Great Leaders Accept Responsibility for the Success of Their Teams

By A Horton

Every great leader, who aims to bring the best out in their team and to succeed at realising the results they, set out to achieve, knows that they must accept 100 % responsibility for the performance of their team or organisation.

The leader’s commitment, drive and passion to succeed, must be higher than anyone else’s, in their team or organisation. They must be the catalyst that inspires each individual to greatness. Their dedication must be unquestionable and their passion to inspire their team members to succeed must be high.

If you are leading a team and you are not inspired by your vision and driven to succeed, then your team is not going to be inspired either. If you do not feel really driven and passionate about leading your team to success, then it is time to conduct a self-audit and to discover the reason why.

If you are unable to feel total commitment, towards influencing and inspiring your team to greatness, where you inspire them daily to achieve the common vision, then there is something missing.

You are either:

• Leading a team towards a vision that has no real meaning to you or your team.
• Leading the wrong team that is disinterested in your vision.
• Leading a team that is filled with the wrong people.
• Your team members do not have the right skill set to deliver on the vision.
• Working in the wrong organisation that is not aligned with your vision or style of leadership.
• You are the wrong person to lead the team.

If after answering these questions you realise that some or all these issues are limiting your performance. Then it is crucial that you immediately begin making plans to change things. You can never succeed as a leader if even one of the above factors is not in place.

• If your team is aligned behind you as their leader, but they do not buy into the vision for the team, you can either look at communicating the vision differently so that they see it from your perspective or you need to revise the vision.

• If you are leading the wrong team or a team filled with the wrong people, you must take action immediately to remedy this. Invest time to discover all the skills necessary for your team to achieve the vision you have for the team.

• Record these and then compare them to the actual list of skills available within your team. If there are functions or tasks, which are necessary to achieve your vision, but no one in your team is able to fulfill those functions or tasks. You need to urgently add people to your team, who do possess those skills or train the existing team members, so that they can carry out those functions.

• No team can ever succeed if there is not unity of vision amongst all team members. As long as team members are not working towards a common vision, their efforts will be diluted and the team will never succeed. It is crucial that a leader receives constant feedback from their team, regarding their buy in and support for the vision.

• To be a great Leader, you must consistently conduct informal research and discover what is important to each of your team members. Try to understand what inspires and drives them. When you know what their personal vision is for the future and you can weave a picture, which allows them to align their personal vision with that of the team. You have the makings of an incredible, driven and passionate team.

• Keep communicating your vision clearly and concisely to your team and get feedback from them as often as possible regarding their understanding of the overall vision. Do not just assume that everyone knows and understands the team vision.

• The more clarity each team member has about the vision and their individual role on delivering on that vision, the better the results the team will enjoy. Keep communicating the same vision, consistently, clearly and creatively until everyone is on the same page.

It does not matter how much talent or ability resides in your team. The outcome they will enjoy is directly proportional to the quality of the vision and the way that vision is communicated and understood by each individual in the team. No team can or will ever be successful if they are all driven and inspired by different agendas.

Once you are certain that your team is inspired by, understands and is passionate about the common vision, it is time to assess the diversity of skills available within the team. No business or team can succeed with only sales people or accountants.

Every team or organisation requires diversity of skills, abilities and personalities to succeed. I got this concept really wrong in my early years of leadership. I thought I would be successful, if I could surround myself and fill all my teams with people just like me.

That oversight on my part cost me dearly and it took a number of years to see that my progress was being hampered by this naïve approach to business.

As soon as I realised that a team is about diversity and that every person has a unique role to play within the team, I began to realise amazing results with my teams. No human body would work very well with only kidneys, hearts or lungs. To function as a whole person, we need all the organs in our bodies, each with a very specific function.

All great leaders realise that each person on their team contributes in their own special and unique way.

See the need for diversity within your teams and show appreciation to each team member for their unique and crucial contribution to the team effort.

Don’t fall into the trap like I did as a young leader. Don’t overlook the importance of filling your teams with a diverse group of people with differing skills and abilities. You do need great team members with appropriate skills to succeed. That is a non-negotiable. You can never succeed with the wrong people.

You can however still fail to achieve your goals and vision as a team, even if your teams are filled with the perfect people. Lou Holtz epitomised this concept when he said “You have to have great athletes to win. I don’t care who the coach is. You can’t win without great athletes, but you can lose with them. This is where coaching makes the difference”

This shows the importance of great leadership, which is necessary to lead people to success. It is the role of a great leader to inspire, influence and bring the right people together and to get them behind a common vision.

When all these factors are in place, nothing can stop the team from succeeding. Talent, diversity and unity of vision don’t come together on their own. It takes a leader to provide inspiration, empowerment and direction to a team so that they can succeed.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment.

I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

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If Superman worked in a call centre

If Superman was answering the phone in your call centre, what would he do? Would Batman do any better?

Read on to find out which superhero would give the best customer service, and which special abilities your agents can develop to become call centre superheroes.

Which superhero would do best in a call centre?

This was a question that we recently posed to our readers on our Twitter Page. Superman was a popular choice.

“No doubt it would be Superman! Batman is too moody and the Hulk is too irritable! Superman gets the ‘need for good PR’!” said FrontRange Solutions.

“Superman hands down! Nothing says ‘how can I help you?’ better than his charming smile and bright red cape,” said RPOA.

But versatility would also be a useful call centre asset.

“I think it would have to be Elasti-Girl; she’d provide the most flexible customer service ever!” said Sara Lewis.

