Tag Archives: Management

Leadership

Cultivate a Customer-Centric Culture

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As organizations become more customer-centric, a culture that fosters the best experience for both parties is key to success. But what does it take? Experts have been scratching their heads ever since this aspect of marketing gained precedence over all other aspects in terms of importance and priority–how can you cultivate an environment where employees are inspired by your company’s values so they can provide stellar service day after day without fail? 

As part of my job as Director of Client Support at Q4 and similar roles within other organizations, I’ve had the opportunity to directly influence this within my services and support team and I’ve learned some secrets along the way which I think you might find valuable.

So what’s the magic formula? Let me start off by saying it’s not some hyper-complicated system. You don’t need to be a marketing specialist or an expensive consultant to achieve this. It doesn’t require a restructuring of your company or the hiring of massive teams of people. 

It can get you tremendously far if you just do one thing–and it starts with getting closer to the client within your immediate circle of influence, whether that be colleagues, agents under your supervision, or support desk staff whose responsibility is directly related to the client satisfaction.

As I’ve said before, it’s not always about the new customer. If your goal is to build a sustainable business, your primary focus needs to be on nurturing existing relationships and making sure you treat every client like THEIR satisfaction is the most important thing in the world (because it really IS).

Being closer to clients won’t offer any considerable new business that isn’t already on your current radar–because they’re usually yours for a reason! Being effective at developing new business opportunities comes with time, but there are things you can do today that will ensure better loyalty and retention rates for tomorrow.

Your clients are your babies…because, without them, you don’t have a business. That means taking care of them should be at the top of your priority list every single day. Here are a few things you can do NOW if you want to offer better customer service:

Define Your Mission

You need to know about the destination so that you can plan for the journey. You can refer to your established CX mission as the cultural bible because it is super important. This mission statement will be your light in the tunnel- guiding you and helping you devise the right actions and behaviors to reach your goal.

Without this defined goal, you will certainly be lost. 

Communication is the Key

There is no such thing as over-communication when it comes to manifesting the desired customer-centric culture. If the communication channel is blocked somewhere the messages, or data is not being delivered across all the floor, to the respective departments, you can expect to be in a real conundrum.

There is no wrong or correct way to communicate- just make sure you are articulate, you are consistent, and are engaging constantly without being annoying. It is imperative to maintain a degree of fun so that it does not become a boring work chore that employees often ignore.  

Educate and Preach Your Staff

Who is going to implement the culture? Your people, your staff.

No matter how professionally you design your management style to advocate for customer-centricity, you still would not be able to foster a whole culture without properly educating and training your staff. When it comes to cultivating a whole new culture, you need to make sure that everybody in the organization understands the purpose of the change and supports it.

A great CX professional must be able to inspire and educate all working levels to focus greatly on the customer.   

Hire a Good Cultural Fit

The recruitment process is also a determinant of how fast your organization will adapt to the new culture and champion it for the coming years. Effective recruitment strategies will help you attract people who understand the norms and cultural standards established in your workplace. They will support your organization’s vision and filter those people out who may be technically qualified by their purpose does not align with the spirit of your organization.

Reframe your job description and emphasize more on people skills; do not give the impression that you prioritize task-oriented behavior over the attitude and expectations of your employees. Advertise your culture and reflect it in your interaction with the applicants. 

Keep Customers in the Loop

Since your whole effort is directed towards improving customer relations and understanding customers’ perceptions, you must involve customers as much as you can.

Set up customer focus groups, keep them updated on the changes you are about to introduce in your organization. This will help you understand how they perceive risk and reward.

For example, if you are introducing a new and unique product and the customers feel there is some component of risk involved in buying your product, let them know that they can return the product anytime if it fails to meet their expectations.

This will improve customer relations as well as enhance employee satisfaction as employees believe that management has considered their concerns before introducing any changes.

Increase Employee Satisfaction

A happy employee who is satisfied with his or her job also helps in building better relationships with the customers because the customer’s problem becomes an employee’s problem too. This kind of understanding between employees and management increases motivation among workers which enables them to contribute further towards improving productivity levels.

