Call Center Management - Scholarship Essay Example

IRN: (here) (here) (here) Essay Call Center Management Subtopic Types and Structures of Common Call Center Systems Description of Concrete Experiences: The caller sounded tearful as she called in, her voice cracking as she began by saying her name slowly and spelling out the last name. This was unusual as patients or those needing service in the call center more often call and explain their problem long before they state their name. She paused before she began to speak again. She said “my husband…” as she paused through a voice filled with the liquid sound of her pain. “He hit me this morning again” she finished after the pregnant pause that spoke volumes against her painful and simple words. My voice became softened, clear but without a hint of aggression as I knew she was in a delicate state and needed to hear compassion and sympathy. She could sense no condemnation of blame in my words, and my voice held none as I knew she was not to blame for her situation. I spoke slowly and in a calm voice and asked “is he there” which she then stated he was not. Knowing time was crucial I articulated carefully, but with some small amount of authority so that she felt secure “Please pack what you can quickly and come directly to the center”. I stayed on the phone while she packed, and gave her directions until I believed she was in the parking lot so that she could stay connected and feel support, even though we typically did not do such things. I took her name and notified our social service division of her situation and her needs, but I never knew for sure if she found her way out of her situation. Reflections: There are a great many types and structures of call center systems. During my time working in call centers, I have experienced three different types of systems in which the call center system structure has been organized. The three types of call centers that I have worked in have been based on direct calls, referred calls, and a combination of both. The referred calls are directed from another source, while direct calls mean that we are the first person that the person on the other end will talk to when they call. Direct call, which is the design of the current call center that I have been managing, means that the way in which the call is handled will directly determine the experience of the customer who is calling. As I spoke to the woman who was experiencing abuse, it was crucial that the way I handled the call reflected care and compassion for her situation, connecting her to the services that she needed. The call center that I have just recently been promoted to manage is in a small, Federally Qualified Health Center where there are only three individuals who are set up to make appointments. The center is responsible for making appointments for those interested in services for medicine, podiatry, pediatrics, obstetrician care, gynecological care, dentistry, nutrition, and social services. With three employees and me as a manager, it is necessary to have a high level of organization about how we operate. The basic structure of our call center is that the patient calls in, an employee answers the call, and the patient discusses the potential for service from our facility. Services are determined through need and appointments are then made according to availability by the doctor and by the patient. Organization of the scheduling systems is crucial in making sure that services are received in an efficient manner. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: Typically the calls that are received by the associates in the center are somewhat emotional, even though it is a professional atmosphere. It is the job of the person who answers the call to determine how much compassion should be used in dealing with the caller and how much professional language should be used to take the caller from need to service through making an appointment. Testing and Application: In the case of the urgent care of the caller whose husband had hit her, it was essential that she receive a high amount of compassion with a low amount of language that suggested that the appointment was the crucial part of the conversation. Continued connection was the methodology that would alleviate her feeling of isolation and achieve getting her to the service provider that she needed. The system that had been set up was to provide a connection between the facility and the patient. The call center creates that connection through emotional connections in the form of empathy, compassion, and care. The system that is put in place is that of accepting direct calls and then distributing them towards the services that the patients need. Subtopic 2: Roll of the Call Center in Organizations Description of Concrete Experiences: As I spoke with the doctor, I could tell that something was very wrong from the moment he addressed me on the phone. His voice was strained and I could hear that something had gone very badly in the process of scheduling. One of his patients had gotten to him too late and her diagnosis would not be supported by any curative means available. The delay in her appointment had been two weeks, which was the common time period that patients would need to wait to see a service provider. The way in which the call center is structured does not provide for certain types of information which may or may not have contributed to the delay in her appointment. The structure of the call center was such that she had been directly spoken to by an associate, her needs had been evaluated according to the information the associate had and through her own words, and the regular structure of placing an appointment had been accomplished. Despite the doctor’s frustration, the center had done its job and had thoroughly used the knowledge that they had to service the patient. Reflections: That time had held the woman’s fate was a tragedy that I could not get past even as I spoken to the doctor at length about the issue. Neither the doctor nor I had any ideas that could have prevented the tragedy and at the end of the call we were both frustrated with the turn of events. Although such events show that errors can have no resolution, the frustration of such a waste affects everyone involved. