Manager vs. Leader
By Munirah Looi

The role a contact center manager or director assumes has a profound effect on the success of a contact center. The manager can choose simply to manage, focusing on the tactical act of directing business and handling daily affairs, or can choose to be a leader by actively working to create a work culture that fosters high-performing individuals and teams.

Let’s first try to understand the difference between a manager and a leader. If one has achieved the title of manager, he or she has become “legitimate” in the eyes of the company, and hopefully, in the eyes of their staff.

But having achieved legitimacy via the title of manager, and thus having the authority to give directions to the staff, does not automatically mean the manager possesses the power to lead. Many people manage daily operations without any hint of leadership in their actions.

Improving your Perspective First
According to Steven Covey, “the basic task of leadership is to raise the standard of living and quality of life for all stakeholders.” As contact center leaders, we must focus on improving the quality of life within the contact centers.

In an effort to understand how to make such an improvement, let us look at Covey’s paradigms of human interaction. There are several approaches a contact center manager can take while interacting with his or her staff: Win/Lose and Win/Win.

The Win/Lose approach is a rather authoritarian management style. It works on the principle that for me to win, you must lose. Managers who function in this way “are prone to use position, power, credentials, possessions or personality to get their way.”

This is the “because I said so and I’m the manager” approach. The problem inherent in operating a contact center in the Win/Lose style is that it encourages competition and almost punishes cooperation.

Win/Win is based on the idea that there is enough for everybody; you don’t have to take from one to give to another. The goal of operating in a Win/Win environment is to make everyone involved feel good about the interaction.

Instead of the manager using coercion and dictatorial methods to get results, Win/Win managers instead learn to share in decision-making. When one is willing to share, it opens the door to creativity, alternatives, and possibilities.

To truly exist in such an environment, managers will need to let go of their preconceived notions that their title makes them the end-all-be-all. It is the true leader who can create an environment that opens up the potential and creativity of all those involved.

For any manager, regardless of experience level, creating and maintaining a Win/Win environment within the contact center will not only require the manager to change his or her perspective, or paradigm of interaction, but will necessitate that the manager help his or her staff to make that change as well.

Leadership Principles
Now that the stage is set to make a cultural change in a contact center by opening up to a Win/Win environment, how then do we do it? To achieve the successful contact center environment that allows for cooperation, flow of information, shared responsibility and recognition, a leader must seek to understand basic leadership principles. We examine the following:

• Understand and manage perceptions
• Lead by example
• Empower
• Communicate responsibility and set standards for achievement
• Delegate authority
• Provide training, feedback, coaching and recognition
• Establish trust and treat people with respect

Understanding and Managing Perceptions
Our perceptions of things give shape and form to our realities. We can all look at the exact same thing, but given our unique backgrounds, cultural understandings, personalities, and thought processes, we each see something different. The same dynamic is present in the personal interactions in the business world.

As a contact center leader, one of the most important things to remember is that perception is reality; it doesn’t matter what you said or did, what matters is how the receiver perceived what you said or did.

Managers who understand how they say and do things is as important as what they say or do are already wearing the hat of a contact center leader.

Lead by Example
“You can’t ask your staff to do what you wouldn’t do yourself.” Managers can’t expect agents to understand and manage perceptions if the managers don’t do so themselves.

There are several things successful managers should try to do and should encourage their staff to do:

• Understand themselves and how their behavior affects others.
• Understand the root of their reactions to others.
• Have a positive attitude about themselves, which causes others to have confidence in them.
• Know how to adapt their behavior to meet the needs of other people in certain situations.

Empower
Contact center leaders should keep two-way communication lines open and share their knowledge on the tasks at hand, but empower the agents to take it from there. They key is focusing on the end results, not micro-managing the path it takes to get there. Allowing people the latitude to find their own way opens up creativity and motivation that might not have been known to exist.

Communicating Responsibilities and Setting Standards for Achievement
Communicating with staff members should be the easiest thing for contact center leaders to do. Though it sounds easy, the communication chain is where breakdowns often occur.

The leader must tell agents what they must do to be successful in the long and short term. Agents must be shown how their responsibilities relate to the overall goals of the department and the company. When this is done, communicate some more!

Make sure each team member is aware of each other’s responsibilities. If changes arise, as they always do, keep everyone apprised of the changes, and try to do it in a morale-building way.

Remember, it isn’t just what you say, but how you say it—so calling a meeting and saying, “Management changed our structure again and here is a list of what your responsibilities are now,” or “HR wants you supervisors to do product training,” is probably not the way to go.

Since things are always changing and all responsibilities are tied to some type of goal, leaders need to help staff members prioritize their responsibilities, so everyone is working on the right track. It has to be motivational.

Delegating Authority
This is a difficult one for some managers. It requires the manager to relinquish a bit of control. But just as in empowering staff, delegating responsibility will only serve to uncover more opportunities for success.

• Encourage decision-making and initiative-taking.
• Be sure to communicate boundaries of authority but make sure that the agents are given the authority to solve problems that occur during the course of their work.
• Establish a plan for follow up and monitoring.
• Give permission to fail—manage failures positively so they can be learnt from, and be supportive of staff when they do fail.

Providing Training, Feedback and Coaching, and Recognition
Well-trained people are the most confident people. And people who are confident in their abilities are more willing to take on responsibility and take decision-making risks.

Providing training to agents is therefore the responsibility of line managers. They can seek help from the training department to support in areas of soft skills, while technical and system training should be the responsibility of the line management, as they are the experts.

In order to continue reaping the benefits of good performance on the part of his or her staff, the leader must continually provide performance feedback to the agents. This will provide the opportunity to reinforce positive performances, as well as to communicate where and how improvements need to be made. Be consistent in the method of evaluations by using a standard form for all the evaluations and in the frequency with which you give them.

An important part of feedback is coaching agents to improve their performance and provide the appropriate recognition that fits well with the particular achievement. These are great motivational tools that a leader has at his or her disposal.

Establishing Trust and Treating People
A manager isn’t likely to establish trust if he or she doesn’t treat people with respect. One of the biggest things a leader can do is to understand that the uniqueness and creativity that each person brings to the table is a benefit to the team. Respecting staff members for their abilities and encouraging participation will help create a winning feeling in the department.

Treating employees, customers, and peers with respect is a great way to begin the process of evolving into a Win/Win support environment. The manager who incites the cultural change that is necessary within his or her department to create a Win/Win scenario is truly a contact center leader.

All it takes is a little open-mindedness and a lot of willingness to share responsibility and recognition. By doing so, a leader can truly create an environment that unlocks the potential and creativity of all those involved.

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Munirah Looi is the CEO and Founder of Brandt International. She is experienced in the areas of Customer Relationship Management, Customer Service Management, Human Performance Management, Strategic Management, Business Process Redesign, Sales and Marketing, and Project Management, and all in all, has 20 years' experience working in these various fields. She is also an experienced facilitator, a human performance strategist, a Service Quality Management and a Change Management practitioner.