As far as possible, reduce conflicts between departments instead of allowing them to escalate into conflicts between managers.

Employee satisfaction is not about paying more or less but providing employees the opportunity to perform their duties without any interference. When employees are satisfied with their job, they are able to complete it efficiently which helps in making good profits for the company.

No matter how you are rewarding your employees – and whether the rewards are intrinsic or tangible – you must ensure that you are recognizing the efforts and achievements of your employees. Intrinsic awards have a more lasting impact on employees as it particularly acknowledges a group’s way of working. Tolerating risk and imposing penalties can also help keep culture aligned with practices.

Offering incentives, prizes, deserved promotions, acknowledgments, and praises converge towards employee motivation and hence contribute to greater service results. 

Keeping all these things in mind shall help you build a happy and satisfied workforce that will lead your company towards growth.

Leaders Must Lead

The power of leadership is so significant that it can shift the entire course of the functionality of an organization. Altering a culture that is deep-rooted in a workspace can be a hell of an exhausting challenge. So, only people who are capable and have a strong heart must be up for it.

Visible and active involvement by executives and senior leaders is integral in the strategic building of a customer-centric culture. Everyone is responsible for fostering a new culture but ensuring that the roles are conducted with more vigor and clarity is solely the job of the leaders.

From prioritizing resources to incorporating customer experience metrics into decisional reforms, is all part of the job description. 

Wrapping it Up

Businesses are offering a merely different version of the same product to their audiences. Winning at customer services is the competitive edge that can separate them from the noise. A prevalent customer-centric culture in an organization is the rock and stones that form a robust foundation of a compelling customer experience.

If you cultivate the right values and inculcate the correct sense of customer-centricity in your organization, you will reap your rewards in the form of consistent profitability, increased sales, and higher customer retention.

Customers these days have an insane amount of power and a comprehensive set of choices; you have to devise appropriate strategies to trigger a continual impact. CX programs fail all the time, but an improved disciplined approach to serving your customers can help you build a strong customer relationship.

So, change behaviors to change the culture!  

Leadership

7 Ways to Guarantee Your Team Will Be Highly Engaged

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Highly engaged teams are the gold standard of business success. The advantages are numerous and varied, including greater sales and profits, decreased expenses, fewer sick days, and fewer defects. All of which have a significant influence on your company’s bottom line.

Unfortunately, far too many businesses are unwilling to provide adequate resources for fostering highly engaged teams, yet developing highly engaged teams does not need much more work and the return on investment is worth it. Here are seven easy methods to increase your income by enhancing team engagement.

Step 1: Make it easy to understand.

The one thing that always surprises me is how many initiatives and departments I am involved with turning around that lack a clear goal. How can people possibly be engaged, much alone be highly engaged, if they do not understand the goals and objectives?

The clarity of direction and a clear understanding of what success looks like are required for teams. This implies your company cannot have too many objectives since when everything is a priority, nothing is prioritized, and your employees don’t know where to focus.

 Step 2: Allow them enough space.

High-performing teams require a lot of freedom in order to succeed. When your teams have the tools they need to succeed, the greatest thing you can do is get out of their way and let them succeed. Micromanagement is one of the most disempowering things I’ve ever seen; it destroys trust and confidence at an alarming rate. It indicates a lack of confidence, which is critical for any success. It doesn’t imply that you shouldn’t check up on them from time to time; instead, do it depending on the length of the project. 

Step 3: Create a secure environment

People are more likely to take risks and try new things when they feel secure in their surroundings. To encourage this behavior, you must first establish a safe environment in which mistakes are accepted and anticipated. It doesn’t imply that people are free to do whatever they want; rather, it encourages them to make intelligent risks where the probability of success is high and the consequences of failure are minimal.

Step 4: Allow them to be successful.

