By: Nik Bilyk
In the world of auto racing, drivers constantly make subtle movements with their hands to keep their car exactly where it needs to be. If they were to let go of the wheel, the car would begin to drift off course. Business leaders do the same thing, they continuously make minor adjustments to keep the business on the right track toward success.
How can leaders not only make the adjustments they need to but also empower their teams to do the same? One important strategy for success is continuous improvement.
There is a key difference between merely improving a process and continuous improvement. Process Improvement is related to a single process. You analyze a problem, create and implement a solution, and review the results. Continuous improvement, in contrast, is a cultural force of problem-solving.
Two of our values as a company are Solutions Oriented and Empowerment. These are essential for creating a culture that both cares about making things better and is empowered to do something about it. For a company to succeed in the long term, employees need to work together to make improvements.
When contact center agents notice a problem, they need to be encouraged to say something about it, to know that solving the problem matters, and to be rewarded for taking action. People want to contribute positively to their job and make a difference. Most agents are doing the job because they enjoy helping people and encouraging the helpful spirit goes a long way with engagement.
The benefits to creating a culture of continuous improvement in a contact center are numerous.
Agent Experience – To effectively create a culture of continuous improvement, it is imperative that agents are listened to, and that their feedback is sought after. By listening to agents and acting on their feedback, its possible to reduce the frustrations and friction in their job. They feel listened to and empowered, which naturally leads to higher levels of agent engagement and satisfaction. Happier agents mean happier customers.
Customer Experience – Agents feel deeply the frustrations of their customers. By listening to agents and engaging them in improving, valuable feedback from customers can be collected. By empowering teams to act, that feedback can lead to powerful results. Leaning on the expertise of agents and empowering them to fix problems creates better outcomes for customers.
Operational Effectiveness – Agents will naturally develop better ways of completing tasks. When we launched a brand new contact center for a client, we empowered the agents to assist each other. By helping each other, agents felt more confident, were able to solve problems faster, and felt such a strong sense of teamwork. There was little turnover within the team, in fact, less than 10% of the agents on the team quit within the first year!
The Bottom Line – Return on Investment and profits are top of mind for every business. A culture of continuous improvement is naturally focused on what matters most: reducing costs, reducing errors, speeding up processes, aligning closer to customer expectations, and having that entrepreneurial mindset to solving problems.
How does Continuous Improvement provide value to our clients?
We combine our extensive operational experience with our company values and culture for great results. We are not content to do the bare minimum for our clients, trying to squeeze profits out wherever they can be found. Fundamentally, our success depends on our client’s success.
A partnership with AW is a partnership in the truest sense of the word. We are committed to your success and will do what it takes to ensure success.
We pride ourselves on adapting to shifting circumstances and needs. We don’t just stick to ways of doing things because “that is how it’s always been done.”
Continuous Improvement in Action
One client came to us with a serious problem. Their Tier 2 queue was overwhelmed and the results were predictably bad. We analyzed the problem and determined that most of the contacts were simple in nature, an agent knowing the answer but just needing confirmation, needing a simple approval, or even just needing direction to the right knowledge article. We piloted an internal Tier 2 chat experience for our agents. Without adding any additional cost to our client, agents could get in touch with an expert on our team without having to wait. These experts filtered out requests, solving the simple ones and escalating the rest.
The result for our client? The number of contacts in their Tier 2 queue dropped by two-thirds! They wouldn’t need to hire and train more costly Tier 2 staff. The existing staff they had were no longer overwhelmed with back to back calls. Our agents were beyond appreciative of the new resource, with new agents finding it particularly useful. Less time on hold waiting for Tier 2 meant happier customers, happier agents, and reduced costs due to reduced handle times.
That is what a partnership looks like. That is what a culture focused on problem-solving and empowering can accomplish. What would having a partner who values your success mean to your business?
