, many people mistake the ability to lead with the ability to do it properly. It isn’t enough to be able to tell people what to do. It also won’t suffice to monitor employees or instruct them meticulously while micromanaging their every move. Rather, the best call center managers lead more like coaches than like bosses - and see huge returns on their efforts, as a result.
Some people mistakenly believe that once you have obtained the role of supervisor or leader, you can stop striving to improve. In reality, the best call center supervisor is one who understands that improvement never stops. Rather, improvement and growth should be something that evolves over time and lasts your entire professional life. That desire to continuously be better than you were last week, last month, or last year is what sets top-achieving call center agents and their supervisors apart from the mediocre masses.
In almost any industry, a good leader is someone who is well-organized. This is certainly true of the customer service and contact center field. After all, in this industry, agents and their superiors must be able to field hundreds or even thousands of calls per day. Managers must keep track of numerous accounts and the goings-on of both their staff on-site and remote employees, as well as how well consumer needs are being met. All of that can become very confusing and taxing without meticulous organization to help keep it straight!
Don’t be afraid to lean on technology to help you sort it out. While a natural inclination toward organization is key, it’s just as important to understand how to utilize the tools available to you today to help your center run properly and your employees to be as efficient as possible. Use today’s best software to help you do your job properly and deliver stellar results to consumers - all without misplacing your sanity in the process!
While working directly with people isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for many people when they choose a career in the contact center industry, in reality, it is the heart of the field. Whether it’s serving customers, training and supporting new hires and call center agents, or simply collaborating with other team members, there is no shortage of interaction with other people - but there are a million reasons why it is important to have a passion for people if you’re hoping to become a top contact center supervisor.
If you want to become a great call center manager, you have to be the kind of approachable person that your employees and your consumers feel comfortable talking to. Otherwise, concerns won’t be voiced and cannot be properly addressed. Your team won’t collaborate properly. Your leadership will be more authoritarian and far less democratic in nature - and that leads to employee dissatisfaction in no time flat.
Don’t treat your employees and team members like your royal subjects. Rather than reigning like a king or queen, preside like a president, with fairness and an everyday approachability that gives your staff the idea that they can talk to you about anything at any time.
Hand-in-hand with approachability is the idea that everyone’s opinion is equally important to you as a leader. While you certainly should weigh input based on the education and experience behind it, no great leader should ever discount someone’s contributions based on where they lie on the company totem pole. Display this willingness to accept criticism, suggestions, or collaborative feedback from consumers or employees at every level, and your staff will follow wherever you may lead!
You cannot become a successful call center supervisor without first possessing a wealth of knowledge of the call center and customer service industries. The better you understand your own industry, the more effectively you can instruct new hires and train call center agents in ways to improve their performance. Likewise, the more experienced you are in providing customer service, the better prepared you are to do so - and to create customer experiences that give consumers something they’re looking for, every time.
Experience and industry knowledge are things that cannot be bought or taught. They have to be earned from time working a person’s way up through the ranks of the call center field, and that hard work shows in the qualifications they bring to their role as a manager.
The bestcall center supervisor will always be the one who is the most well-versed in today’s technology - and is the most willing to incorporate it into their center. Nothing holds a potentially-successful call center back like a management team that is unwilling to evolve with the technological trends of the day.
Don’t let this happen to your facility! Outfit your operation with everything you need to succeed by partnering with ChaseData. We’ll help every supervisor on your team find the software solutions that give their team the industry advantage they’re looking for - and help them continue to be the very best possible versions of themselves!