Lead Customer Service Morale: Overcome These Obstacles | #LeadMorale #CustServ
by Kate Nasser | 2 Comments »
Leaders and managers, do you find it easy to lead customer service morale? Most say it is perhaps the toughest part of their job. They point to the stress of dealing with customers all day long as one major cause of low morale. Yet, there are many customer service teams with great morale. The truth is that you can lead customer service morale if you overcome the following obstacles. By the way, some are obvious and many are not!
Lead Customer Service Morale by Overcoming These Obstacles. Image licensed via 123RF.com
Lead Customer Service Morale by Overcoming These Obstacles
Address the obvious and less obvious obstacles to great customer service morale.
What are the obvious blocks to customer service morale?
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Lack of knowledge. It is very demoralizing to be set up for failure. Without the knowledge to do the job, agents’ morale crumbles. Solution: Train them before putting them on the front line. Give them the technical knowledge. Brief them on company policies. Then, let them shadow an experienced agent to see how it all comes together.
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Repetitious work. It can become boring and can reduce an agent’s interest in doing the job well. Solution: Change things up a bit. Give each agent some time to be creative and contribute ideas on improving service.
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Dealing with angry customers. Agents take it personally and their morale sinks. Solution: Give them specific training on how to stay objective and caring at the same time. I have been delivering this training for many years and it works!
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Lack of support from background teams. Front-line customer service agents take the brunt of customer anger. Many times the agents can’t fix it unless other teams do their job. Solution: Work with leaders of the other groups to break down silos and build cross teamwork.
The Obstacles Leaders & Managers Often Miss
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Lack of dignity. Morale is all about dignity. Do you treat your employees with dignity? Before you answer “of course”, think of what you do when the queue heats up and response times are soaring. If you accuse them of not working hard or fast enough, you are not treating them with dignity. I have seen this. Morale crumbles. Solution: Instead, find out the deeper reasons for these problems and fix them.
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Belonging. For many people, being at work must be more than just performing tasks. They want to know they belong in an organization. Teamwork and camaraderie matter. Yet, agents are often glued to their individual computers with little time for this. Solution: Create a way for them to interact some time each day. Also, ask them individually how teamwork is going? Listen for any team problems that you can’t see. Can you imagine how stressful it is to deal with pressure from customers AND live with the stress of bad teamwork? Address the issue of belonging in order to lead customer service morale.
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Meaning. For morale to be high, agents must also know how their work contributes to the company. If you are thinking that this is obvious, you are mistaken. For example, in a healthcare organization, how do technology support / help desk analysts make a difference? In sales customer service, what effect does outstanding service have on the customers and the company? Solution: Give deeper thought to these questions. In many cases, customer feedback can help you show the agents their true value.
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Appreciation and recognition. To lead customer service morale, you must recognize talents out loud and show appreciation for agents’ work. Solution: Don’t wait for employee appreciation day or national customer service week. Recognize their talents and show appreciation regularly. It inspires high morale.
Summary
In the end, you can and must lead customer service morale. Your leadership and management in this way empower agents to sustain service and morale. Here are seven essential daily steps.
7 Essential Steps to Lead Customer Service Morale
From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
Related Posts:
Lead These 10 Positive Interactions to Lead Morale
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Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, employee engagement, teamwork, and delivering the ultimate customer service. She turns interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.
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Hi Kate,
I would add; remove the “cancerous employee(s)”. Most businesses have at least 1 employee who, regardless of the effort taken to “turn him/her around” can’t seem to or refuses to turn around. I have little patience for those who bring the team down and prefer to quickly remove the bad apple before it continues to spoil the whole bunch.
Hi Steve,
Leaders, managers, and teams all benefit when they create a clear list of team member behaviors that all must live. Then when someone is falling short (either from ability or attitude), there can be a clear reminder of what is expected and the shortfall. Then if there is no improvement, leaders/managers move that employee out of the organization. It’s fair to all and necessary to maintain morale and ensure org. success. (I am writing a future post on this!)
Thank you so much for sharing your view here!
Kate