While engagement is wonderful, even the most enthusiastic employees will become dissatisfied, irritated, and demotivated if they don’t have the tools to succeed. Check to see if your teams have everything they need to be successful, and if they don’t, give it to them or change the goal or objective. Humans are afraid of hard work rather than failure; as leaders, it’s our duty to place them in a position where success is possible.

Step 5: Make your objectives seem desirable.

Tell your teams what’s in it for them and how they will benefit if you can’t make your objectives aspirational. When asked to define their company’s purpose, leaders who are committed to the long-term future of their organization have a lot more to say than those who aren’t.

The greater the cause you can attach to your goals, the more engaged your people will be.

It might be due to working for a more powerful, more resilient organization that will develop and provide greater possibilities in the future. If it’s just about making your investors richer unless they’re shareholders as well, no one will be really engaged.

Step 6: Give assistance.

Let your staff know that you’re available if they need assistance. They should feel safe asking for your help, and just knowing it is there will increase their confidence. Perhaps they won’t utilize it; but just having it there will assist them a lot.

Step 7: Reward them for their efforts.

One of the keys to encouraging continuous performance improvement is to offer praise and recognition. What gets recognized tends to be repeated, and when we notice highly engaged teams and give them positive feedback, this encourages them to stay engaged and become even more so.

When individuals believe that their efforts are acknowledged, they tend to have a greater sense of momentum and motivation. Also, keep in mind that appreciation begins at the bottom with actions rather than waiting for people to achieve success before telling them you appreciate them.

If you follow these seven easy steps, you’ll be well on your way to forming highly engaged teams that will significantly raise the quality and quantity of your outputs, as well as provide a path to improved profitability, expansion, and customer satisfaction.

People Management

9 Crucial Metrics to Measure Customer Support Team Performance

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Have you ever had a bad-tasting dish that caused you an aversion to that food altogether? But quite often, you can’t put your finger on that one ingredient that ruined the taste of the whole dish. It becomes nearly impossible to figure out what caused that food aversion. 

Just like that, a well-set plate of an exquisite-looking dish cannot be credited as delectable if all ingredients don’t compliment each other well. Even if one of them is bad tasting, the customer will lose his appetite for the dish. Your Customer Support (CS) team is just like that. All of the individual ingredients must be flavorful so that, in the end, a delicious dish could be presented. 

But don’t worry! There are several metrics to measure your team and assess the overall performance of everyone in the team. You can detect where there’s a need for improvement or which individual is putting in a complete effort and is dedicated to offering exceptional customer service. 

But first, you must create certain standards by employing performance metrics. So, take the help of the following nine metrics to measure customer support team performance and then enhance it to make your customers’ experience a memorable one. 

Average Resolution Time

One method of evaluating how well the customer service representatives are performing is to record the average time it takes for them to resolve a customer complaint permanently. 

This is an accurate measure of productivity, as this metric determines whether the agent is good at resolving customer complaints and can deal with them quicker rather than building on to the problem and dragging it for longer. 

Just follow this formula to reckon the Average Resolution Time (ART)

ART = (Total Reply Time) / (Total Number of Requests)  

The volume of Requests Handled

First, you would want to know the total of some of the requests that were addressed to your agents in a given period. This way, you can assess the workload and work performance of the organization itself. Sadly, its very rare for clients to call to simply say how good everything is, rather, they call when they have an issue or complaint that needs to be addressed so having an idea of the volume of calls being handled by each agent is critical in resource planning.

So, to appraise the performance of the customer service agents, you must keep track of how many requests are correctly addressed and how productive your agents have been. The higher this number, the more efficient and diligent your agents will be. 

Conversation Reply Speed

Ask yourself this question: after how long did my agent respond to the follow-up questions raised by the customer? The speed at which the customer service representative responds to any sequential concerns presented by the customer after the initial response determines the productivity and performance of the agent. 

If you take too long to respond, the customer would get annoyed and probably leave a bad review or would no longer engage in business with you. 

Requests escalated to Higher-Ups.

This is an important metric that you keep track of. If a request is escalated to a superior, then it means that the agent has failed to address the concerns of the customer. You may believe that this is the endpoint that every customer service agent should dread and avoid at all costs. 

