Call Center Grit

Call Center Agent's Request

2007-07-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've been in the call center industry for years, so needless to say I have formed many relationships with agents around the world.

I get ask a question a lot from many of the agents. "Do you know a good way to suppliment my income?"

Hmmm, that is a good question. I'm going to recommend a system that many have recommended. I personally have not used it. The banner and link are below:

Make sure you visit http://www.callcentercafe.com/ most of the blog post on call center management, call center outsourcing and call center performance management go there now.

See you over there...

Call Center Games updated witrh New Bonus

2007-04-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

This is a quick post about some really cool changes I made to the Call Center Games package. It has been updated with a cool new design and I added an awesome bonus.

Go here to learn more: Call Center Games

Call Center Performance Management Tool

2007-03-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

Improve Performance and Morale at the same time!

These tools will help you improve performance in all areas. Are you trying to improve sales? How about Quality? What if you had a set of tools that would drive performance to new levels, without creating an employee relation nightmare...

This tool provides you with fun and engaging ideas that everybody loves.

Side Note: My team and I created these to help create a positive BUT successful environment. Currently this product has been sold to over 3,000 happy call center leaders.

Learn More by going to Call Center Games

Offshore Outsourcing is it Dangerous?

2006-07-26T19:31:00.002-07:00

Having spent time in US domestic centers and offshore, I come in contact with more and more folks that want to debate the call center outsourcing question.

Funny thing is that most of the negativity is directed at India. Both sides like to throw darts at each other. A Couple of months ago I was reading an article written by an Indian journalist, but for an American paper.

In her article she posed the question that the rudeness of US and UK customers was forcing high attrition and absenteeis, in the Indian call centers.

Apparently, she has never worked in a call center because if she had she would realize that these two issues are common place for the industry. I felt obligated to respond to her article with my opinion.

In it I basically told her that the empoyees in the Indian call centers were just whinning at that these issues are all characteristics of the call center industry. Sometimes customers are not nice expecially if your calling them for payment!

But the Indian call centers are faced with another dilemma. FRAUD and theft. Security has now become a big issue.

Read the article below to see what I am talking about and leave a comment on this blog with your opinion.

This news article came over today:

Concern Mounts Over Data Fraud at Indian Call Centers

technorati tags:call+center, call, center, call+center+outsourcing, outsourcing

I've Been Away But Now I am Back With Call Center Stories!

2006-07-26T02:10:00.002-07:00

Hello my fellow call center friends!

My apologies!

I have completely neglected my blog over the past couple of months. I was actually offshore doing some consultant work but now that gig is over and I am back in the saddle again.

I have a lot of new call center stories and information that I want to share with you. So I am going to try to update this blog three times a day. Hopefully I can keep up.

You may want to add this into your news reader. The link is:

http://callcentercafe.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Just copy and past into your favorite news reader. Or you can simply come by when you have a break in your day.

I have some really exciting news about Collaborative Leadership and Employee Inclusion. Have you heard of these terms before? Well you'll love this process to lead your teams. I will share more information in upcoming blogs, but I can tell you this.

This system is out of this world. It never fails. If you follow it you truly understand the meaning of working smarter not harder. You'll get better results from your employees and you'll do it with actually doing less work.

Talk to you very shortly!

Suvivor

technorati tags:call, center, outsourcing, customer+service

This is not call center related but is related to personal management

2006-05-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Debt Consolidation

Learn all the information you'll need to effectively complete debt consolidation loans, debt consolidation programs, student loan consolidation, IRS debt help, student loan debt, debt consolidation mortgage, bad credit refinance and bad credit mortgages.

Article Directory for solving debt and credit issues with solutions to solve your problems now.

Visit our article directories on important topics that will help you achieve your goals.

Check Out These Articles

Debt Consolidation Benefits
Guide to Debt Consolidation Loans
Debt Consolidation Tips

Debt Consolidation

Call Center Model That ALmost Makes the Grade

2006-04-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

Call Center

Last post I was ranting about call center outsourcing and that some businesses that sell these services are just full of hot air. This is a post-rant apology - well not really. The truth is that is how I feel about call center US based companies using less than honorable techniques to get business and try to keep it.

Today I will get into more detail about the business model that is pretty good, however the overall execution from the people at the top miss the ethical mark, resulting in my opinions about this company.

Here is the model in a nutshell...

Create a network of owner operated call centers. The advantagous are:

The Center onwers have a vested interest in the success of the business
The Marketing Company (head of the network), can push most if not all of the expenses to the centers.