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: With the time delay that had progressed her illness past the position of treatable disease, the call center was concerned that there was a gap in our procedures. The medical files of patients were not fully accessible to the call center and we wondered if more knowledge might have helped us to get her in to see the physician more quickly. In examining the files, however, a diagnosis had not been made and even if she had more clearly expressed her symptoms it is likely that anyone in the call center could have known what they implied. We considered the different ways in which we could have provided better service. The first concept that we came up with was creating a five point urgency test with 1 being not urgent to five being extremely urgent. That was scraped when we decided that most people would consider their situation urgent and this would clog the system. We considered putting in place an evaluation system of questions that might help to better establish the urgency with which patients needed care. Although there was an evaluation that was currently used, we wondered if this was inadequate. Testing and Application: Although the tragedy of the woman calling into the center was sad and we all wished that it could be reversed and redone, the organization of the center proved tight and without any holes in practices. The patient did not express a greater need than any other and the time that it took for her to get in to see the doctor was not excessive. The organization of the systems had clarity and the process from the patient call to the scheduled appointment had met every criterion that had been put into place to facilitate service. The role of the call care system is to make that connection between patients and services, but in providing that connection there is a limit to the powers that the center has in controlling the outcomes. Subtopic 3: Techniques and Practices for Measuring Performance in a Call Center Description of Concrete Experiences: From across the room I heard a voice raise, abnormal for the level of conversation that normally existed within the call center room. I moved quickly, moving to the side of the person whose voice I could hear at an abnormal level. I heard the repeated statement “please refrain from using cuss words, sir; I cannot help you if you continue to be disrespectful”. By the time I was able to have her transfer the call to me, his tone had changed and I was able to help him with his needs. I spoke with the gentleman whose voice shook as he spoke and he expressed his medical needs. He was fearful and I was able to move him into a scheduled appointment on that day, thus helping him with the problem that he was having for which he was at a high level of anxiety. In response to the problems that had occurred between the employee and the patient, I listened to the recorded conversation of the call. All calls are recorded and part of my job as manager is to periodically monitor calls and listen to previous calls to ensure that the associates are performing at the highest level possible. In listening to the call I heard the anxiety increasing in the voice of the patient and the frustration was clear on my subordinates tone. Reflections: One of the essential rules of a call center is to keep your temper. Losing your temper means losing control of the call and that can lead to a whole host of problems. Losing control of the call does not always mean that the operator has lost his or her temper, but once emotional control has been trampled on either side, the call is likely to not end well. There are several aspects of the experience that must be taken into consideration when evaluating the employee who has engaged in such an experience. Looking at the employee is necessary, however, and evaluations must be made to ensure that the best possible outcome is attained. The temper in this case on the part of the patient was cooled by the transfer of the call to someone else. The caller had calmed enough to be given service and the outcome of the call had been saved from escalating to a much deeper problem. In evaluating the employee, however, this situation did not necessarily warrant it being her fault. Listening to the whole call would allow for a deeper understanding of how this situation began spiraling out of control. In reflecting on the call, it is important to understand what put the call on that trajectory and how that could be evaluated for future performance. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: One theory that holds true is that when a person who has become out of control on the phone is transferred to someone else, it is likely that the change in dynamic will push them to start behaving in a more rational manner. Years on the phone have shown that this is almost always the case. Losing one’s own temper on occasion is to be expected as well. However, if the frequency of losing one’s temper is often enough that could mean a change in job position is needed. Frequent aggressive phone calls mean that the operator has failed to maintain the right sense of professionalism tempered with compassion and is creating agitation in those with whom they are speaking. Testing and Application: The first thing that needed to be done was that the employee’s recording of the call needed to be evaluated. In listening to the call, and in recording all calls, both the awareness of the employee that they are being monitored and the factual matters of the calls can be used in order to evaluate situations that are in conflict. Performance needs to be measured on a great number of issues as far as how the employee uses their employment opportunity. Attendance, accuracy, and willingness to perform are all a part of the evaluation of an employee, but because of the unique pressures of engaging people through phone conversations, the agitation level and the way in which the individual can lower emotional levels is also a part of the evaluation. In listening to the phone call there seemed to be a small bit of agitation in the employee’s voice from the minute they got on the phone, which is something that the caller picked up on as he tried to explain his desperate situation. I had heard that frustration in her voice before so I felt it was time to sit down and discuss her options, seeing