Tips for Confronting Poor Performance

Sometimes we forget some of the basic principles of meaningful recognition.

There are 8 basic guidelines to positive recognition:

1. Make people feel like winners.

2. Recognize them as members of a group as well as individuals.

3. Make sure the recognition is appropriate for the achievement.

4. Give recognition in a way that conveys sincere appreciation.

5. Be sure the recognition fully acknowledges the people’s accomplishments.

6. Recognize the people as well as the achievement.

7. Make sure the recognition is equal to the recognition you have given others for similar achievements.

8. Tailor recognition is timely.

Remember one important point: motivated people means greater productively and efficiency, which means more power to the supervisor!

For additional Performance Management Material go to the Manager’s Booth

Supervisor: Positive Leadership Skills

Basic Principles of Positive Leadership

Self-Esteem

We all need to remember that the right mental conditioning can be the key to achieving our goals in life.

If you expect to fail guess what? You probably will. But if you truly expect to succeed, your mind will take you through your door of success. It all depends how you feel about yourself

Self esteem develops in the same manner as attitudes: over long periods of time. You are not born knowing who you are or what you are.

You acquire your image of yourself over time by realizing your natural abilities and by constantly receiving messages about yourself from the people closest to you and from your environment.

Your self esteem has a powerful impact on your behavior at work. Generally, employees with low self esteem tend to have more trouble with interpersonal relationships and are less productive then people with high self esteem. People with low self esteem have several distinct characteristics. They may experience the “failure syndrome.”

What in the world is that??

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Review Writing Tips

Are performance reviews something you dread or even avoid?

You may be avoiding using a valuable management tool.

They should not be. A well-written performance review can increase productivity and reduce performance issues. By writing a delivering performance reviews, you have the opportunity to uncover resolutions to performance issues. You may develop a new understanding of your employee’s perspective on the tasks at hand. You will create a relationship with your employee and communicate goals that will enhance their work.

Some managers may see writing performance reviews as one of the most difficult pieces of their job. In reality offering formal feedback by writing reviews does not have to be the chore some managers view it as.

Providing both positive and constructive feedback will validate the employee’s service over the review period and create an opportunity to develop the areas that may need improvement. Simply stated review writing and delivery is an important tool for both manager and employee.

Review writing does not need to be time consuming. Having a path to follow can make it a simple clear process.

Here are some steps to follow to prepare a review.

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Qualities of a Successful Call Center Supervisor

We compiled this list after conducting and researching several Call Center studies. The responses were taken from multiple interviews with Call Center representatives and Call Center supervisors then paraphrased. This list can be used as a guideline for Call Center Supervisors.

Honest and ethical

Good communicator about performance expectations in all areas of work

Excellent Listener, uses empathy and compassion

Provides relevant and developmental feedback (both when things are going well and when improvements are needed) to individuals in timely and meaningful manner.

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How to be a Great Supervisor

Reference: http://www.health.umd.edu/fsap/supervisor.html

1. Great managers understand that their first priority is maintaining productive relationships with their employees. It is only through these relationships that the second priority “getting the work out” can get accomplished.
2. Communicate clearly by giving clear instructions. Do not assume that employees automatically know what you need.
3. Catch the employee doing something good. This helps build up their self-confidence and self-esteem. It also goes a long way in helping to build the relationship between the two of you (see above)
4. Take the time to listen.

How to Be a Better Listener Using Active Listening Techniques

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When Accepting Constructive Feedback Is a Problem

Introduction

Sometimes, feedback can be a hard pill to swallow, no matter how kindly administered.

It takes an effective presentation by the manager to increase the chances of the feedback being accepted, understood, and implemented by the employee. However, there will always be employees who struggle with constructive criticism. I used to be one.

The Story

I wasn’t always a tough cookie. I used to love getting feedback, being eager to please others and to do well. But, it’s easy to devolve. Over time, I became more difficult to deal with when receiving feedback. I couldn’t even take a compliment.

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Contests In Call Centers

By Paula Davis-Donald

The groups I assist with Quality Support consist of repair technicians who were at one time only working/resolving trouble tickets that were queued to them by a customer support team. The customer support team had the job of communicating with the customer status of ticket, and resolution based upon the notes provided by the repair technicians. However, to provide better service to our customers our company, a one stop shop if you will, decided to allow the Customer Care group to only handle billing issues, and have the repair technicians not only work trouble tickets, but also take the initial call from the customer, and provide them with status updates, resolution, etc. These technicians are unique in that they are required to master two very distinct skills sets. Not only do they need technical expertise in the products we support, but they also need to know and understand the fine art of customer service.

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Call Center Performance Management Cycle

The Performance Management Cycle has four elements: Setting goals and objectives, providing ongoing feedback, coaching, and performance reviews. These elements are described below.

Setting goals and objectives

The first element of the cycle is setting goals and objectives. This phase includes supervisor-employee meetings and discussions about the goals and objectives that will be measured during the review period.

One of the most important parts of the performance management process is the communication of these goals and objectives. If the representative is a new employee, the goals and objectives are clear; the efforts are focused on the employee meeting goals to be effective at their new position. If the representative is a more tenured employee the focus will be on meeting or exceeding existing goals, setting new goals and ongoing development.

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Call Center Goal Setting

We often hear about the importance of goal setting and action plans. Despite the obvious importance of planning, too many people drift through life allowing other people, institutions, and organizations to tell them what to do and how to do it.

If your goals are not as clearly defined as they could be or if your goals are not backed up with clearly defined plans for their achievement, you may have a hard time achieving them.

What does it mean to know where you are going and to have a plan to get there?

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Call Center Phone Etiquette

If you do not include a thorough section on business telephone etiquette in your new representatives’ training classes, perhaps you are assuming that your new hires have already mastered this essential skill. This assumption is pretty risky in our business, because if the reps don’t have basic etiquette or conversation skills, all the knowledge in the world about your products and services will be almost meaningless.

Say you find your company’s training materials on this subject lacking. Offer to add to, or rewrite them. Consider teaming up with a more experienced trainer at your company on the project. After all, this is important stuff!

Here are some tips to help spice up your phone etiquette training classes:

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