The technology and best practices for contact centers have rapidly changed over the years. And one of the biggest was the rapid shift of remote work from the fringes to the mainstream as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as the subsequent “new normal” left in its wake.
Overlaying this is the long-accepted practices of nationally- and globally located distributed multi-site contact centers, often active 24/7 or using follow-the-sun to provide customer service.
A few years back, I was fortunate to consult for a team that was a pioneer in the contact center industry: and in remote and distributed working.
From the owner having a cot in his spare bedroom where he personally serviced several direct phone lines 24/7 – to adding tech that enabled him to build a business that supports customers with a nationally distributed team across the continental U.S. – it was (and is) on the cutting edge.
The owner’s query to me back then was, “Tyler, how do I build a team when people barely work the same hours together and rarely are in the same space?”
Back then it was a conundrum I hadn’t considered. So, I started to pour over the literature. I interviewed managers of 24/7 operations. I even did a proprietary study on remote workers (before it was a thing). What did I find from all those data points?
Well pour yourself a cup of coffee and let me share some of the high points and how you can use them to build better employee experiences and engagement.
Get Real
Clearly define and own the barriers and benefits to the way you work. Use the 90:10 rule to come up with solutions (talk about the problem for 10% of the time and the solution for the 90%).
Many managers “wished” it was this way or that. Don’t fight the unique makeup of your team. Instead, embrace what you have and max it out.
Be a public advocate of the great things your remote teams are doing.
For example, my client hosted a ’24/7 games’. What we did was create teams that had members on each “shift;” we then sent out daily an accessible online game to play and get a score.
The players posted their results on a Slack channel page every day along with screenshots; the collective scores were then tabulated on behalf of that entire team.
At the end of the week, we emailed gold, silver, and bronze valued gift cards to the winning teams and hosted a “news cast” to talk about the games and posted a video.
Set Rules/Expectations
Set policies and standards early on. Create the expectation and positively reinforce it. Build a system of championing accountability and responsibility.
This point came as a result of a client having a shared 24/7 office. There is nothing more frustrating than cleaning up someone else’s mess from the shift before. It was a rub if one shift left the shared desk spaces in a mess.
In an attempt to change behavior, the arriving staff would vote on the best left workstation. The previous shift manager then awarded a ’Desk Fairy’ award to the person who left the station in exemplary condition.
With the advent and popularity of hybrid work, with different employees coming in at various times and days, you can expect messy desks to happen more often. So, plan for more “visits” from the Desk Fairy to encourage positive staff behavior.
Change Media for Meetings
Provide different ways of delivering messages. Just because your team isn’t in the same place at the same time doesn’t mean in today’s day and age they shouldn’t be able to share in the same experience.
One of the tools we used for that was building and hosting a private YouTube-styled channel on the company’s intranet. What was cool about this was the president could leave messages, you could shoot and share learning videos, and even have “commercials” that provide learning or announcements.
Another “change of media” for meetings was one company hosted their annual corporate retreat as a “family fun day.” They had age-appropriate activities for kids and adults: and support while the staff had their “business meeting” (for one hour).
Enabling Face-to-Face (and Video)
A vital component to co-located teams is finding a bit of extra funding for face-to-face meetings. While software for virtual connection is good, nothing compares to the in-person collaboration and co-creation of ideas and solutions.
Bringing managers and agents together, where economically viable (and weather permitting), creates unparalleled opportunity for engagement and retention.
But when the business case for an investment of in-person connection is not possible you can consider remote video events. To help ensure the learning transfer consider investing in a skilled online facilitator.
Beyond that, is to make sure that each remote worker has equitable access to equipment. This is not always that easy, but a rigorous project plan to keep everyone on the same level helps to ensure standard customer service output.
Publicly Support and Champion Your Teams
Be a public advocate of the great things your remote teams are doing. In the call center environment, it is difficult for managers and leaders to know the good work if the supervisors don’t report it. There are amazing exemplars in the business, you need to build a way to highlight those success stories.
Identify your team’s importance and passionately tell their story at management meetings, newsletters, and functions. Good news travels fast.
Working in a remote workspace has a multitude of amazing opportunities to build a cohesive and committed team.
Also, be the first in the ring to lead the charge of other teams supporting the efforts of your remote team. Make sure to thank those parts of the business that are supporting your team’s efforts.
Team Building Approach and Tools
Additionally, we looked at some easy to implement remote team building tools and activities. We classified them into three categories, we called them The 3 F’s: Fun, Fast Forward, and Fix.
Here is a quick overview of each of them, and some ideas that can accomplish that learning outcome in remote team engagement in a call center.
