Radclyffe Consulting, LLC

Finally, No More Arguing About Performance with Agents!

As some of you know, a few years ago I was asked by a client to develop something for his call center that would demonstrate he had acted on the lean manufacturing model being incorporated into his company. It was Kaizen's Lean Manufacturing Model. Over the last four years, our product development team has been working to create a robust performance improvement program based on Kaizen's 20 Keys and we added a twist with The Levels of Action which we were already using both internally and externally with our clients.

I am happy to announce that we have successfully launched this program in several call centers and have engagements booked to develop and implement this program into five more!!! But what's really interesting is how this process impacts the associates and management in the organizations that commit to it. First of all, it makes crystal clear what it takes to just "meet" in each "key" and by definition - it raises the bar on performance, even at the minimum level of acceptable performance. Second, associates and managers finally have a means to communicate accurately what level of performance someone has achieved in each key. Third, associates seem to understand and appreciate that they are now responsible for driving their own performance level and careers. They feel it gives them more control. In one organization, when we were reviewing the self-assessment with the CSRs, even the most historically difficult CSRs looked at the definition of each level and said out loud, "I'm clearly not performing at a three yet." Keep in mind, these were those individuals who think their performance is way better than their manager thinks! How cool is that?

Jackie Warner's Work Out - I Wish I Went To Law School

Oh My Goodness!  As I watched in horror the latest episode of Jackie Warner's Work Out, I had only one thought! I wish I went to law school.

If any of you out there are wanting to emulate her "leadership style," please don't, unless you want to open yourself up to a big fat lawsuit. I don't know which issue horrified me the most, the terrible treatment of clients or the inappropriateness with which she interacts with her employees.

In this latest episode, one of Jackie's Sky Lab clients expresses a concern about her trainer.  She very nicely and meekly describes her feeling that he is more into his music career than in training her, as evidenced by his consistent lateness.  I thought for sure that Jackie would jump on this and proactivley follow up with the client for more details and then speak to the trainer, Greg.  But later she is interviewed and states clearly that she knows that clients use these type of excuses because they don't want to do the work required to lose the weight.  She blames it on "emotions."  I was stunned that she blew this off so casually.

Awhile later, that same client comes to work out with her trainer, Greg.  She waits.  And waits.  And waits.  Finally she seeks out the "Managing Director" and expresses her concern about how Greg blows her off, how he's late, how he doesn't return her calls.  She is clearly upset and the Managing Director tries to acknowledge her concern when Greg comes waltzing through the door, acting as if he is right on time and nothing should be wrong.  He is shocked and defensive when the client gives him feedback.  He starts to blame her and , as you can imagine, things escalate.  The ineffective Managing Director interrupts and tells Greg that the client just needs some love and affection.  The client flips on this one and then starts telling the Managing Director where to go, so to speak.  The whole episode is getting me furious and I'm on the edge of my seat, ready to jump through the television.

A few days later, Greg approaches Jackie in her office and raises the incident as a concern, thinking that Jackie would be mad at him.  She asks him no questions and starts focusing on the fact that the client had no right to speak to her staff that way and she's glad the client is gone.  Now I'm off the couch!  I am more than stunned!  I can't even speak!  I'm thinking, "does this woman have any idea what she is doing?"  Is she kidding me?  Of course, Greg can hardly contain his glee that Jackie is on his side. She has effectively reinforced his unacceptable behavior.  This is nothing compared to what happens next.

Jackie and the "Managing Director" are in Jackie's office watching Peeler (who Jackie disdains) train one of his clients from out of town.  This client is a fitness model.  "The Managing Director" makes a rude comment to Jackie about the client's breasts.  She thinks they look fake and like balls.  A gentlemen, who was standing outside Jackie's office in the hallway, hears the comment and walks into Jackie's office and tells both Jackie and the "Managing Director" that they are talking about his girlfriend who had breast cancer and he felt their snide comments were unforgivable.  The "Managing Director" apologies.

The two women think everything is over.  They apologized - no big deal.  However, the next day Peeler comes to talk to Jackie because his client's boyfriend shared with him what happened.  Jackie refused to talk about it.  He tried to start the conversation again and Jackie interrupted him by saying, "if you continue to talk about this, you're fired."  He responded, "Okay, fine."  She then said, "Get out!" Which he did, but not before he called her the "b" word.  But she said the "f" word back to him.

