4 Tips for building a more collaborative call center

Faith Ocampo Published on April 17, 2017

young creative office employees brainstorming ideas

If your call center rewards employees’ individual achievements more than team success, it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate your workplace engagement techniques.

As productivity-driven companies, most contact centers encourage agent productivity by rewarding individual employees’ exemplary performance. Agents are asked to end calls within a set time limit, handle an x number of transactions in a day, and so on. Those with the highest productivity as defined by these metrics are incentivized and hailed as “Agents of the Month.”

While this recognition-driven employee engagement approach can indeed drive up productivity, it comes with a cost. A highly competitive workplace leaves little room for collaboration. It breeds the mentality that customer support reps must outshine their colleagues for their hard work to be recognized. You may not think it matters at first, but this type of organizational culture can get in the way of teamwork.

diverse office employees cheering on teamwork

Team collaboration is essential in customer service companies. It’s the key to solving big issues that keep resurfacing and finding creative solutions to the most common customer problems.

Here are four tips to build a more collaborative call center.

1. Reward collaborative efforts.

proud office team holding one trophy

Instead of setting targets for individual employees, set team goals. Come up with tasks that will require your agents to work with one another. You can then incentivize your employees based on their collaborative efforts.

If your employees are used to working on their own, they might find it difficult to do this at first. So make sure to focus on team building tactics as well. Organize dinner parties, company outings, and other events to encourage your agents to get to know one another.

2. Promote transparency.

customer service reps serious business meeting call center team leader

Building a collaborative workplace all boils down to effective leadership. You need to create trust among employees by promoting transparency in the company. You can do this by welcoming constructive criticisms and widening agents’ access to work-related information.

3. Ask employees to identify the barriers to teamwork.

diverse business team in meeting writing on white board marker

Sometimes, managers have a narrow view of what it’s really like for call center agents to work on the production floor. So make sure to ask your employees about the practices, processes, or policies that are getting in the way of team collaboration. It could be your office’s layout, your no-chatting policy, or your overly hierarchical structure. Whatever the barriers may be, make sure to eliminate them in order to make it easy for agents to communicate with one another.

4. Brainstorm as a team.

creative diverse team in meeting

The bottom line is, you need to create an environment where your customer service reps feel comfortable sharing their insights, opinions, or suggestions. One way to do this is to brainstorm with them. Discuss an issue together, and solicit their ideas. Apart from making them feel at ease with their colleagues, this is also a great way to make them feel that the organization values their inputs.

 

Faith is a digital media enthusiast aiming to become an active part of the tech world by sharing her insights. She likes to blog about everything digimarketing, technology, and social media.
Join us on facebook
Open Access BPO 11 hours ago
Having a hard time finding the right talents for your #CustomerService team?
You may need to tweak your #recruitment strategies.

Try out these creative recruitment strategies to attract qualified candidates: https://buff.ly/3O1c1DD

----------
Or you can outsource to Open Access BPO and we'll do the recruitment and training for you.

Send us a message today to set up your own team of #CX specialists: https://buff.ly/3Aiv2yv

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#outsourcing #CSat
#CustomerExperience
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
Content Moderation work requires specific skills, qualifications, and attributes from its moderators. These qualities ensure a safe and positive online environment for users.

So, if you're #outsourcing this service, your prospective #outsourcing partners' employees must have:
• discernment of good from bad;
• a sharp eye;
• a trained mind;
• a tough stomach; and
• these other traits: https://buff.ly/3YvM7wR

----------
Outsource content moderation only to an expert #BPO with an expert team of moderators: https://buff.ly/40Cg01j

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#outsourcing #ContentModeration #BPO
#KPO #BackOfficeOutsourcing
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
Outsourcing call centers can significantly boost efficiency and cut costs for global brands. However, it’s crucial to be aware of potential pitfalls.

Don’t let outsourcing disasters derail your business.
Read our list of red flags to avoid and ensure a smooth transition: https://buff.ly/3NT6OxK

----------
Partner with a truly capable call center to prevent outsourcing nightmares.
Open Access BPO has been the trusted outsourcing service provider of some of the biggest global brands for decades.

We've got your back. Contact us today: https://buff.ly/3NTy4MH

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerService #CustomerExperience
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
Did you know that it's possible for you to connect with your Chinese #ecommerce customers even though you don't speak their language?

#CallCenter outsourcing can greatly help in attracting and supporting customers from this gigantic Asian market.

Here's how partnering with an #outsourcing #CustomerExperience call center can establish these connections: https://buff.ly/3YP4U7z

----------
Whether it's Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hokkien, Open Access BPO's multilingual services are your best bet for an improved market presence in China: https://buff.ly/3An3ubd

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerSupport #MultilingualCallCenter
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗣𝗢 𝗣𝗛 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 #𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀.

Simultaneous parties were held at the company's Makati and Davao sites, transforming the offices into magical realms of fun and frights.

Beyond the traditional trick-or-treating, the event featured a captivating magic show with puppets, engaging games, and a generous supply of candy.

With these kinds of events, Open Access BPO reinforces its commitment to creating a fun and fulfilling workplace for its employees.

----------
𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 OpenAccessBPO.com/ 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.

𝘖𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#OABPOonHalloween2024 #OABPOHalloweenFun
Open Access BPO 6 days ago
The 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 is a top #outsourcing destination. The country's capital, Manila, where Makati is located, houses most of the country's top 1,000 companies.
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗣𝗢's flagship center in Makati leverage world-class infrastructures and the nation's most expansive talent pool.

Our facilities in the Makati Central Business District offer scalable multilingual solutions for global businesses.

𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀: https://buff.ly/4e7eRln

----------
𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗣𝗢
• Our Solutions: https://buff.ly/4f22Mip
• Our Other Locations: https://buff.ly/4e68ej1

#WeSpeakYourLanguage