Pulling A Team Together Around Performance Management

Written by KOVA Corp

For any team to work and work well, there must be clear expectations and lines of communication. And there’s no way to avoid them:  Performance management is key to ensure your contact center team members are all pulling in the same direction.

But if it’s so important, why is there such a sense of dread surrounding the topic of performance management? Because of the perception that it is empty bureaucracy, merely a control mechanism, a hindrance to your team at best, and an expression of management’s hostility, at worst.

But there are ways contact center supervisors can use performance management as a rallying point for team esprit de corps. It’s all about changing perceptions.

The Ladder To Success

Enterprise-Workforce-Optimization

Foundation: Trust

Like any process, the beginning starts with a strong foundation. When approaching a contact center team with something new, or something that can be perceived in a negative way, establishing a secure foundation of trust is imperative.

The ideal way to gain your team’s trust is with clarity and transparency. Any change can be a potential source of anxiety, so presenting the steps of your performance management program in outline form acts to allay fear. So remember, in your initial meeting, your key objective is clarity of process - explaining where your process is going.

Mutual Advantage

Clarity in large part can take the sting out of the idea of performance management by redefining the parameters. Performance management essentially is about tracking progress and identifying need.

This process works in two ways - by identifying weaknesses and strengths. Discussing the idea of addressing weaknesses often causes anxiety to team members. Work to calm those fears first by emphasizing that strengths and weaknesses are aspects of both individuals and of the team itself. Identifying strengths and weaknesses of both sides allows for better understanding and development when building a relationship. And your team won’t be asked to read minds - a unified goal is crucial to a successful program.

Next, demonstrate to your team members that areas of weakness aren’t times for finger pointing, but opportunities for development. Communicate to your team that when opportunities are discovered for, you can demonstrate that worker satisfaction is a company goal.

Team Ownership

For performance management to work, the process and the results must be owned by team members. This means keeping open lines of communication between contact center team and supervisors, but also incorporating a self-assessment component into your performance management program. Each level of management must work together to ensure quality performance.

Contact Center

Walk The Walk

Unless there is consistency and follow through, clarity of process and target setting on their own will achieve nothing. Building the trust of team workers - and keeping that trust - is a matter of utilizing performance management as a consistent method of team member development. Make sure to assure clarity with every change and create a system of checks and balance where a team member can feel comfortable expressing an issue and can expect a resolution that improves the situation.

Rewards

All work and no play can weaken any team. In working through your performance management program to set both individual team member targets and targets for the team as a whole, a reward system helps replenish good will and morale and maintain trust that the program truly identifies weaknesses and strengths. It can instill encouragement, leading to an increase in quality performances and happy employees.

A performance management program does not have to entail shaking contact center team confidence and fostering anxiety. By addressing team concerns and even anticipating them in rolling out your performance management program, you can redefine how your team perceives the program, and help ensure it will be a success. It is about building a stronger relationship within the company that can produce more efficient workforce.

 

Is Your Organization Ready to Optimize their Public Safety Systems?

eyeusers