However, doing this can create resentment from the owners, which is what is happening with this companys plan.

Another issue is that the owners are paid per hour but clients make payment per minute, per call and by pay for performance. SO what happens? If you continue to push cost to the owners they figure a way to make it up.

This company has so many problems. The funny things their ego is so large that they don't realize it.

The critical execution of this plan or business model is a strong central organization. If you don't have that, then clients are going to come and go. Which is what is happening with this company.

They are weak in organization and leadership. In fact if they didn't climb on the backs of other brokers they wouldn't have any business at all. I will go it that more in the future.

So bottom line is that they need strong leadership - which they don't. In fact they have achieved success due to some questionable business practices. They don't understand that the call center industry is a small one - with a memory. They are burning bridges faster then there is business.

Things get even juicier. Keep an eye on my next post and I will share about some of the things they do when conducting business....

until next time. If any of them happen to be reading this....you know what I am talking about. How do you sleep at night?

The company's model starts with a network of owner operated call center 48 - 96 seats.

Beware of The Call Center Outsourcer You Choose

2006-04-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Call Center Outsourcing - One of the most critical decisions you can make

I have been in the call center industry for over 18 years now and in the call center outsourcing arena for the past 8 years.

I've learned a lot about call center outsourcing...

Over the next several weeks I am going to share with you some of the critical information that I have learned.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

There are some outsourcing companies (I will not name names - wish I could but I do not feel like getting sued), that you need to stay away from.

A lot of people are upset with a good portion of the work moving offshore. For good reason, but the bottomline - it will not change. Some will come back to the USA but most likely it may move to another new hot spot.

However, with that being said - some US call center outsourcing companies don't help. They talk a great game about how their business model is the best thing since sliced bread but the truth is you need to pull back the layers and find out what really makes it successful.

Because no matter what the fast talking midgets say - it all comes down to execusion. Without it, I don't care how great their technology is or their model - they just won't deliver.

And they know it.

What they do to mask this weakness is to make their pricing so competetive that it looks too good - TO BE TRUE.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the solid USA call center outsourcing companies (and there are a handful), the unscrupulous ruin it for them. In fact, they should join forces and put those disguising themselves as a high quality, exceptional business model call center outsourcing solution - out of business.

As you can tell I have a strong opinion about these companies or company. The truth be told - I hate dealing with the type of people that run these companies. They do it only for profit. Trust me I love profit but not by sacrificing everything else like ETHICS.

Next post I will share more detail about a certain company and how their business model could be great except for the people that are in charge making decisions.

Call Center Outsourcing - The good the bad and the ugly!

Call Center Solutions

2006-03-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

Call Center

Have you visited CallCenterCafe.com lately? Visit our call center news archive page and enjoy the update daily news.

Also the owners of CallCenterCafe.com have just created a new business venture called: Divergent Capital Group. You may ask what does this have to do with call centers. Well a lot actually.

We cater to the call center outsourcing industry and assist the call center with funding and we also purchase invoices. We know that clients can take 30, 60 and 90 days to pay their invoice. The strain is immense because that means you float payroll for however long it take a client to pay.

We help. In fact we will buy your invoice today, get you paid and we will wait for the invoice to be paid. This is not a loan. You will incur no new debt. Learn more

Call Center

If you found information that gave you the edge, would you share it?

2006-03-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

I faced a dilemma yesterday. But in the end I decided to
take the high road.

Let me explain...

During my leadership research last week I found a book that at first
glace didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. That is until
I started paying attention.

The more I read, the more I became convinced that I had the blueprint
I needed to be as successful as I wanted to be.

See, What you'll learn are proven strategies behind the success of many
of today’s most respected leaders. These strategies enable you to stand
out from the crowd, get more done with less effort and position yourself
for rapid promotion.

You'll learn....

1. How to Achieve a Leadership Mentality - Once You Accomplish This, It's Like
Flipping a Switch That Vastly Increases Your Chances for Advancement;

2. The Major Secret to Effectiveness – If You Don’t Do This, Nothing Else Matters;

3. The Essential Strategy for Influencing Others;

4. The One Thing You Can Do That Will Make Others Listen to What You Have to Say ;

5. How to Make People Happy to Let You Win.

This is a very short list. If you want to see more points then visit:

The Road To CEO

But to be successful you need to help others be successful and you need
to approach every situation with abundance not scarcity thinking.