That's when it hit me.  I should have been a lawyer.  I would own Sky Sport, Sky Lab and her clothing business right now.

Leadership Lessons from The Deadliest Catch

Have you ever watched The Deadliest Catch? What a great show by Discovery Channel from which to learn some old-fashioned leadership lessons. If associates and leaders could change a couple of behaviors demonstrated by these inividuals while they work, corporate America would be very different indeed.

First, let's take a look at what these "associates" are expected to do while they work and think about what employees in corporate America would say if we expected them to perform this way. The fishermen or crabmen work 6 months long and many times put in 36 hours straight throwing gear and picking up gear filled with crabs in the Bering Sea, one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world. They do this in cold, winter waters and in deadly storms with high waves crashing into them on the deck of the fishing boat. And, they get paid based on how many crabs they catch, which can be almost nothing of the captain charts the wrong course. One doesn't just become a crab fisherman, one has to earn it by serving as a "greenhorn" preparing bait and quickly jumping into the gear, hooking the bait and escaping the gear in a matter of seconds. They do this hundreds of times during the course of the day. Often, no one on the boat gets a warm meal for days on end. When equipment breaks, like the crane that lifts the gear off the stacks, a man has to be hoisted 3 stories into the air in high winds and ferocious seas to change a metal pulley. He has to be hoisted up to retrieve the broken pulley and then hoisted again to replace the old pulley with a working pulley. This has to be done quickly, because all fishing stops while this repair is taking place. Imagine the complaining that would occur if we expected even half of this amount of discomfort from our associates

Now let's take a look at the leadership. The cultural norm on the fishing boat is that the captain has the first, middle and final word on everything. There is no arguing with, or complaining to, the captain. What he says goes, period. And when the captain gets upset, look out, mate! Even brothers of the captain who work on the boat don't argue with the captain. The respect is something I haven't seen in corporate America in two and one-half decades. As a role model, the captain also works 36 hours without sleep. He is responsible for charting the course to find fish, not exceed the fishing limits and keep his fishermen safe in dangerous conditions. If the captain doesn't feel he's being heard, he goes down to the deck and oversees the work until everything gets back in order. He doesn't have to say a word. Everyone knows what they have to do and they do it. No one wants a bad fishing season. If they had a bad fishing season, it would all be for naught.

I find their dedication, enthusiasm, work ethic and respect for authority refreshing. We could all benefit from emulating these men who sacrifice being away from their families for months at a time in harsh conditions, to provide well for the future. They look to pass their boats and businesses onto the family so they will have a relatively secure future.

Jackie Warner's Work Out - How to Quickly Disempower Your Staff

Everyone wants to know why I watch this type of television programming.  I'll tell you why.  It provides lots of leadership training fodder.  What a fun way to learn!

In this last episode, Jackie invites the women on her training team (yes, only the women) on an Olivia Cruise (yes, the lesbian cruise line) and she asks that two of her trainers, Jessica (yes, her ex-lover and employee) and Erika to run a boot camp while on the ship.  They agree to do it and put in time planning how to co-facilitate the session.

These two trainers were organized and effective. While in the middle of their training, who should appear but Jackie, who then proceeds to take over the boot camp by interrupting Jessica and Erika.  Jackie takes over the session, not by requesting politely if it is okay with her two trainers and the class, but just begins by providing instructions to the participants, who, quite frankly, were a little confused as to who they should be listening to.  A power struggle ensues and Jessica tries to keep control by yelling out to the group, "who wants to stay with me?"  Oy, what an embarrassment.

Later at the bar, as Jessica and Erika are triangulating about how inappropriate it was for Jackie to take over in the manner that she did, Jackie again slithers up and begins arguing with Jessica and Erika.  Her position? "I am the boss.  I invited you here and if I want to interrupt and take over, so be it."

Service Differentiation For Your Business: What Do Your Customers Experience?

Being passionate about your business is certainly important, especially when you are the owner.  But does that passion come through to your customers as a service differentiator and do your employees reflect that passion during the moment of truth - when your customers contact your company?

I was sitting in the office of the president of a small women-owned service business the other day and while I was there it was obvious what a busy and growing business it was. I admire the owner, who is a perfectionist and has high standards for herself and her employees.  During our meeting, she was very organized and able to retrieve documents relevant to our conversation in seconds.  I was duly impressed...and then she answered the phone. While this engaging and charismatic woman had the "total package" in person, she was missing a very key element to business success.  That key element is insuring that customers not only receive accurate information and quality products, but also receive a world class experience while interacting with every single representative of the company, including the president.

