Motivation is important in every team. In a Contact Center as well. This will help us grow the team. We must be aware that working in a Contact Center can be a challenge, so if we manage to motivate our workers we will have good results: increased productivity, quality service, … It is a bet for success.
As we said in this article, it is important to put ourselves in the shoes of the Contact Center worker, since there will be users or clients who do not treat him/her as they deserve, or even talk to them nervously. Motivation is important for them to take it in the best way. A motivated team is happier and more productive, offers more humorous customer service, and finds it easier to resolve issues that may arise.
Definition of motivation
First, we must ask ourselves what motivation is. Motivation is about a desire and an energy that helps us commit to an issue. In motivation there may be internal or external factors that influence a person’s actions. It is something that people should carry with them already.
A head of a business or a person in charge of a Contact Center team must structure and generate an ideal culture to foster energy in the team, starting with each agent in particular. How we establish motivation depends on many factors. Among them are technical support, the shift, the state of the labor market, sales, and even the type of country. The basic principle is the same: motivate.
Tips to motivate your team
1. Constant communication with your workers. Discover the concerns of your team. How? Taking advantage of every moment to start a conversation with each agent and discover what they think about the job, environment, etc.
2. Have a global vision of the organization. When successes are achieved, it is recommended that the whole team feel part of them. This will promote future results.
3. It is very important that each agent feels appreciated.
4. Encourage creativity by asking your employees and supporting new ideas that may arise from them and may be interesting. If they take initiative they will surely surprise you with some good suggestions.
5. Establish challenges for your employees, so that he/she does not get bored with his/her routines and at the same time shows you his/her worth. Allow him/her to develop new skills so he/her will feel more fulfilled with the job. If you don’t feel like you can grow professionally, you will become unmotivated and may even quit your job.
6. Set goals for the team to work together with each other. Feeling that they belong to the group will help them to continue contributing with their work and will improve overall performance. It is advisable to keep updated these objectives to maintain interest in exceeding goals.
7. Show your support to the worker, even if they don’t need it because they proved you to be a disciplined agent and capable enough to resolve conflicts. But if you pay attention and guidance it will make him/her feel inspired.
8. As far as possible, offer the opportunity to grow within the company. Try to offer a promotion so that each agent wants to meet new achievements. You must be aware that if your agents know that the organizational structure will not vary and will be the same over time, they may lose motivation in their tasks. So surely they will no longer invest the maximum effort.
9. In any company it is very important to have a good work environment. A good atmosphere will help the team bonding. Feeling comfortable with the team is equal to or more important than financial retribution. Combining work life with hours of leisure, fun and rest with the team helps to create a good environment, even to feel like a family. From there, surely we can add aspects such as trust and mutual support.
10. Offer incentives to maximize your efforts. And without making differences, the same incentives for all of them. Remember that each of them should have the opportunity and should feel appreciated for their work. It is a system that usually works effectively.
These are some tips to motivate your Contact Center team, but you must bear in mind that each person is different, and they have different needs. There are those who are motivated by doing the job in a satisfactory way, others do it for promotion, others for the money, etc. Hence also the importance of communication to know what motivates each agent. It’s important to consider that:
- A reward cannot be the main tool in a strategy to motivate the team. Try to avoid the “if you do this (goal), you will get that (reward)”. Try to make surprise rewards of “how did you achieve this (goal) you are entitled to this (for example, a coupon or money)”.
- There must be trust. One way to achieve this is by offering responsibilities, authorizing the agent to have autonomy as far as possible. For example, that a worker chooses her shift using a flexible schedule.
- Inspiration motivates. Good work inspires others. If an agent can see how what he does fits in an ideal way with the team and the results, he will be aware of the importance of his tasks and how they affect the objectives. Just as the tasks of his colleagues affect his/hes. They can share inspiration between each other, they can comment what works and what does not, of each other, always being polite when communicating. Avoiding bad work environment, rather the opposite, trying to achieve a union.
A software like EVOLUTION facilitates the work of the agents, and makes their day-to-day work agile and effective. It is a commitment to quality management, that makes your staff feel comfortable and motivated. Remember that if an agent is highly motivated, the result is a better customer experience. We just have to be aware of it and apply it to our team.
Get in touch with us and we’ll explain how our omnichannel contact center software can help you.
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