So there, I released one of my secrets. But ultimetly it is your decision to
at least review the material. It will take 5 minutes of your time that could
have a lasting effect.

Learn more about...The Road to CEO

Interesting Script Article

2006-02-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

Is It Time for Call-Center Workers To Ditch the Script?

http://www.crm-daily.com/story.xhtml?story_id=41592
Check out this interesting article.

Primal Leadership

2006-02-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

Have you read this book, Primal Leadership? I'm reading it now and it is really shedding some interesting light on leadership decision making.

Check out a book summary here: http://www.righttolead.com/Leadership_Articles/Book_Summary__Primal_Leadership.html

Human Resources for Call Centers

2006-02-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

Depending on the size of your Call Center, you may have more or less Human Resources support. A great resource for anyone dealing with employee issues is www.HR.com. They offer free newsletters, a variety of membership levels and a terrific search function. Search for "call centers" and you will find a bunch of articles related to our field.

If you are dealing with a lot of employee issues, make sure your Performance Management Process is up to snuff. If you don't have a Performance Management System or the one that you are operating under isn't effecting change, check out www.accountabilityprocess.com. Performance Management will make employee issues much easier to deal with.

Check out this great article on Performance management as well -- http://article.righttolead.com/Accountability.html.

High Performance Managment System

2006-02-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

Check out the update to High Performance Management System

Motivating and encouraging your employees to achieve their goals can be challenging! But with this system it becomes so much easier. This product has been updated with even more great techniques.

Learn More

Also if you are interested in making some money you might just want to recommend this product to your peers and friends. We payout 60%. To get your referral link just go here

Make Money By Recommending Call Center Products

2006-01-31T23:10:00.000-08:00

Exciting News!

We just updated our revenue sharing program and if you are interested in making great money and helping others improve then you like our program.

Go to our affiliate program page and get your link then send that link to your peers or friends and just say "I found this great call center product and I thought you might be interested.

It's as easy as that!

Talk to you soon.

Call Center News Source Updated Daily

2006-01-31T22:50:00.000-08:00

Call Center News Source Updated Daily

The call center industry changes like the weather. From day to day one never knows if their center will be closed down, outsourced or even if they are expanding.

Dallas, TX - 1/31/2006 - News flash, the call center industry is on the move again. With so much information and so many places to get it from, it's no wonder people get overwhelmed. Information overload for sure, well not really.

News is vital in any industry. If you have the news then you're one step ahead. That is why I am pleased to announce the most recent addition to CallCenterCafe.com

Last week CallCenterCafe.com added news feeds to their call center portal and membership site. But the difference is that their system saves the daily news as a new page in the archives directory. This allows it's members and visitors to have all the news about the call center industry in one place.

If you missed a day, you can find it at http://www.callcentercafe.com Our project coordinator, Jenny Kerwin, commented, "we received feedback from our subscribers and visitors and took action." "By adding this solution, call center professionals can come to our call center cafe sit down have some java and catch-up on their news."

"With this addition, commented Greg Meares, our members and visitors can stay informed by going to one place. This saves them time and we all know that call center professionals need more time. We found a great software program, http://www.nichecontentdirectory.com/recommends/RSSTool that pretty much handles all the work for us in the background and provides up to the minute news while archiving the old news and creating an additional webpage.

Stop by CallCenterCafe.com to read the news and if you missed yesterday's, you can find it here. Bring a cup of your favorite jo.

Greg Meares and Jenny Kerwin are publishers for the callcentercafe.com portal. They have 35 years combined in the industry and their site caters to call center supervisors, managers, directors and Vice Presidents. You can find topics on Quality, Training, Workforce Administration, Operations and employee motivation

Contact Greg Meares http://www.callcentercafe.com

CallCenterCafe.com Sponsers

2006-01-31T22:42:00.000-08:00

EXPERIENCE CALL CENTER SUCCESS IN ACTION

Get ready for the latest excitement in the call center industry. CallCenterCafe.com is a proud sponsor of this year's Call Center Demo & Conference! - The summary should arouse curiosity in the reader to read the rest of your press release. It is very important to make it interesting and not dull.

Dallas, TX - 1/28/06 - Call Center Demo & Conference has grown and matured in Dallas over the last 4 successful years and is moving to the capitol of the Lone Star State - Austin.
They'll be back in Texas providing contact center professionals better than ever – educational and networking experiences. Come on down and join them on February 6-8, 2006 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Austin, TX!