Fun
This is what we have been programmed to believe is “team building.” It is the traditional time when we get together and get involved in an event or activity that requires us to flex our interpersonal muscles and “get to know each other” while engaging in some type of task.
This traditionally ranges from a golf trip or celebration dinner to nowadays an escape room or outdoor adventure.
No matter which way you slice it, these are amazing opportunities for teams to develop those interpersonal connections in a fun and recreational way (there is a broader discussion here around team learning: perhaps for another article).
These are totally vital to the development of a team and are totally recommended on an as often as possible basis (i.e., time and money budgets).
- Virtual happy hour with management. To do this, mail out or have Uber Eats deliver a treat for that event, with the box only being open when the meeting starts. Invite senior management to the party.
- Cell phone ring. Share yours and have others share theirs as a quick icebreaker at the start of a meeting and see if you can identify the tune; you can also do this like “Name That Tune” by having each member play the last (appropriate lol) song on their phone’s playlist. After that, ask people to turn their phones on silent for the rest of the meeting.
- Online/Wii games. Use a game console in the lunchroom or a virtual game provider if your team is fully remote (more directions previously on this one in the ’24/7 games’ example).
- 20?’s Build a series of word clouds with random 20 questions, have people scan a QR code, and answer the series. Then share the results…it will be interesting to see the commonalities.
Fast Forward
Here is the most often missed and richest opportunity that managers and leaders have at their disposal. Fast forward is when we take team building and integrate it into the training and daily life of our team.
This could mean adding a game structure around a training course and awarding points, badges, and winners’ circles to promote healthy competition between sales teams with weekly acknowledgements.
It could also mean adding a get-to-know-you activity or icebreaker at the beginning of your regular meetings or doing that rewards and recognition stuff you’ve been putting off.
Wise managers seek opportunities within their organization to fit a team function into regular training or work life. It’s called fast forward because team collaboration and connectivity improves faster as it is done on a regular basis, and not just a huge capstone annual event.
- Online/intranet scavenger hunt. Insert tokens or “chocolate eggs” that your team has to find in client files. Create a series of clues/questions that lead them into the files so that they can discover the tokens. They then collect the codes on those tokens: the person with the most number of tokens wins.
- Coffee talk. This is a tool we use as “a get to know you” activity. Basically, it is a series of open-ended questions or statements that pairs of people take turns answering. You can use this method to learn more about a certain work-related function by building questions that focus on that content (i.e., say you were doing a customer service session, you could ask “How do you deal with an angry customer? Or I escalate calls when…”)
- Build an acronym “Wiki” just for your team. It’s so amazing how different teams have their own language…host a Slack channel that teaches your teams the unique vernacular about customer service, technology, etc. Then host a game show like “Jeopardy!” around that unique content to your team.
Fix
Sometimes “team” issues become painful. This can be as a result of strained relationships, favoritism, perceptions, downsizing, outsourcing…the list goes on.
Typically, at the core, there are some trust issues between your team, sometimes precipitated by either internal or external issues. Either way, these need to be dealt with so that they don’t become caustic and debilitating to your team’s progress, connectivity, or profitability.
There are many ways to “fix” team building, and often it requires a consultant, coach, or senior leader’s support.
These team building solutions can be very intricate, have long reaches within the business, and take some heavy lifting. Some of the solutions for teams in crisis can include removing the staff source of contention, group coaching, change of management or employee, or a confrontation event.
Do note that any of these solutions require a full toolbox of skills and should not be entered into lightly, nor without significant support and planning. All that being said, once you “fix” the team, you will have opened the way for them to redevelop from this new starting place.
- Cross-cultural issues. How to manage language, ethics, etc. Oftentimes people of different backgrounds are accustomed to responding in certain ways. Cross-cultural education can help to bring information to the forefront.
- Time zone. It can be challenging to schedule meetings, provide training, etc. Some solutions include asynchronous learning and micro learning for training and quick Doodle polls for meeting schedules.
- Expectation that you are always available. In a 24/7 environment it is easy to step outside of your personal life to “go to work” …this can be detrimental to your health and family. Make sure to establish and keep accessible and regular hours.
- Personal relationship with the team leader. Be careful to allocate “sweet jobs” equitably. It is very easy to offer the choice assignments to those closer to you both geographically and personally. But this can create division in the team.
- Isolation. Loneliness is an epidemic according to the World Health Organization. Create opportunities for your team to come together both in-person and virtually. Also, in your coaching and performance appraisals look for ways to incorporate dialog about social activities and interactions (i.e., belonging to a local interest club or place of worship).
Working in a remote workspace has a multitude of amazing opportunities to build a cohesive and committed team. As we do the work in engaging our workforce, managers and leaders will begin to see the benefits to the bottom line and client satisfaction. Take little steps consistently to see long-term results.