The experience I had begs the question, "how can women business owners who are strong, confident and have high standards also insure that their staff and they consistently leverage the service experience as a differentiator for their business? In today’s self-service, global market, products can be had easily and inexpensively.  The only difference is the experience with the company and its employees.

For those business owners who want to create an outstanding experience for customers during every interaction, here are some tools and suggestions that might help:

1.    Create a standard greeting for your employees to use when answering the phone.  Make sure it includes the following components:

o    “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening,”

o    “This is <employee name>, how may I help you?”

A standard greeting sends a subliminal message to customers that will receive consistent answers and prevents them from calling back to “shop” for the answer they want.  Additionally, it lets the caller know they have reached the correct company.

2.    Create a standard ending for your employees to use when ending the interaction.  Make sure it includes the following components:

o    “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

o    “Thank you for calling ABC Company.”

o    “Good-bye”

A standard ending helps to bring the interaction to a natural close and provides the customer with a perceived choice.

3.    When hiring employees, conduct a phone interview and listen to the candidate’s vocal tone and quality.  Ask yourself if the candidate sounds pleasant and sincere.  Can you understand each word and how rapidly does the candidate speak?

Vocal tone and quality has an extremely strong impact on the perception of the customer’s experience during the interaction. In many cases, it is not what is said, it is how it is said.  For example, apologizing to a customer can sound insincere when delivered in a flat, monotone voice.

Implementing these three standards, while seem small, will make a huge difference to customers as they experience the moment of truth when calling into your company.

CSRs Not Open To Feedback or Coaching

Dear Liz,

We have two CSRs on the team that become extremely distraught when they receive the invitation to a coaching session. They go into their manager's office and also go up to the coaches and state "Oh my gosh, what did I do?" and they also discuss it among the team. I have had discussions with both of them stating coaching is a learning environment and is used to help us improve our phone skills. During coaching, I state the positives before moving onto the improvements needed. Do you have any other suggestions regarding handling this situation? Is there a particular personality that responds this way to coaching?

Trying To Create A Positive Coaching Environment in New Jersey

Coaching Doesn't Have To Be Painful

Many front line supervisors, managers and call quality coaches really dislike coaching CSRs.  That's why all there are so many excuses.  Here's what I hear:

• It takes too much time
• I have too many projects
• I have too many direct reports
• We don't have recording equipment
• Our recording equipment doesn't work
• I'm in so many meetings
• We're implementing a new CRM system or a new phone system or workforce management
• And so on.....

While I agree, time limitation is always a factor, when you lead a contact center the service you provide is your product.  Why would you let the "product" go out the door to a customer without checking the quality?

Call Handling: Taking Control

The most popular question I am asked is how to get CSRs to improve their call handling, specifically call control. Listed below are some ideas on how to quickly improve call control:

• Have CSRs take immediate control of the interaction by making a strong "take ownership" statement - "I am glad you called today, I definitely will be able to take care of this for you."
  
• Next, have the CSRs immediately ask permission to ask questions to get more information (remember, the person asking the questions is the person in control of the interaction) - "So that I can get this resolved for you as quickly as possible, would it be okay if I asked you some questions?"
  

Employee Engagement: How Important Is It To The Bottom-Line?

One of the most frustrating factors in a contact center environment is keeping CSRs motivated and passionate about what they do.  There are two kinds of CSRs: those who love what they do almost as a "calling" and those who stay because, well, what else would they do?  A favorite saying of mine, "You can stay or you can leave, but you can't stay AND leave," really says it all, doesn't it?  I'm talking about those people at work that you wish would leave, because they are no longer interested or engaged in the department's mission.

The next time you are requesting money for training, coaching or team building, provide some of these interesting factoids from Gallup:

• Disengaged employees cost US Business between 270 billion and 343 billion dollars a year
• Disengaged workers are 10 times more likely (48%) to say they will leave the company within a year than engaged employees (4%)
• Companies that had a lower percentage of disengaged workers outperformed the S & P by 24% over a 3-year span
• Only 4% of disengaged employees will advocate the company to others compared to engaged employees (75%)
• Only 10% of disengaged employees compared to nearly 80% of engaged employees will recommend the company's products and services to others

Demonstrating Value to Senior Mangement through Data Mining

I get asked for advice all the time about how to get senior management to really value the call center and its purpose.  While CEOs will tell you that the customer facing operation is of critical importance, it is one of the first places they go to cut costs when the going gets rough.  I don't have to sell this audience on the importance of continuing to deliver World Class Service even in the face of financial adversity.  The key is to sell the C level executives on the real and financial value of the call center in a way that is meaningful and compelling to what's important to them and usually, but not always, it's the bottom line.