GET THE LATEST CONCEPTS AND SKILLS at 4 Educational Conference Tracks:
• Call Center Management 101
• How Managers Achieve Peak Agent Performance
• Customer Care Strategies and Technology in Action

EXPERIENCE CALL CENTER SUCCESS IN ACTION at ICMI’s "Insight" Tours including:
• Apple Computer
• Dell Inc
• Employees Retirement
• System of Texas (ERS)
• Texas Medicaid HealthCare Partnership
• The SCOOTER Store

TWO MOTIVATING KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS (Open to ALL):
• Invent Business Opportunities No One Else Can Imagine
• Turning Call Center Agents Into Loyalty Makers

HANDS ON DEMO HALL with the Latest Industry Solutions:
Meet with solution providers that have the technologies to solve the issues currently facing your contact center.

PLUS: Fun and Exciting Networking Events, Access to Knowledgeable Industry Leaders, Association Gatherings (Open to ALL), AND MUCH MORE.

Call Center Demo & Conference
February 6-8, 2006
The Hilton Hotel in Downtown, Austin, TX

CallCenterCafe.com, www.callcentercafe.com, is a proud sponsor this year's Call Center Demo & Conference! Your Demo Hall pass is FREE and CallCenterCafe.com members save $300 off conference packages when you REGISTER NOW (that’s an additional $100 off early bird pricing). You can register by going to http://www.callcentercafe.com

Be sure to USE PRIORITY CODE: "CAFE" when registering to ensure you receive your $300 savings. Offer expires December 16th, 2005.

Contact Greg Meares for more insights into this topic. http://www.callcentercafe.com

Call Center Games - Update

2006-01-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Again,

I hope everybody had a great weekend!

The call center environment can be a tough arena to keep your employees motivated. The fact is the job they have is not that easy. When I was a rep I remember spending my entire day trying to get promoted and get off the phones.

Challenges like this for the supervisor makes it a difficult task to keep their entire team happy, motivated and achieving their goals.

The Team at CallCenterCafe.com put together a program called...Call Center Games. I recommend you take a look at it (Learn More.) It has over 105 productivity templates designed to promote healthy competition on your team.

The ultimate goal is to create the buzz of excitement and achievement in your bays. Call Center Games does just that by providing you with contents and games, the supplies you need to run them and a feedback form for your employees to fill out.

I used these games to create a positive and fun environment in my center and had amazing results! You have to remember this....A Happy Employee is a Productive Employee!

I just added two great new bonuses if you decide to download it today. Check it out!

Nothing to do at all with Call Centers

2006-01-12T23:31:00.000-08:00

Good Early Morning,

Sometime I just like to share information. I like this site and you may too. If you are at all interested in starting a business online you're going to like this site:

http://www.small-businesses.net

Browse around, check it out. Cool site with tons of resources.

http://www.small-businesses.net

Leadership and Communication

2006-01-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

As a leader it is important to always work on your speaking skills - Public Speaking Success

Here is a short, to-the-point article on leadership communication
************************************************
Leadership and Communication
By: Lee Wise
Leadership and Communication ©2002 Lee Wise

To a large degree how well we lead is determined by how well we communicate.

Here's a simple "formula" to review when communicating as a leader:

Say it simply. Say it sincerely. Say it well. Say it often.

Say It Simply! The principle: easily understood.
Say It Sincerely! The principle: genuine concern.
Say It Well! The principle: quality.
Say It Often! The principle: repetition.
=============================================
Lee is a Seminary administrator, has a part- time business at home, and writes his own free motivational mailing. You may contact him at lfwise@aol.com or by visiting
http://www.retirequickly.com/89863 Permission is given to distribute this "mini-article." This entire paragraph must be included."

Hiring Virtual Call Center Reps

2006-01-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

Good Morning,

This morning I wanted to share an article about - Home Agents, specifically - the hiring process. The whole home agent business model is fascinating. I believe it is an excellent lower cost way of competing with off-shore outsourcing: You can find the entire article here:

http://www.righttolead.com/Call_Center_Articles/Hiring_Virtual_Call_Center_Reps.html

If you are looking for other informative articles check out these directories:

http://www.righttolead.com/Call_Center_Articles/

http://righttolead.com/tools_resources.html

http://www.righttolead.com/Leadership_Articles/

http://www.righttolead.com/Sales_Articles/

Call Center Sales Skills

2006-01-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

Call Center Team,

If you looking for some good information I found a great article that applies to selling in the call center.