Which ‘special powers’ would help deliver great customer service? Call Centre Helper took to the mean streets of Gotham City to find out.

Super listening skills

Listening skills

Any good customer service agent must have great listening skills.

“Ever notice how superheroes never interrupt or jump to conclusions? Superheroes are good listeners! Call centre agents need a variety of skills but the most important skill is the ability to listen to the customer,” said Bill Leinweber, Chief Experience Officer at Landmark Experience Consulting.

Super honesty

They must also be honest. All true superheroes make a stand for honesty against corruption and vice. Call centre agents must do the same, and one superhero in particular provides an honest role model.

“Let me be the first to say Wonder Woman, with her golden lasso of truth. This would be valuable both for the agents – sincerity – and for the callers, as it’s easier to help someone who is telling the truth,” said Heidi Miller, Chief Conservation Officer at Spoken Communications.

Saving the day

Team effort

No customer service superhero can solve every customer problem on their own. A team effort is important, meaning collaboration with other agents and management throughout the call centre.

“Management should provide proper assistance, efficient trouble-shooting tools and should not evaluate the agent based on the average handling time of calls,” said Jay Gollamudi, Senior Information Analyst at Verizon Wireless.

So, should we create new superheroes for the call centre?

Super empathy

When customer frustration mounts, the call centre must turn to “The Empathiser”. She is blessed with a deep understanding of customer frustrations, and she can turn the angriest complainants into satisfied customers by effectively and efficiently sorting out their problems. The Empathiser often steps in to save the day when all looks lost.

Silver Tongue

“Silver Tongue” gets results, and his sales abilities border on the telepathic. He knows what people want. He greets customers with unflagging enthusiasm, and never lets up until a sale is made. As the ultimate ‘people person’ he has a way with words that could convince a customer to buy a whole new bathroom suite when all they called up for was a new toilet-roll holder. His innate ability to up-sell means he smashes targets every week. Only alcoholism and economic recession can harm him.

“I’ll be round in a minute”

Repair Man

Boiler Repair Man always shows up on time, arriving at the scene of the customer’s ‘crime’ faster than the competition. His magic toolbox contains any part needed to fix your boiler – or washing machine, computer, or pretty much any other problem. No more waiting around because the service guys don’t have the right part with them in the van. Boiler Repair Man delivers every time – if you happen to have ordered groceries online.

Multi-Mouth

Multi Mouth

The hard-working lynch-pin of the call centre. Rumour has it Multi-Mouth was created in a top-secret local government customer service genetic engineering experiment gone horribly wrong. It isn’t clear whether Multi-Mouth is male or female, as no one can distinguish gender characteristics amongst the tangle of arms and mouths that descend on vine-like stalks from its vaguely humanoid head. Some say it never goes home, working endlessly without a break. Since Multi-Mouth began work, call queues are a thing of the past. It can answer more than ten calls simultaneously, never losing track of a customer, staying with each call until it is successfully resolved. Of course, in the real world, few customer service agents have multiple mouths. But many conscientiously work hard and take pride in their job. Just like a superhero would.

Super supervision

Super Vision

Supervisors and team leaders can be superheroes too. As a natural leader the supervisor makes sure his or her team of superheroes use their powers for good rather than evil. Think Professor Xavier in the X-Men.

The management skills of Commissioner Gordon

The Executive is the public face of the shadowy Board of Directors, a mysterious organisation that meets from time to time behind a closed door marked ‘Boardroom’. What exactly they discuss is anyone’s guess, but when word of a meeting spreads, it’s a good bet The Executive will soon show up in the call centre. His loyalties aren’t always clear, but his unexpected visits sometimes bring promises of renewed commitment, focus and investment. He’s similar to Commissioner Gordon, Batman’s sometime ally in Gotham City’s Police Department.

Batman’s super gadgets

Not every superhero is born with superhuman abilities. Not every customer service agent has innate empathy, listening ability and sales skills. Sometimes a superhero has to be created. Batman doesn’t have any superhuman powers. He isn’t indestructible, can’t read minds, and isn’t a genetic mutation of a spider. He’s Bruce Wayne, ordinary bloke – well, ordinary billionaire play-boy – but an array of gadgets allows him to become Batman, the crime-fighting caped crusader. Call centres can learn from his methods. Even agents who can’t read minds can still become superheroes given the right equipment.

Enable single sign-on

All systems and workflow in a call centre should be set up to allow agents to take calls as smoothly as possible. Take computer sign-on, for example. When Batman hears of trouble, he doesn’t have to sit in the Batmobile for five minutes, typing in his login details and waiting for it to boot up. He’s away instantly. Call centre staff also need to be ready to go the moment they get a call from a customer in distress.

“Contact centre agents often have multiple logins and must switch between different applications, resulting in long hold times for customers and inefficient business processes,” said Aphrodite Brinsmead, Associate Analyst of Customer Interaction Technologies at Datamonitor.

Eliminate the need to flick between different software screens, cutting and pasting information between browser windows. A system that alerts agents to opportunities to up-sell – in real time – could add a few sales seamlessly, almost like mind control!

Training

Batman built his own tools, assisted by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) in the recent films. Call centre agents must be trained properly, according to Francis Carden of OpenSpan.

“Many superheroes had difficulty harnessing their powers in their younger days. By investing in a comprehensive training programme, teaching superhero agents to utilise the tools and applications at their disposal, a call centre manager can ensure that all investments, including staff, hardware and software, are being used to their full potential,” said Carden.

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