if she wanted another chance and if she did, working with her with some techniques with which to keep her under emotional control. Being professional is necessary, but it is understandable that at some times the frustration of a job will become an issue to an employee. Subtopic 4: Components of CCM Human Resources, Regulatory Agencies, and Requirements Description of Concrete Experiences: One of the things that this type of call center does not have to worry about is the regulations that are involved in calling at of hours which can result in high fines. However, there was a point that this came into issue. The call center is open a bit later than the rest of the offices to give patients and those in need a chance to call on off hours. Usually, the center has one employee who stays late in order to get any stragglers who call at later hours. One of the people who had left a message with the call center, and who was well known to us, was not answering their phone. The employee, thinking that it was harmless, called after 9pm which is clearly against regulations and could have cost us a fine. When I came in the next day, there was a call from the patient who was out of sorts over the incident. I quickly called them back and smoothed over the hard feelings that her privacy late at night had been violated. Calling the employee into a conference, I asked her what she was doing that late at the call center and why she would call someone so late. She answered that she had become concerned for this individual and had called hoping to catch them after they had gone to sleep. This small act of what she thought was kindness had the potential for a serious consequence through the regulatory commission. This had never been an issue as the center generally was closed by 7pm. Reflections: One of the problems that erupt when there are regulations that do not directly affect day to day operations is that they often are not discussed and people do not realize that their actions may go against those regulations. Even those aspects of the job are gone over during training; they are sometimes lost when the actual opportunity is presented. Things that are obscure to the daily operations are not often enough reinforced. The need to follow all regulations, not just those that are more easily remembered, is a necessity in any business. Upon thinking about how this had come about, I began to try to establish a way in which to prevent this type of violation in the future. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: One of the ways that management can avoid the forgetfulness of employees as they face issues that revolve around public policies and internal policies is in having frequent training sessions that are intended to remind all the employees of those policies that might affect their performance. It is important to know how their actions are seen in relationship with the company and with the public policies that support the industry. Frequent training by internal and external sources provides the company with well trained, knowledgeable employees who can operate at a level that exceeds that of competing entities. In addition, an employee who is well trained will be happier in their job as they feel that there is progress towards their career goals. Another advantage to frequent training is that in decreases turn-over as the job does not remain as stale and employees feel that they are participating in the future rather than stagnating at their desks. Training breaks up the work days, provides for extended career knowledge, and gives overall greater job satisfaction. Overall, there are no disadvantages to training other than having to spend some of the budget towards that end. Training should include information on human resources, on job performance, and on topics relevant to the performance of the job in relationship to policies and regulations. Training also provides an opportunity to create a team dynamic within the employee group so that they all feel like that are part of the inclusive knowledge of the job, applying the ability for them to feel connected. Testing and Application: In producing training programs that were done for a hour each month, a bonding experience occurred which made my unit stronger. The hour was spent sharing coffee with information that was needed by my people being provided at regular intervals. I included safety information, human resource and benefits information, policy information, and public policy information on a regular basis through both instructive and discussion based sessions with my small group. These breaks from the routine also created a necessary component to our team as we were able to air issues and propose strategies when difficulties were presented. Subtopic 5: Customer Relationship Management Practices and Procedures Description of Concrete Experiences: One of the difficult parts of our job is that most of the people who call in are in some degree of crisis. As an example, a patient called in who was in the middle of an episode. She had a mental disorder so her ability to express herself clearly was a problem for the operator. The operator called me over and we worked on getting a location for her so that we could call an ambulance to protect her safety. The problem, of course, is that the patient did not really want an ambulance. In that case, managing the situation took my ability to lead and be the last line of the decision making process in our department, and to pass the situation on to the authorities as I needed. We continued to talk to the patient while we were waiting for the ambulance to find her. She had communicated some suicidal thoughts and this was our main source of concern. Suicidal thoughts give us the right to take action on her behalf as we try to prevent that type of tragedy. The call that we were happy to get after the event was a call from her mother who had no idea she was on the phone and was thanking us for taking a pro-active stance on preventing a tragic death while she was right there in the home. Reflections: Where most calls are simply the act of scheduling an appointment, occasionally we have calls that require some sort of action on our part to provide services that go above and beyond. The first call made after the incident was to her doctor within our facility. While the hospital would inform him as well, it was important to me to give him a report on the event as early as possible. This gave him the opportunity to go to the hospital and participate in treatment at the earliest possible time. Part of working with customers is making decisions about how to handle their calls in relationship to the doctors. Working with our doctors and service providers allows us to have the best possible organization in the call center because the needs of both are attended. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: Working with our patients is more than just taking down information and creating an appointment. We have the need to know what is going on with the people who are our patients and know how to provide extended help to them when they need it. It is important that as a manager I am involved in this decision making process so that someone of authority is taking responsibility for making decisions that might have blowback. In keeping our patients well cared for I feel that it is essential, however, to take proactive approaches to problems rather than being conservative and risking their lives. Just as the incident of the woman whose diagnosis came to late was a problem, keeping the people we service from harm is one of my primary goals. In this capacity I may not always be able to help those who call us, but I would prefer to provide the highest level of service to them that I can within the framework of our capacity to communicate with them and lead them in the right direction. In addition to taking control during a crisis, it is also important to be professional and proactive on a daily basis. Each call should be handled for its unique problems, providing solutions that are individualized and a part of their general care. The first contact that people have with the facility is through the call center, thus our communication must be at a level that will sustain their relationship with the facility and create long term interaction in order to provide the best possible service. Testing and Application: The cornerstone of the call center position is to display professionalism that is tempered with compassion in order to service patients and clients as they ask for the protections and services that we provide. That connection as they reach out to us is vital in facilitating the operation of the entire facility. The call center is called so because it is in the position to support the communications of patients to service providers. Subtopic 5: Characteristics of Call Center Leadership, Financial Aspects and Implications for Organizational Success Factors Description of Concrete Experiences: Being the leader means that management of the team, of the budget to an extent, and to the success of my team is all a part of my job. As an example, trying to manage the budget through scheduling is a difficult prospect. As well, as I try to manage the budget, I have to provide my workers with enough hours, but not with so many that they are overburdened. As an example, during any given week I have to balance the schedule to come under budget, while providing coverage for more than eight hours per day with only three employees. I also participate in answering the phones as needed, but this addition to the schedule has limited potential on days when the call volume is high. The example of this problem came on a day in which the call volume was unusually high, but the coverage was minimal as the call volume was not expected to be that high. I had only scheduled one employee for the morning shift as I would be there as well. The phone began to ring the minute we turned on the system, with a list of voicemails left during the off hours. Those calls had to be left until later in the day when a second employee came on and I could get to returning them and scheduling them into the system. This is not the current practices and usually those calls are returned within the first two hours of the day. Reflections: While I had done nothing wrong in creating the schedule, the outcome lowered our excellence in performance. As a manager it is my responsibility to look at call trends and make sure the coverage is adequate. Clearly on that day the calls had gone against trend and our coverage was not what I had expected. In looking at the incident I realized that the budget was clearly set and that I was responsible for both aspects. One day out of sync could not dictate changes to what had been previously working for the call center. Generalization, Principles, & Theories: Creating a schedule that is within the budgetary needs of the facility is crucial in keeping costs down and focusing the budget on the areas that are more important. As the call center is important, it takes leadership and management skills to keep it running efficiently and at its peak. One of the skills of management that is needed is to not let one incident create a shift in policy when on most days the policies are working. This incident of too many calls for two people to handle when one person was usually adequate was an anomaly and recognizing that is part of the manager’s skills set. In order to have success it is important to watch all trends, not just an anomaly that creates a situation filled with anxiety. The employee that worked that morning was calling for change, but in this incident it was clear that it was outside of the normal volume of calls. Changes are good when they serve a purpose, but when they are reactionary to only one issue, they will usually do more damage than good. Testing and Application: It became quickly clear that changing the schedule was not an appropriate response to one morning of higher than expected calls. The next three weeks tracked within normal range and a change in the schedule would have only affected the budget adversely rather than creating a real solution to a real problem. The testing of this idea had to be done through tracking the number of calls that came in hourly increments so I had a general idea of call volume. The former statistics were proven true and the overall result was that no change was necessary to the current scheduling that had been put into place. The overall trends of the call center were consistent and well established. 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