Check It out: 7 Ways to Cut Loose from Old Sales Thinking

Also this is a great tool for your reps or yourself....

Becoming a CEO

Enjoy!

Job Seekers

2006-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

By spending time on this site you learn new ideas, tips and techniques for landing the perfect job for the amount of money you desire.

ResumeRedesign.com You have literally 100's of resources at your figure tips. I urge you to spend time reviewing all the different links and tools found on each page. Informative articles are being added all the time. So, bookmark this site for future reference.

ResumeRedesign.com

If you want to make more money in a job you love then you owe it to yourself to check out these great resources:

47 Keys to Goal Setting

Killer Cover Letters

Resume and Cover Secrets Revealed

ok this one is kind of off the path but I purchased it about 4 weeks ago now and have been experiementing with it and I have made some pretty good money....I want to share it with you.

Google Profits - Really cool system

Enjoy!

Call Center News

2006-01-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Call Center People!

I neglected toleave a link for the call center news archive on my earlier post! Oops

http://www.callcentercafe.com/archives/

Talk to you soon.

Call Center Information

2006-01-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon,

Well it is for me while I am posting this latest update. Our news section is growing pretty quickly. If fact we are getting a lot of attention. Check out this press release this is coming out in a day or two. You'll probably see it in the Call Center News arena.

*****************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/13/2006

Call Center News Source Updated Daily

The call center industry changes like the weather. From day to day one never knows if their center will be closed down, outsourced or even if they are expanding.

Dallas, TX - 1/13/2006 - News flash, the call center industry is on the move again. With so much information and so many places to get it from, it's no wonder people get overwhelmed. Information overload for sure, well not really.

News is vital in any industry. If you have the news then you're one step ahead. That is why I am pleased to announce the most recent addition to CallCenterCafe.com.

Last week CallCenterCafe.com added news feeds to their call center portal and membership site. But the difference is that their system saves the daily news as a new page in the archives directory. This allows it's members and visitors to have all the news about the call center industry in one place.

If you missed a day, you can find it at http://www.callcentercafe.com. Our project coordinator, Jenny Kerwin, commented, "we received feedback from our subscribers and visitors and took action." "By adding this solution, call center professionals can come to our call center cafe sit down have some java and catch-up on their news."

"With this addition, commented Greg Meares, our members and visitors can stay informed by going to one place. This saves them time and we all know that call center professionals need more time. We found a great software program (PowerRSS) that pretty much handles all the work for us in the background and provides up to the minute news while archiving the old news and creating an additional webpage.

Stop by CallCenterCafe.com to read the news and if you missed yesterday's, you can find it here. Bring a cup of your favorite jo.

Greg Meares and Jenny Kerwin are publishers for the callcentercafe.com portal. They have 35 years combined in the industry and their site caters to call center supervisors, managers, directors and Vice Presidents. You can find topics on Quality, Training, Workforce Administration, Operations and employee motivation.

Contact Greg Meares for more insights into this topic. Direct line: (972) 382-4559 Email: gmeares@gmail.com Other helpful information regarding the can be found at: http://www.callcentercafe.com

For More Information Contact:
Greg Meares
gmeares@gmail.com
http://www.callcentercafe.com

CallCenterCafe.com Updates

2006-01-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

My staff and I are in the process of upgrading CallCenterCafe.com. We are planning on adding some really cool stuff, re-organizing several of the pages to make them free and to add more membership pages.

I would like your feedback. If you could visit CallCenterCafe.com and give me your honest feedback.

1. What do we need to do to make the site better?
2. What would you do?

or any other feedback you have.

Send your feedback to me through my email: gmeares@callcentercafe.com

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Call Center News

2006-01-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

I just made an important addition to CallCenterCafe.com

If you go to: http://www.callcentercafe.com/home.php you can find updated call center news. This is a news feed and it is updated daily.

Also - if you are interested in reading about past news you can go to:

http://www.callcentercafe.com/archives/

Good information that is updated daily.

Enjoy!

EXPERIENCE CALL CENTER SUCCESS IN ACTION

2005-12-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

Get ready for the latest excitement in the call center industry. CallCenterCafe.com is a proud sponsor of this year's Call Center Demo & Conference!

Call Center Demo & Conference has grown and matured in Dallas over the last 4 successful years and is moving to the capitol of the Lone Star State - Austin.