So, this metric precisely determines if a representative is good at his job or not. The higher the number of these requests, the more probable it is that the agent isn’t qualified or competent enough to cater to customers’ requests or needs. 

Number of Complaints Regarding a Customer Service Representative

It is highly likely that a single individual is unable to entertain the concern of customers. Some people are just not naturally drawn towards resolving customers’ issues, and this can gravely affect their performance. Look to your customer satisfaction surveys for this information and then make a plan.

So, by evaluating this metric, you can judge whether an individual is cut out for this job and is he/she is able to address customers’ issues properly or not. 

Time Taken to Offer Initial Response

If you aim to offer the best customer service, you must keep a meticulous record of your initial response time. The higher this number goes, the more irritated the customers will get. 

Representatives must be on their toes when it comes to addressing customers’ concerns. The customers must be instantly put through to the right person or the respective department through tools like skill-based routing, so they don’t have to wait unnecessarily. 

Customer Service Rating

This metric is the best indicator of how well your individual customer rep’s performance has been. This number shows how the customers viewed and marked the performance of the agent. This rating can be garnered by customer feedback, comments, or the star rating. 

Sales made after Contact

The objective of the customer service team should be to address customers’ concerns so they are satisfied with the product or service and continue to increase the sales of the organization. 

So, if the agents are performing well, or are providing related cross-sells or upsells of the product, then the sales would increase, and more revenue will be generated. So, this metric takes effective customer service as a determinant that affects sales. Consider these sales as a good indicator or tool to measure your customer success team.

Rate of Successful Resolutions

This rate is a major defining factor in the performance of each customer service agent. This rate shows how well individuals have performed and how successful they have been in resolving customer complaints and issues. Having an agent who doesn’t handle many requests but has a significantly high successful resolution rate is worth having in the team. 

You can calculate it by employing the formula:

Resolution Rate= (Resolved requests) / (Support Requests) 

Conclusion 

You can only deliver exceptional customer service if you know exactly what your customers are expecting from you, and you don’t have to be a mind-reader for that. Stay close to your customers and make them feel heard and valued. Just track the above-mentioned metrics periodically, and this way, you’d be able to appraise the performance of your customer service agents and the experience offered to your customers. 

Management, People Management, Planning, Problem Solving, Project Management

Guidelines to Decision Making and Problem-solving in an Organization

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Most of what managers do is to make decisions and solve problems. Often, managers are under stress and with limited time to make critical decisions in an organization. Consequently, when managers encounter a new decision or a problem they must solve, they react with decisions that seemed to work before. Sometimes, this approach can put you in a loop of solving the same problem over and over. It is often more useful to get used to an organized approach to solving problems and making decisions. Not all decisions can be made and problems solved following a rational approach. However, we have a few guidelines that will help managers to get started. You shouldn’t be intimidated by the length of our guidelines because they will make you a better manager.

After you have practiced our guidelines, they will become easy for you. You can utilize them to suit your own needs. It is better for managers to view a problem as an opportunity. Here are the best steps to help managers make better decisions and solve problems effectively.

Define the problem

Most people struggle to define a problem. In most cases, they react to opinions and what they think the problem is. It is better to understand more about the problem before making a decision. You can define a problem with input from others and yourself. Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself and others when defining a problem.

•    What makes you think there is a problem?

•    How is it happening?

•    Where is it happening?

•    How is it happening?

•    Why is it happening?

After asking all the relevant questions, you can write down the description of the problem. Write down what triggered the problem to happen, where the problem happened, why it happened and the people it affected.

How to define complex problems

It is good to understand that problems are different. We have complex and simple problems. Complex problems require more materials and input to get solved. If the problem seems to be overwhelming, you should break it down by repeating the above steps. You should verify how you understand the problem. Use tools like Mindmaps to help you define the scope.

Prioritize the problem

In some cases, managers find themselves dealing with different problems. If this is the case, it is important to prioritize the problems and know which problems to address first. You should know the difference between urgent and important problems.

