Do We Have a Leadership Problem?

Do We Have a Leadership Problem?

I was recently with a client who has a team struggling to provide a consistent, quality service experience. The team is made up of senior agents who have all of the skills necessary to wow their customers, but a quick analysis of their phone calls reveals that they are stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity.

As I spent some time evaluating the situation, two things became very clear to me. The leader of this team is extremely competent and highly productive, but he doesn't care at all for the quality with which his team communicates with customers. The call center manager is aware that the team leader himself provides poor quality service, but is so pleased with his competent productivity that the poor quality is overlooked and ignored.

The result is that the entire team follows the example of their leaders. The CSRs can easily dismiss their own poor quality scores because their team leader doesn't care what they are, nor will they be held accountable to a higher standard. The call center manager can bark all he wants to about improving quality scores, but the daily reality on the call floor is that the team does whatever it wants and neither the team leader nor the manager does anything about it.

The head of a highly effective international organization, whom I respect, once addressed the issue of poorly performing teams. When confronting the fact that a team is not performing well, he gets the key players together in a room and starts by asking the question, "Do we have a leadership problem?" No leader in the chain of command is excused from consideration of the question.

I often witness managers, when grappling with poor performing teams, who start by asking questions like "Do we have a technology problem?" or "Do we have a training issue?" If your team is struggling, I would respectfully suggest that you start with an honest examination of leadership within the organization.