They'll be back in Texas providing contact center professionals better than ever – educational and networking experiences. Come on down and join them on February 6-8, 2006 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Austin, TX!

GET THE LATEST CONCEPTS AND SKILLS at 4 Educational Conference Tracks:

• Call Center Management 101
• How Managers Achieve Peak Agent Performance
• Customer Care Strategies and Technology in Action

EXPERIENCE CALL CENTER SUCCESS IN ACTION at ICMI’s "Insight" Tours including:

• Apple Computer
• Dell Inc
• Employees Retirement
• System of Texas (ERS)
• Texas Medicaid HealthCare Partnership
• The SCOOTER Store

TWO MOTIVATING KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS (Open to ALL):

• Invent Business Opportunities No One Else Can Imagine
• Turning Call Center Agents Into Loyalty Makers

HANDS ON DEMO HALL with the Latest Industry Solutions:

Meet with solution providers that have the technologies to solve the issues currently facing your contact center.

PLUS: Fun and Exciting Networking Events, Access to Knowledgeable Industry Leaders, Association Gatherings (Open to ALL), AND MUCH MORE.
Call Center Demo & Conference
February 6-8, 2006
The Hilton Hotel in Downtown, Austin, TX

CallCenterCafe.com, is a proud sponsor this year's Call Center Demo & Conference! Your Demo Hall pass is FREE and CallCenterCafe.com members save $300 off conference packages when you REGISTER NOW (that’s an additional $100 off early bird pricing). You can register by going to http://www.callcentercafe.com

Be sure to USE PRIORITY CODE: "CAFE" when registering to ensure you receive your $300 savings. Offer expires December 16th, 2005.

The Saga Continues

2005-12-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome back!

There has got to be a better way to make money! Starting a home based business would be more reliable than being in business with the shady folks I am working with now.

Well, I finally made the decision to distance myself from these nuts. I am going to sell. Have you ever met a person that takes and takes?

The sad thing about their whole way of doing business is very short sighted. They could enjoy long-term growth if only they treated their relatiosnhips with more care.

Do you know what I am talking about?

....I'll step back

I created a joint venture with another company and we formed a business. My role was to bring in clients and they would handle all the call center operations. Things have been going really well for about 2.5 years (well I had to deal with an account manager that believed in positional power and that was crazy but he has been fired and forced to look for another career!), the profits were good but somewhere along the way my partner got greedy!

They started playing games with me. It happened after we took control of one of their call centers and found out how mis-managed they ran things. Good lord they had crack-heads on the payroll.

Well we proceeded to clean it up and that is when the games began. They started nickle and diming me for all kinds of things.

Everytime I cleaned something up and told them they would come back with another charge or a game. Once they held a check from me (I needed this for payroll - the services were performed in good faith but they just held it because they felt like it. I had to scramble to meet payroll. To this day they think I closed the center because I could make it. Truth be told I closed it because I didn't want to do business with them in that capacity.

Stayed tuned. I am going to be sending them a file shortly and it should get very interesting. I will have all kinds of stories to post.

Oh, I put together a lot of great call center, leadership and management articles for you. You can find them by going to this page and you'll see them listed. Check them out you be glad you did!

BTW - if your looking for ways to make some money you'll like these articles. Some great secrets are shared. Go to this site for a list of the best articles.

Bad Business is Short Sighted

2005-11-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

Call Center Outsouring in the United States

I'm in the process of getting screwed by my partner!

In the end it will all be worked out but I can assure you they will be out of business. Do you know why? Because what goes around comes around. They enter into relationships in good faith but over time they nickle and dime.

This behavior is reprehensable. What are they thinking? That is no way to grow a business and in the long run, nobody will want to do business with them.

Are you wondering what I am talking about?

Ok I wil start at the beginning.

Back in 2003 I entered into an agreement with a call center outsourcing company. We formed a joint venture and decided to join forces.

My responsibilities focused on bringing in a client or two. They would support this business by providing the call center facilities, people and technology.

And for my efforts I would receive 50% of the net. The net would be determined after all expenses, which would include a management fee that would be charged by them against the company revenue. Ultimately reducing my payout.

This fee is heafty and is based on an hourly rate. Well that is a whole other story that I will get into at a later time. They run their operation so inefficiently - they keep coming back to me wanting to increase this hourly amount all while reducing the amount of support provided to my client.

So bottomline - the business has grown but I make less money today than I did a year ago. They are idiots!