Often, what most managers consider to be important problems are in real sense urgent problems. You need to give important problems more attention. For example, if you are dealing with phone calls, it is important to design your system to prioritize on urgent phone calls.

Understand the role of people in the problem

The role of the manager in the problem can influence how the manager perceives the role of others. Sometimes, if you feel too guilty about your role in the problem, you will ignore the accountability of other people. Also, some managers get blinded so much by the role other people play in a problem that they forget that they also have a role in the problem.

Find the potential causes of the problem

You don’t know a lot about what you don’t know. It is, therefore, crucial to get input from others because they may be affected by the problem as well. You should collect input from other people one at a time. Write down what you have read from other people and your opinions. Write down a clear description of the cause of the problem in terms of what is happening, when it is happening, where it is happening and why it is happening.

Identify alternatives for resolving the problem

When you get at this point, it is helpful to keep other people involved unless you have a personal employee problem. You need to brainstorm and collect many ideas and screen them to find the best ideas. It is crucial when collecting these ideas to not pass judgment on the ideas. You should write the ideas down as you hear them.

Select an approach to solving the problem

You should choose the best approach to solve your problem for a long time. Some solutions are just for a short time and won’t be helpful to your business. Also, it is important to choose a solution that is realistic to accomplish. You should know whether you have the resources to solve the problem and if you have enough time to implement your approach. Consider the extent of the risk that comes with each alternative.

Have a plan for implementing the best alternative

You should consider what the situation will look like when you have solved the problems. Know the steps that you need to take to implement the best alternative solution. Know the processes or the systems you need to change in your organization to ensure that the solution is effective. Managers should make sure that the steps are being followed to solve the problem. You will need resources in terms of money, people and facilities to solve the problems. It is also crucial to know the time needed to implement the solution and write a schedule to include the start and stop time. In most cases, managers choose other people to be responsible for solving the problem. If this is the case, you should know the responsible persons in solving the problem.

If other people are involved in solving the problem, you should communicate the plan to them and ensure that they follow the plan by supervising them.

Verify if the problem has been solved

Managers should always verify if the problem has been solved and one of the best ways to verifying is to resume normal operations in your organization. You should consider the changes that need to be made to prevent the problem from re-occurring in the future. You should consider training, changing policies and putting procedures in place to prevent the problem from happening again. After solving a problem, managers should learn many things from the process. A brief memo can help to highlight the success of the solution.

Management, People Management

The Role of Managers in Organizations

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The job of a manager is vital in an organization. The manager is a planner, producer, coordinator, and marketer. An organization’s success will depend on the caliber of managers in utilizing the resources to achieve business goals. Managers are pivotal figures in the task of creating wealth. Technology, methods of production, the financial setup, and marketing techniques change rapidly, and managers should be competent to cope with the changes.

Definition of a Manager

The manager is someone in an organization who directs the activities done by other people. Managers do their work at different levels, and they have different names in an organization. First line managers are called supervisors, or in construction or manufacturing, they are called foremen. Middle-level managers include various levels of management between supervisors and top-level managers in an organization.

The managers may also be called plant heads, functional managers, and project managers. There are top managers near the top of the hierarchy. The top-level managers are responsible for making decisions in an organization. They also set strategies and policies that affect different aspects of the organization. These people may also be called managing directors, vice presidents, chief executive officer or chairmen.

Managerial Functions

Managers have to perform functions like organizing, planning, staffing, directing and controlling. These functions are necessary for running of an organization and achieving objectives. Planning is essential for establishing strategies and setting goals for coordinating activities.

The organization function of a manager helps in determining the tasks to be done, how to do them and how the tasks are grouped. The staffing function of a manager is essential for employing different types of people and doing different activities such as development, training, compensation, appraisal, and welfare.

The directing function of managers requires the giving of instructions and motivating the subordinates to achieve their goals. Managers should perform the controlling function to ensure that they are being done as planned and correcting any mistakes.

