How many times in the last year have you questioned what you are doing, be it the method or the actual activity?

To ensure that maximum benefit is obtained from any activity we need to question ourselves regularly as to why are we doing something, how many times is the standard answer in an office, because we have always done it like that!

Do you ever ask staff if there is a different way of doing something?

Do you have team / 121 sessions encouraging employees to promote their ideas?

As they always say there is never a bad idea……. and the result will either be a better process for you, or the staff member having a greater understanding of what they are doing when you explain Why their idea is not appropriate.

Some of the best outputs can come for when we ask staff for ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ in their role, this ensures the output is balanced and does not allow employees to have a whinging session.

Case Study…

Being involved in a call centre struggling to achieve service through a surge, it was identified that a prohibitor was the sheer level of contact from a partner, reducing the staff time to undertake customer queries.  Partner contact amounted to 3000 call per month, equivalent of 4 FTE.  Through developing a greater understanding of the queries from the partners via the introduction of tally sheets, we then developed a secure information website for the partner, this gave a win win situation for all parties;

– Prompt information for the partner,

– Less calls into the centre,

Within a month we had undertaken training and produced guidance notes for the partner, produced call scripting for the centre for polite responses when the partner called and arranged a process for where detailed information was needed, again keeping this away from the handlers allowing them to focus on the customer.

If you feel that you are receiving excess calls, or want an fresh look at ‘why’ please do not hesitate to contact us.