Better yet they are thieves. You should see them in action. They know nothing about Inbound call handling. Yet they push away anybody that has more knowledge than them. Most organizations are happy to have this talent in their organization. Not them. They are threatened by it.

They play games to piss the good people off. Honestly, I am amazed that they lasted this long...wait you know what, no I am not. They just haven't burned all the people in this industry yet. But what they do, like leaches, is live off the solid relationship others have. Then after awhile they try to screw you.

Ok - I am tired about being so negative but I want you to know that all of this is related to the post that stopped back in June. I will show you how this all relates. In the meantime - finding another job, an new career would be great.

Anybody have any interviewing tips? :-D

Be good!
Surviver

It's Been Awhile Since I last posted

2005-11-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Ok, I'm sorry we haven't been back to this site to post in awhile. Call Center Operations and Management is my passion, but I have been working pretty heavily on several key updates to some of my sites:

http://www.righttolead.com
http://www.callcentercafe.com

Before I get into some juicy new updates regarding the company that I have been working with I want to direct your attention to some great article directories that I have created. These directories are free to visit and read. I have over 800 articles posted that are all geared to call center, leadership and management.

Here are the links:

Call Center Articles
Leadership Articles - Great for leaders to learn new ideas and solutions
Sales Articles - Does your center sell? Most do these days. YOu need to check out these!

Ok, I briefly mentioned the new direction I am taking this blog. Don't worry it will still focus on call centers but I am going to share with inside information when dealing with a US based outsourcing company and all the crazy stuff that goes on.

At times you will pity me and other times you will laugh but I can assure you that there will be plenty of entertainment. This is the same group that was written about in all the post down below.

You be amazed to find out that they are still in business. Although it appears that they are having major cash-flow issues. I won't disclose their name but I will give you a pretty good description of them and all of their tactics.

After reading these post you wonder why I haven't updated my resume and gone on some interviews. It is definately time to get a new career!

ok,it's late. I will be back on tomorrow to start the posting! Come back you'll be glad you did.

Don't forget to visit callcentercafe.com and look around - sign-up for our free newsletter. Do it for me and help with my page rank. Keeps everything free!

The Return of the Ultimate Fighter...

2005-06-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

6/16

The Return of the Ultimate Fighter…

The UF was HR’s roommate. Its almost like HR was the brains of the operation, and the UF was the muscle. The UF referred to HR as a “kid” symbolizing her feeling that she was a young, weak, naïve, person who was in need of protecting.

It was only a matter of time before the UF took on the Litigator and when it did happen, it happened on the call floor.

The UF was coming back from the break room, while the Litigator was taking calls. The Litigator knew that any word from him to her would set her off like a bomb. He actually used her lack of self-control to control the situation in an attempt to take her out as well. He asked her only one question. Why did she say that he called her cell phone? It worked like a charm. She blasted back that he was a little bitch for what he did to HR’s car, and that if he wanted to act like a man, they could fight right now. He calmly asked her the same question again, and again she blasted back with profane threats of violence.

He then logged out of his phone, came and found me, and quickly filed an additional harassment complaint against her. I once again had to do some more fact-finding research this issue, and handle it. It went down very close to the way he said it did, and as a result, I placed the UF on a “Final Written”. In all her stupidity, she was set up, took the bait, and subsequently placed on a “Final Warning” and the Litigator didn’t even break a sweat.

Since the company was privately owned, the owner’s wife had a chance to visit Call Center, USA to conduct a performance audit on the facility. The Litigator couldn’t miss out on his chance to steal her ear for a little bit. I went to lunch, and upon my return, my supervisors let me know that they, the Litigator and the owner’s wife, were in the back conference room.

I ran back there as fast as possible. Upon entry to the room, I viewed the Litigator in all his glory describing his trials and tribulations of working in an abusive, hostile environment to the owner’s wife…

I could tell this was going to be fun…

The Set Up...

2005-06-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

6-15

The “Litigator” would continually ask me when I was going to fire HR. He let me know that in his own expert opinion, investigations do not take this long, and that I should have all ready gathered the facts and make a decision.

If you remember, HR had her car vandalized. Her tires were slashed, and “descriptives” were carved into the black paint on her vehicle. When she told the police that it was the Litigator, they paid him a visit. This actually played into his hands remarkably well.

Think of it like this. On a Friday, he brings up a serious concern to the director that the HR manager was harassing him with unwanted sexual advances. His refusal of her advances resulted in her creating a hostile and threatening work environment for him. After he notifies management of his concern (me), HR then extended her reach by now harassing him outside of work, as well as at work, and using the city police has as leverage.