Managerial skills

Managers have a number of responsibilities. Managers should have proper skills for them to perform different roles. Managers should have three essential skills; human, technical and conceptual skills. The importance of these skills varies depending on the level of the manager within an organization.

Human skills

Managers should have the ability to work well with others both in a group or individually. Managers should have human skills to get the best from the people working with them. They should also know how to communicate with people, motivate them, lead them and inspire trust and enthusiasm. The skills are essential by managers at every level, but the topmost managers need them the most.

Technical skills

Managers should have the necessary technical skills. They should also be able to work with the tools, resources, procedures, and techniques to achieve the organizational goals. Many middle managers and first-line managers should be involved in a lot of technical aspects within an organization. Some of the technical skills that managers should have include knowledge of proficiency in different specialties such as computers, engineering, manufacturing or finance. Even if the need for technical skills is less when managers go higher the hierarchy but still it is essential for a manager to have technical skills to help in decision making.

Conceptual skills

Managers should be able to coordinate and integrate different activities within an organization. Managers should have the ability to conceptualize and think about abstract solutions. They should be able to see the organization wholesomely and the relationships among the subunits in an organization to be able to visualize how the organization fits in its broad environment. Conceptual skills are also critical in decision-making. It is necessary for all managers to take the necessary decisions. Conceptual skills become more essential as managers make up the hierarchy of the organization.

Qualities of a Good Manager

Managers should be able to undertake different functions from controlling to planning. They have to make decisions for different types of activities in an organization. The decisions that managers take to influence the working of an organization. A manager should have the following qualities:

Education

Managers should have the right educational background. Nowadays, managers should have management education besides other qualifications. Education is vital because it widens the mental horizon and also helps in understanding different things and interpreting them properly. Therefore, managers should be knowledgeable in the business environment to be able to deal with various problems the organization may face.

Leadership

Managers have the responsibility of directing and motivating people working in the organization. They provide leadership to the subordinate staff. The energies of the subordinate employees should be channelizing of properly to achieve goals. If managers have leadership skills, they can motivate the subordinate staff in improving their working and performance to their full capacity in order to benefit the organization.

Intelligence

Managers have to perform more duties than other people in the organization. Their level of intelligence should be higher than other people in the organization. Intelligence is crucial because it helps managers to assess the present responsibilities as well as the future possibilities for the business. Managers should be able to foresee things in advance and take the necessary measure at the appropriate time.

Training

Managers should acquire managerial skills. The skills consist of human skills, technical skills, and conceptual skills. The skills should be acquired through guidance, education, and experience. The skills are necessary for all levels of managers.

Technical knowledge

Managers should have technical knowledge of different activities in the organization. They will be in a better position to inspect and guide if they have the knowledge of those activities.

Positive attitude

Managers should have a positive attitude. Managers have to deal with a lot of people from the inside as well as from the outside of the organization. They should be positive and sympathetic to different suggestions. They should not pre-judge people they deal with. They need to understand people’s problems and try to help them.

There are other skills such as confidence, foresight, maturity, and more skills that a manager should possess. Being a manager is not an easy role and it’s definitely more than just a title. Managers need to be able to make decisions, often with little detailed knowledge, and then they need to deal with the consequences of those decisions.

Management, People Management

Management and Technical Problem Solving

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Managers are often stuck in a very hard place. Organizations depend upon them for their ability to manage the teams, but at the same time, they are often called upon to be the escalation point when a problem inevitably goes sour. This is quite difficult as managing people often means giving up managing technology simply due to the pace of change.

Some of this can be mitigated by offering tiered support levels where agents with increasingly more complex and technical skill sets handle customer issues prior to the management level, but unfortunately, not many companies can afford this level of complexity or cost.

I’ve worked in a variety of industries around the world and this pattern tends to repeat itself in almost every organization I’ve worked in. Frequently businesses assume that by promoting managers from the team working the issue, then the problem should solve itself. After all,

“the individual was a great technical resource so they should easily make the transition to management – right?”

