What Makes a Good Call Center Manager?

Excellent call center managers are rare breed in the Philippines. As scarce as they are, one may equally have a hard time finding the "complete package". Most of the good ones in position right now have grown into the job because of tenure or promoted due to the number of merits they have accomplished in a lower role or sometimes have gotten the job due to pure charisma. The complete package of a call center manager almost seem impossible to find. However, looking for the perfect one may not seem necessary as organizational needs are different. Finding critical traits should be crucial to call centers needing visionary leaders.

Inspired by an article written by Nick Kossovan at Google Knol recently, I've decided to add my own insights into what he considers 6 attributes of a good call center manager. If you're planning to develop yourself into a good call center leader one day, you might want to read what he has to say about the following key characteristics:

1. Ability to lead
2. Sense of humor
3. Ability to sell ideas
4. Understands management is not about having control
5. A visionary
6. Outside the box thinker

Add to these, I think the following more specific attributes are also essential.to be an effective call center manager.

1. A strong negotiator - I remember back in the day when I took my company's operations manager assessment test to gauge if I am ready for the job promotion. It was my first ever so I had no idea how it was going to be. First was the written test and then the interview. To my surprise, the interview turned out to be a recorded role-playing skit between my and our Leadership Assessment manager. The situation was the client I was managing had a huge problem with our service level at the same time I was to propose/suggest more business from them. My sweat was rolling down my face as I tried to be very concise about my statements on how to address their issues, how I am willing to commit to better performance and how I propose (and later on justify) more business in behalf of my company. The experience woke me up on the realities that call center managers have crucial roles not only in terms of keeping what they have but also add more value for their companies. I was felt happy to find out 2 weeks later that I passed the assessment on my first try.

2 Organizational and decision-making skills - Like I quoted a while ago, our call center manager pool in the Philippines can still be considered immature as a group not as per individual. Many still lack the analytical and decision making skills only gained through apprenticeship on the roles they have right now. Being a supervisor for a long time or being a meritorious one does not translate into being a fit for the bigger role. Some are charismatic in their approach towards managing people while others are "better with the numbers". The call center manager's role involves a lot of organizational skills that often decide the fate of their teams and also strong decision-making skills that decide the fate of the business they are handling for the company. Under this includes goal-setting for the line of business, ability to critically analyze performance, strategizing on call center technology and organizational development. These days you will see call center organizations "delegating" these roles into separate individuals depending on their strengths instead of one central person handling all equally important tasks.

3. Feedback advocate, Master motivator and super-coach - These three I group into one category because they all fall into communications. Internal customers' feedback, especially negative ones, are bane to some who have not been accustomed to criticisms in life as a whole. Managers must be see through these and encourage others to suggest a better way. To be a master motivator and super-coach are very important in this role. I've seen and worked for 2 different senior managers consecutively before and saw what huge difference in styles they have and what those two styles equate to. My first one was a "cheerleader". He was hardly around but at least once a week he talked with everyone. I couldn't remember exactly what his words were but we always were enlightened and happy to do our jobs better after the meeting. We loved having him around. The one who eventually replaced him was trash. He was hardly around too but when he was, all we could remember was how bad we felt about our job and we needed to do more. Needless to say we felt better and more comfortable when he is away. There are also different styles in motivation. For some people, challenging them directly makes them work better while others need pats on the back to make them feel good about themselves. Using the right style for each person is key.

Take a look at Nick Kossovan's article here too and learn from what you have just read so that you'll be able quickly assess your strengths and opportunities for career growth. Remember, my point here is not to define the perfect call center manager but rather to identify points where leaders and aspiring leaders can assess themselves in and work on their opportunites.

Posted in: Call Center Management