5 Challenges in Managing a Multilingual Call Center Team

Faith Ocampo Published on November 15, 2016 Last updated on April 22, 2022

Research after research have shown that diverse teams, such as those in multilingual call centers, are more productive and creative than homogeneous ones. The caveat, though, is that they’re more difficult to manage.

diverse multilingual call center agents with customer support team leader

Building a multicultural group is a must for call centers that want to reach diverse consumer sectors, particularly markets that don’t speak English. Deploying multilingual services would allow you to cater to international brands and companies that are planning to capture emerging markets.

The tricky part, however, is making culturally diverse teams work.

Although a hodgepodge of ideas brings about smart innovations, multiple perspectives can lead to plenty of friction. It can be difficult to forge and sustain harmonious interpersonal relationships within a heterogeneous team, and disagreements may get in the way of productivity and employee engagement.

Here’s an overview of the challenges you may encounter while managing cultural diversity in your contact center.

  1. Effective Communication

    multilingual call center team building high five

    Some multilingual call centers opt to use English as their primary business language and for internal communication. This often works, but you may still encounter a few hiccups. For instance, differences in accents, level of fluency, and problems in translations may make it difficult for employees to understand one another.

    More importantly, however, clear communication isn’t just about the language. It’s often harder for multicultural teams to completely make sense of others’ messages due to differing beliefs, traditions, and life experiences.

    You need to bring your call center agents together in team building activities and other events where they’d connect with one another on a personal level. Aside from boosting employee engagement, this would let them find a common ground, helping make interactions a lot smoother.

  2. Conflicting Attitudes Toward Work

    divers multilingual call center agents in conflict team meeting

    According to the Association for Psychological Science, one’s cultural background can affect productivity and attitude toward work.

    It was previously hypothesized that Asians are generally more concerned about building relationships in the office than Americans and Europeans. This is perhaps due to Asians’ emphasis on interdependence and hierarchy, whereas the latter are more individualistic.

    One team management strategy that would help you resolve this is to set project goals for the entire team. This would ensure that everyone is striving for the same objectives.

  3. Dealing With Interpersonal Conflicts

    multilingual call center agents in conflict

    Although every organization has its fair share of disagreements, diversity in the workplace may result to even more conflicts. It may also be harder for multicultural groups to settle interpersonal issues.

    If not managed well, this may hamper work progress, creativity, and productivity.

    You need to take an initiative in managing these types of problems before they get out of hand. Make sure that all your call center agents know their role and value in the company. Increasing employee engagement through team activities can also help prevent misunderstandings among workers.

  4. Building Training Programs

    multilingual call center training

    Part of managing a multilingual call center team is ensuring that all employees’ needsโ€”especially when it comes to training and work resourcesโ€”are being met. Using a single training module for a multicultural group, unfortunately, often doesn’t work. Plenty of companies use this strategy as a cheaper alternative to conducting multiple coaching sessions for agents with different backgrounds. The latter, however, is far more effective.

    Additionally, it’s best to hire multilingual trainers. This ensures that all your customer support policies and guidelines are clearly communicated across your diverse organization.

  5. Evaluating Performance

    multilingual call center team leader giving quality assurance coaching

    Rigorous quality assurance (QA) processes are crucial for every contact center. To maintain high-quality services, you need to evaluate agents based on the quality of their work and provide regular feedback. However, this would require you to hire multilingual QA agents. Otherwise, you won’t be able to thoroughly monitor and assess agents’ performance.

    Although a costly move, this would boost your organization’s competence and allow you to build a positive reputation among potential clients.

As a multilingual call center, Open Access BPO has diversity and inclusion integrated in our corporate culture, enabling us to manage our productive multicultural workforce while we provide a safe space and equal opportunities for all our employees. Reach out to us and our business development team if you’re in need of a trusted multilingual expert manning your customer support.

 

Read More

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 19 hours ago
The ๐—ฃ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€ is a top #outsourcing destination. The country's capital, Manila, where Makati is located, houses most of the country's top 1,000 companies.
๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—•๐—ฃ๐—ข'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.

๐——๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€: https://buff.ly/4e7eRln

----------
๐„๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—•๐—ฃ๐—ข
โ€ข Our Solutions: https://buff.ly/4f22Mip
โ€ข Our Other Locations: https://buff.ly/4e68ej1

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
Open Access BPO 20 hours ago
๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—•๐—ฃ๐—ข ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ-๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ต ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ข๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฏ๐Ÿฌ, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฐ.

Drop It Like It's Hot: The OABPO Weight Loss Challenge began with an early morning wellness session hosted by the outsourcing company's Clinic Services with guest speaker, fitness coach JR Madriaga. Both the morning and evening sessions were streamed online for those who could not be physically present.

After discussing the rules of the challenge and weigh-in schedules, Coach JR talked about some of the most effective methods of losing weight. He highlighted the healthiest ways for the participants to get their weight loss journey started.

A high-energy Zumba session soon followed the discussion. It not only served as a fun way to start the challenge but also emphasized the importance of incorporating physical activity into daily routines.

More than 80 employees from both Open Access BPO Makati and Davao signed up for the three-month weight loss challenge. The grand prize, originally P25,000, has since been doubled to P50,000, with the winner to be announced in next year's Kick Off Party.
Open Access BPO 21 hours 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 atracting and supporting customers from this gigantic Asian market.
Here's how partnering with an #outsourcing #CustomerExperience procall center can establish these connections: https://buff.ly/3C8HG3G

----------
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/48uCcfp

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerSupport #MultilingualCallCenter
Open Access BPO 23 hours ago
๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐š๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฒ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐š ๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ.

Our blog post provides you expert tips and strategies to help you handle these situations with empathy and professionalism.
Discover effective strategies and best practices to ensure your communication remains clear, respectful, and compassionate: https://buff.ly/4eaaJkD

----------
Deliver exceptional #CustomerExperience with our services to ensure #CustomerRetention and foster brand loyalty: https://buff.ly/4f3L4vd

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerSupport #CX #CSat
#outsourcing #CustomerSatisfaction
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
Our dedicated Xiamen and Taipei teams always go #AboveAndBeyond for our customers. To show our appreciation for their hard work, we spent during #CSWeek treating them to some fun and games at the office.

They even took part in the special video challenge to share how they show their dedication in customer service. And of course, they had a special dinner last Friday to close the festivities.

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerServiceWeek #CSWeek
#OABPOCSWeek2024 #AboveAndBeyond
#CustomerServiceWeek2024
Open Access BPO 2 days ago
๐„๐ฅ๐ž๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ž #๐‚๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐’๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐›๐ฒ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก-๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐  #๐‚๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐š๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฆ.

Learn about the crucial skills, traits, and mindset of these #CustomerService experts, key for exceptional #CX and sustained positive brand reputation.

Here are the types of high-performing customer support agents: https://buff.ly/40pii3K

----------
Outsource with us today and get a team of dedicated experts for your business needs: https://buff.ly/3C0mNHH

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CallCenters #CX #oustourcing