Management & Technical Skills

Unfortunately, this rationale simply does not work. During the time the manager was simply a technical resource, they were rewarded for gaining new and more complex technical skills. This reward could be in the form of compensation, but it could even simply be by the peer recognition of skills. While continued growth in technical skills might work in lower level management positions, it simply will not suffice in more senior positions, where managers are expected to demonstrate more strategic abilities. If managers demonstrate conceptual and human skills as well, their promotion prospects and, more importantly, their performance potential are both greatly enhanced.

A great example of this from the early days of my career was working with a senior network administrator – the manager of that team. As the leader of the support organization, I was frequently forced to interact with him when dealing with complex customer issues. I quickly learned to dread those conversations as his initial reaction was always the same:

“It’s not us! The customer is doing something wrong!”

Internally we started to call him Dr. No. However, he was simply doing what he was used to which was defending his team and department, instead of realizing the larger issue. The customers pay all of our bills and if we lose them, we have no team or department, or company! With Dr. No, there was a simple solution – have him meet the customers. Once he understood the problems and could actually see the impact our service (or lack thereof in this case) had on their business, he was able to conceptualize it in different terms.

Over time I’ve come to realize that many organizations have a “Dr. No” or the equivalent. Someone woefully lacking in people skills but a superstar in the technical department. Unfortunately, individuals like this tend to reduce a firm’s operational effectiveness. 

Perspectives on a Manager’s Job

We’ve talked previously about a manager’s role and their importance in greasing the wheels of operational effectiveness. Businesses in today’s more decentralized workforces need these skills even more than in year’s gone past and manager’s need to evolve from an authority-derived ‘issuer and interpreter of rules and orders’ to a role responsible for creating an entrepreneurial work climate that facilitates teamwork regardless of where a person physically sits while doing the work.

As someone interested in management and managing teams in general, I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you that research has stated a manager’s day is “a series of discrete, fragmented episodes.”  What this means in simpler terms is that managers are often pulled in hundreds of different directions at the same time! Managers are often unable to spend more than 5% of their time on a single discrete task and technology in the modern office with tools like Slack, Chat and Chatter only make the interruptions more frequent.

To understand what managers do, it’s important to realize their job comprises the following:

  • Managing employee performance (supervising).
  • Guiding subordinates (teaching and training).
  • Representing one’s staff (advocacy).
  • Managing team performance (facilitation).
  • Allocating resources (decision making).
  • Coordinating interdependent groups (collaboration).
  • Monitoring the business environment (scanning for adaptations).

Regardless of where you are in the management hierarchy, these tasks are common across all companies. What does change is the amount of time spent at each level as strategic planning (tasks lower in the list) tend to take a greater amount of focus as you rise in levels in your career. As companies and employees continue to migrate to digital tools and remote working, managers that are only comfortable with exercising authority and command are being retrained or replaced by those who know how to coordinate the work of interdependent teams.   Customer expectations are changing. Now and in the future customers will support only companies that deliver high-quality goods and services at the best price anywhere in the world. All firms have easy access to the tools of total quality management (TQM) (continuous improvement) and use it as a principal method to sustain operational effectiveness. The successful twenty-first-century manager moves easily in the environment of continuous improvement and develops in his subordinates the dedication to improve products and customer services.   

How can Managers Grow and Evolve?


Well, that’s really the point of these series of articles! While there isn’t a single “magic bullet” that can solve all problems there are things that can be done to improve managerial skills in a timely and effective manner.

When managers are interviewed about the problems they face, they invariably turn to annoying workplace issues. They talk about the fact that their employees “won’t go that extra mile”, or they simply “aren’t customer focused.” Many managers talk about their teams basically being “seat warmers” and complain about the siloed organizations they work in where teams simply do not talk to each other! If you’re in that type of an organization you have my pity. I’ve been there but I’ve also managed to turn things around. Feel free to reach out if I can help.

