Give Your Quality Team a Kick Start
May 12, 2008 · Print This Article
Take the 15 Day Trial Today. Learn more about this Call Center VIP membership site now.
By Gail Yahner
Do you feel like you should start naming the days of the week after their behaviors?
- Maudlin Mondays – where they "can't get motivated" for the week?
- Tired Tuesdays- two days into the work week and you can see the productivity lessening?
- Where did they go Wednesdays- did they disappear or are they avoiding the boss?
- That isn't for me anymore Thursdays- are they looking for other jobs or career opportunities?
- Funday Friday isn’t fun any more
- Show no enthusiasm Saturdays- as the saying goes… I am up, dressed and at work; what more do you want?
Does this sound like your quality team? While we can hope for a motivated, happy team at all times, we know that won’t always be the case.
Since you can't just dump them, hire new QA's and start over again. You may privately dream that dream but that probably isn’t really an option.
Teams go through cycles and phases. Even the strongest teams have cases of the doldrums once in a while.
Once you determine that there are no underlying issues that need to be dealt with (or you have dealt with the issues) and it's just a case of the blahs taking over the team…. it is time to get that team Kick Started!
Show your appreciation: at least once a month come into work on a Sunday evening and leave little thank you bags on their stations! What a nice thing for them to see when they come in to start their new work week! You can purchase small plastic party bags at the Dollar Tree (or make your own), toss in a note pad, a colored gel pen or an unusual pencil, a stress ball and a few pieces of candy. It is like getting a Christmas stocking with stocking stuffers- fun!
Have your QA Team meeting outside- the weather is getting nice, so take that meeting outside and enjoy the change of scenery
Have a Trading Spaces for their work stations: team everyone up and have them do a work station redo. Limit the time to 45 min for each team and watch to see how many Hildi's or Doug's come crawling out of the carpet.
Hold a monthly productivity party: If the monthly required number of coaching/monitoring for the site is 98% or above, then the team has a Potluck Party to celebrate. With each team member bringing a dish to share and the site or the manager provides the main course. This doesn't need to be costly, think Italian theme ie spaghetti or a Mexican Fiesta ie tacos.
Create a trophy or award: let the team decide upon a weekly/monthly traveling trophy given to the QA that has the most monitors completed or has the highest quality ranking teams. Have fun with the presentation: make some well deserved noise, send out a "congrats" email to the center recognizing the honored QA. Once the trophy has been presented, it should reside at the workstation of the deserving QA until the next person pries it from their fingers.
Have fun and enjoy!
Gail is a contributing writer for Call Center Cafe, the Community for Call Center Professionals. As the self professed Call Center Quality Queen, Gail shares her experiences in Quality and Training with readers. If you are would like to read more of Gail’s articles please visit: http://www.callcentercafe.com While you are on the site, sign up for the free e newsletter: The Call Center Café Newsletter at http://www.callcentercafe.com/call-center-newsletter/
Comments
Got something to say?