Jet Blue - A Good Service Recovery? Better than all

At least the CEO of Jet Blue is not in hiding in the wake of the scheduling scandal last week.  In fact, he is doing his best to take responsibility for his company's lack of performance by offering a new service policy.

Whether you agree with his service recovery strategy or not, you have to give him credit for facing the music and attempting to placate the masses with vouchers. 

I for one am sick of the airline industry acting like they are not responsible for how they handle things "out of their control."  When my flight was delayed out of Newark because of a maintenance issue with the plane, the gate agent rhetorically asked me, "Well, you wouldn't want to be on an unsafe plane, would you?" 

Malfeasance or Ignorance? The Apprentice Sunday, February 18, 2007

Here we go.  The Apprentice provides me with so many opportunities it's hard to select which topic to go after.  But on this one, I am going to focus on whether the team deliberately "threw" the project or were just stupid.

So, you work on a team for a boss you don't particularly respect.  You find out a piece of information that is of critical importance to the success of the project on which you are working.  Either you don't recognize it's importance or you do recognize it's importance.  It's that simple. 

You Never Know When a Crisis Will Happen - Just ask Jet Blue!

Oh, boy!  When I saw this on the news my heart went out to the CEO, David Neeleman, who is reportedly "humiliated and mortified."  This is another example of a leadership lesson he couldn't live without. 

It's frustrating for me personally, because it is my job to convince CEOs and senior executives to invest the money up front in their talent and infrastructure so that when a crisis happens, everyone knows exactly what to do, how to do it and has the skills to do it effectively.  I can't tell you how many executives gamble that a crisis isn't going to happen to their company. 

Play Nice With Others

What is it about people in business that they can't figure out that it is important to learn how to "play nice with others?"

While we know that corporate America is a very competitive business and when it comes down to it, the individual must stand on his own merit, it doesn't mean colleagues need to be obnoxious and even cruel to each other.

Why Can't They Learn From Their Own Mistakes

In it's new season, The Apprentice candidates still aren't demonstrating that they can incorporate past learnings into their strategy on future projects.  If I were interested in becoming an Apprentice, I would review and analyze all of the past shows so that I could gain a strategic advantage, wouldn't you?

Our Future: Cultivating the Employees of Today

Those of us who are baby boomers may be finding it difficult to understand the attitude of the employees of today - those individuals who are our future organizational leaders; the people to whom we will leave our legacy when we retire.

What is the secret to cultivating these individuals and ensuring that they don't unintentionally pass on what I call the "entitlement values" so pervasive in our twenty and thirty somethings culture of today?  And how do we motivate them to "do what it takes" to be successful in this lean business environment today?

The key is to give up the old notions of Baby Boomer Behavior (working 80+ hours per week) and to try to find ways to work around the challenges with the "youngins" and their values.  After all, we can't complain, we're the ones who made them this way.  Unless you are in a highly competitive business in which everyone wants to work, there is no way demanding excessive overtime and undying loyalty is going to get you to success.  What it will get you is high turnover.

I came to this realization while watching "Work Out" on Bravo.  As a leadership  lesson, I think it has value- for those who have type of business I mentioned above.  In this continuing saga, Jackie, a highly demanding personal training business owner, commands perfection from her personal trainers and gets away with it, simply because everyone wants to be a personal trainer to the stars.  Her successful company is gloriously located on the rooftop of a highrise in LA - all very chic and exciting.  Everyone there is beautiful and young and while their staff meetings are on the rooftop veranda every Friday night, no one seems to mind very much.

Jackie's message is clear; you want to work here, you do it my way because it works and it's the way it has to be.  When you leave here, you can do it your way, but not until then.  In terms of coaching, she tells them, "The first time I give you feedback.  The second time I have to talk to you I'll be aggravated, but we'll talk.  The third time I figure you don't get it and you never will."  Ah, if only it was that easy in corporate America!

The reality is that we in corporate America have to walk a fine line, serpentining through the legal and HR landmines that abound.  Let's face it - we don't really have the power to fight this emerging trend.