Leadership, Management, People Management

Leadership on the Front Line

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OK – its great to have friends at work.  In fact I think its a necessity – there are very few of us who would do this (or any) job for no pay and as such work is just that … its work.  If it was easy and always fun it would be called PLAY.  So with that being said, having someone to talk to at the water cooler is a good idea … however … there is a difference when you are a manager!  There is a line that shouldn’t and mustn’t be crossed and that is the line of professionalism.  So how do you lead these people without seeming like an unapproachable monster?  Well here are some hints and ideas for you:

  • Be honest – there are obviously things that you can and cannot share with your employees – terminations and reviews to mind! – but as long as you make it clear to your staff that there are some things that you cannot answer that should suffice.  Let them know that in whatever you are telling them you are being as honest and as candid as you possibly can be.  Remember if you get caught in a lie, it’s not only going to impact the employee that you lied but everyone else also once they hear about it … after all if you could lie to one of their peers about something, whats to tell them that you’re not lying to them also?
  • Communicate ALWAYS – talk to your team. Constant and continual feedback on performance is imperative.  They need to know how they stand in the company and in their team, what they can do to improve and if they’ve done something wrong this is even more important.  Most employees are in the job to do the best that they can do – there have been very few instances in my career that an employee just didn’t care and actively campaigned to get terminated (that’s a story for another day!) – and its up to you to tell them how to do this.  In addition to keeping your staff informed and motivated however this has a direct impact on you – do you remember my previous post about Performance Appraisals (if not, click here) – trying to do a year end performance appraisal without giving the employee feedback throughout the year is going to be extremely difficult unless you’ve decided to grade them at the highest possible level.  If you’ve not been telling them what they can do to improve and trying to help them to do this they have every right to rip you apart in the review meeting!

Now where do you go to blow of steam?  Lets be honest (which I always encourage – see point 1!) managing is a hard job.  If you’re in a difficult situation with your company or a member of your team you sometimes need to be able to say things that are outside the scope.  This is where your manager comes in and if you have a large enough and established enough company – your peers – come in.  They will be able to assist you in your decision making process and give you clear unbiased opinions on any decisions that you are concerned about.  If you’re not comfortable utilizing that framework – heck ask me!  I’ll give you a completely unbiased opinion and off course there are also tons of networking related groups available online that you can frequent that will be able to provide you guidance in your field too.

Leadership and management isn’t easy … well managing badly can be very easy … its becoming a great manager that takes work.  I hope you choose to make the effort.

KPI, Planning

KPI’s and the Importance of Measurements

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There is a great quote that goes something like –

“If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it!”

 … this is so true and especially so in the Technical Support, Customer Service, and Operations areas.

There are great KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and not so great ones.  The key is choosing the right one for your business and you need to choose it from a CUSTOMER point of view.

There is no use in choosing your KPI from any other area as if you lose your customers, you lose your revenue and obviously you lose your business!!

When defining a set of KPIs to control and measure performance, the most likely debate is probably around measuring KPIs.  Another way to think about KPIs is that they are measurements designed to assess performance.

The Traditional Mantra is –

“Measure. Analyse. Act” 
 
KPI’s are the middle stage, but they’re defined by the first and they should drive the third.

What KPI’s should I use?

Your choice of KPI’s depends on your intention and target audience.  Which problem or issue are you trying to solve, whom is it impacting, what is the impact and what outcome would you like to see afterward are all good questions to ask when building a KPI plan.

Two common KPIs are 1st Call Resolution and Downtime (please note I have not said these are good ones – that is something you will need to determine for yourself depending on your interpretation of what’s important to your customer … this is something I shall discuss in greater detail in later posts).

Similarly, KPI’s should be measured over time and you should not expect your initial snapshot to give you the full picture as you will frequently have to ‘massage’ and/or revise your measurement criteria and focus until you are measuring the correct information.

1st Call Resolution – 

Measurement of the %’age of customer issues resolved at the first call.

% Uptime/Downtime –

Measurement of the %’age of time the service is available (or not).

These are just 2 of the hundreds of different KPIs out there … a great place to find more is here and it is well worth your time to visit!

Another problem you might have though is that you don’t have any way to measure this … that is something I will discuss further in later posts.