How Will the New Normal Look?

I don’t have a crystal ball – nor does anyone else I know!

I’m simply astounded how “the new normal” is used as an excuse to do the normal things in the contact centre world.

Let me give you an example.

I spoke to a senior operations manager recently. She was telling me how, after initially good results from her home working agents, now – in week 7 of lockdown and beyond the productivity of her home working agents was falling – and not only that, also the quality of the work delivered was going from bad to worse!
I listened carefully, quietly wondering when she would tell me that she implemented a turnaround project over 6 weeks for her underperforming team.

I waited and waited…. The sentence never came.

Eventually I asked her straight out: How is your coaching going and how many of your home working agents have you got on an improvement plan?
Sheer horror on her face – she looked at me (on Zoom) – as if I had lost my mind!
Performance management in Covid-19 times? Surely a BIG no go?

I beg to disagree!
In fact – I would argue that just because of Covid-19 your coaching and communication with your teams should have multiplied! Maybe 10x-ed?

So I went and did a little research… and I found that with 80% of firms, remote coaching and performance management was not only missing from their KPI’s, it wasnt even on their radar! The coaching and performance management had fallen off the wagon completely! Shocking! The reason given was mostly “we are in a crisis, hence all we do is answer calls / emails / chats. We don’t have time to performance manage”

Think about it! If this is you and your team – I strongly encourage you to listen to The Operational Excellence Show podcast Episode 6.

Episode 6 – How to Set yourself up for a Successful Day in the Office

Here I share how you can successfully work with your team – also remotely using the LEAP daily checklist and the LEAP Gameplan! You can download the respective documentation from the above webpage.

Ohhh – and by the way – coaching and performance management is “going back to basics” and not “the new normal” – it should never have fallen of the daily work of a manager in the first place!

What’s happening on The Operational Excellence Podcast?

This week I’m talking to Shelley Hutchinson – the LinkedIn Specialist par excellence! Shelley is sharing how you successfully use your LinkedIn profile to enhance your career! And she also shares a wonderful course you can follow in your own time – all totally free of charge! I love how my connections give their gifts away so freely!

Episode 16 – How to Use LinkedIn to Enhance your Career Opportunities

Linking in with this show – go back and listen to last week’s episode! I’m discussing all things recruitment with the lovely Jo Griffiths from CCA recruitment. I have known Jo for many years – she helped me in finding staff and she found roles for me where I could work in my zone of genius!