You’ve worked hard to become a good call center manager. Your call center looks at you to keep up performance and make sure quality does not diminish. What you do involves great responsibility… and in some cases, stress.
It’s not feasible to maintain work expectations, be overwhelmed by stress, and continue growing. To grow as a professional… as a manager, means you have to gain, improve, and strengthen new skills for your career and workplace. Yes, all good managers should be knowledgeable, have a good attitude, and be professional. However, here we examine qualities you should have or be working toward in your organization to become a great call center manager.
1- Emotional Intelligence
A Harvard Business School article defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you.” Managers who want to perform at the highest level need to understand not just their own needs, but the needs of others in an organization. They build environments where others feel like their voices are heard. Employees who feel listened to, take more pride in their work and feel a greater sense of commitment to their organizations.
2- Willingness to Learn From Others
No one person knows everything. It’s impossible to have all the answers. However, poor managers see interactions with others as a one-way street. They feel the need to impart knowledge onto others and not have it be interactive. Good managers look outside of themselves and seek answers from others who know more. They take this information and then make informed decisions.
3- Celebrate Good Performance
Are you the type of manager who recognizes the good and not just the bad? If so, you motivate others around you. When you acknowledge good performance and celebrate it, it shows those you manage that you have confidence in them. Do you want to retain your talent? Look for ways to celebrate when people perform well in your organization.
4- Take Accountability for Their Actions
If your management style involves placing blame when there is a problem or a crisis, you could be creating a toxic environment. When situations like this arise, people immediately feel judged, powerless, and become embittered. Managers who take accountability for their actions show that they are interested in finding solutions rather than amplifying problems. Communicate openly, with transparency, in a way that takes responsibility for problems.
5- Ask for Feedback and Welcome Constructive Criticism
Effective managers don’t only give feedback. They also ask their colleagues for feedback and welcome criticism, even though it may involve negative comments. The manager who doesn’t care what people think is usually not interested in improving himself/herself. It doesn’t just stop at feedback internally. Managers are also curious about how customers perceive the usefulness of a product or service. It’s not uncommon that they use tools like questionnaires or surveys to better understand the customer.
Being a good manager takes time. It also requires patience. Work to develop or improve these traits in your organization. Those you manage, your teammates, your internal leaders, and your customers have much to gain if you put a priority on traits to be better.