"If you don't give people information, they'll make up something to fill the void." -- Carla O'Dell   "As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back - perhaps even to make or break the company." -- Unknown   Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Here is an Idea of what we can share with you to Improve Your Call Center...

Take a look at this excert from Leadership is a Contact Sport discussing Motivation...

Leadership: The missing Ingredient in Most Call Centers! ...Or at least the toughest competency to develop.

In John C Maxwell's book titled, The Right To Lead, he defines the kind of leader others want to follow.

"The key to becoming an effective leader in not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow."

Doing this is the hard part!

How do you gauge your skill as a leader? I believe there are several ways but one great way to tell this is how your team approaches new ideas. Let me explain....

Ok, assume you present a new idea to your team and then you allow them to discuss the idea, add to it, modify it and adapt it to their work environment. I would be willing to bet that if you asked them a month from now whose idea it was, each one would say it was theirs! That is true Leadership and an excellent example of management call center style!

Understanding Individual Behavior and Motivation

Think about this:

What is the relationship between an individual's motivation and your ability to manage their performance?

Motivation Defined:

Motivation is defined as the reason people do what they do.

Motivation is Two Dimensional

1. External motivation - External motivation comes from action taken by another person.

2. Internal motivation - Internal motivation comes from the satisfaction that occurs when a job or task is performed.

Characteristics of Motivation

· Motives are individualistic

· Motives change

· Motives may be unconscious

· Motives are hierarchical

What Truly Motivates People?

Learning what truly motivates people is an ongoing process. The work of various psychologists and social sociologists has added greatly to the knowledge of what really motivates people and how motivation works.
It is important for us to know about this research to help us better understand the power and complexity of motivation.

There are many theories of motivation. We will review three of the major theories of motivation. The three theories are:

. Theory X Theory Y by Douglas McGregor

. Motivator Hygiene Theory by Frederick Herzberg

. Hierarchy of Needs Theory by Abraham Maslow

Three Theories of Motivation

Douglas McGregor
Theory "X"

1. Dislikes work

2. Wants direction

3. Wants no responsibility

4. Security above all

Theory "Y"

1. Work is natural

2. Ability uniformly distributed

3. Seeks responsibility

4. Directs own efforts

Supervisors who are Theory X managers believe that most people dislike work, want direction, do not want responsibility, and value security more than anything else.

Supervisors who are Theory Y managers believe that most people accept work as being natural, that ability is well distributed among people, that most people seek responsibility, and that most people like to direct their own efforts

Motivator Hygiene Theory

Fredrick Herzberg conducted research to find out what factors caused job satisfaction.

What he found is that one set of factors, when present, caused Job Satisfaction. However the absence of these factors did NOT cause Job Dissatisfaction. The absence of these factors (called Motivator Factors) meant that the people were not satisfied, but neither were they dissatisfied.

Herzberg also found that another set of factors, when absent, caused Job Dissatisfaction. However the presence of these factors did NOT cause Job Satisfaction. The presence of these factors (called Hygiene Factors) meant that the people were not dissatisfied, but neither were they satisfied.

The conclusion is that there is NOT one continuum with the two ends being Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction. Rather there are 2 continuums.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Abraham Maslow conducted research which showed needs are met in a hierarchical order; and that lower level needs MUST be met before higher level needs come into play.

• Self actualization
• Esteem needs
• Social needs
• Safety needs
• Physiological needs

Motivating Workers
There are a variety of ways to motivate workers. Some common modern techniques are:

1. Motivation through job design, including job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.

2. Motivation through entrepreneurial incentives.

3. Motivation through training and education.

4. Motivation through incentives. However, critics say it often creates too much person-to-person competition and interferes with teamwork.

5. Motivation through empowerment.

Many companies and supervisors are quite skilled at penalizing employees for mistakes or poor performance. A best selling book, drawing lessons from America's best-run companies, states that "the dominant culture in most big companies demands punishment for a mistake, no matter how small."

It goes on to say that dominant culture in the best-managed companies is just the opposite. These companies develop "winners" by constantly reinforcing the idea that employees are winners. Performance goals are set so that they are challenging but attainable.

Remember Herzberg said that recognition is a primary motivator. The effective supervisor continually provides recognition for good performance by employees.

Some actions that are successful companies use to increase employee motivation are:

. Matching extrinsic rewards, such as pay, to performance.

. Setting realistic and challenging goals.

. Evaluating employee performance accurately and providing feedback on performance.

. Promoting on the basis of skill and performance rather than personal characteristics, power, or connections.

. Building the skill level of the workforce through training and development.

. Enlarging and enriching jobs through increases in responsibility, variety, and significance.

If you are interested in having the complete Understanding Individual Behavior training module please check out this incredible eBook here: Leadership is a Contact Sport.