This guy was deceptive enough that I think he set the entire issue up. I think he talked to me, decided to vandalize her car that night, and then called HR’s cell phone the next morning knowing that she would call the cop’s. It was a very nice set up on his part.

Nonetheless, even though I thought most of his story was unconfirmed BS, it was a catalyst for discovery regarding HR’s actual effectiveness as a leader within the organization.

My next interaction with the Litigator was a day or two later. He was once again setting the stage for more possible litigation. He said that the foam ear protector’s on the headsets had given him an ear infection, and that he had seen the doctor and alluded that something needed to be done about these dirty, unsanitary conditions.

I went and found him some brand new foam earpieces, but it became clear that he was after a check, one way or another.

The Interviews continue...

2005-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Interviews continue…

Let’s call the new guy Randy. To provide you with a little color, Randy was a great asset to call center, USA. He was well grounded, just graduated from college, had a great disposition. On his poorest performing day, he was one of our best. He was a good guy, and I enjoyed working with him.

I brought in Randy, and almost immediately, I could tell he was holding back. He was side stepping my questions, being obviously evasive, and it was clear he didn’t want to talk. I told Randy rather directly that if he didn’t want to talk to not say anything else, but that being evasive and deceitful was not acceptable. I have no issue if feels he has nothing to say, but I have a big issue with simple questioning turning into an integrity issue.

He agreed, and our meeting ended. I must admit that I was disappointed with his lack of cooperation.

Another common thread that I found in the interviews was that that of favoritism. It seemed that when we had various contests, HR would set the stage to either ensure her friend would win or increase their odds. If we were giving out 1 ticket per sale, it appears that HR might be giving out 2+ tickets to those reps that were considered her friends.

I became very frustrated by this. We spent a lot of time and effort into creating a positive, sales oriented environment. If reps felt that contests were not fair or that the playing field wasn’t level, it would not only negate the contest’s effectiveness, but create a counter productive, negative environment where incentives would have little to no impact on a reps productivity.

As ususal, while dealing with issues in the past, new issues were arising that needed my attention.

What exactly is a Bus Down?

2005-06-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

What exactly is a Bus Down?

While no information confirmed the validity of the allegation, many did discuss the "habits" of HR. It was described that when ever a new training class is hired, she picks out a favorite. Once this “boy toy” is identified, she then asks the young man to go on smoke breaks with her, and eventually leads to an invitation to come over to her place to play video games, and have a little dinner.

During this process, her objectives become clearer, and the line between management and associate is crossed. Many reps appeared to play many games, but it appeared that a few did resist. Each interview took me in a different direction, and brought up another name or two that needed to be interviewed.

It was like an intricate spider web that connected numerous people, places, and events with HR residing as the master weaver.

One specific rep had “played some games”, and came to work openly discussing his involvement with her. He apparently came into work asking if HR was a bus down and then made a comment that she had "bused him down". HR was walking by, heard him, and then sent him home. Here is the catch. She can’t send anyone home without talking to me first, so what she did was structure a BS story, feed it to me, and then got my authorization to send him home.

Not only was she abusing her power, she had manipulated me in the process.

Druing an inteview, I was given the name of another associate who had been tempted with fine dining and video games, but had refused. His refusals reportedly only encouraged more solicitation from HR.

This guy, I had to talk to next…

Black Tuesday

2005-06-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

6/9

Black Tuesday

I began to bring in all the associates that were labeled as witnesses to the sexual harassment incident one by one. I asked each person if they felt comfortable with our environment, comfortable with me and then asked if they had ever seen or been the subject of any type of behavior that would make them feel uncomfortable or threatened.

Much of there feedback was over whelming the same. They had not seen any harassment that was sexual in nature but had seen some management abuse their power or play favorites. I asked for specific names, and they then verified it was HR

Rep by rep, by rep, (including HR’s nearest and dearest) many had an issue with the way she acted. With such unilateral agreement from the reps, I asked how these things could occur without my knowledge. All they said was that when I wasn’t around, things were different.

But how different could they be???

After talking to several reps, I finally started to receive the specific information I was seeking with names, dates, and details.

After each interview, my office door would swing open to a call floor focused on our exit. They would look at me, and look at the person who was just interviewed. Their stares reminded me of crazed Paparazzi starved for information, and looking for a new juicy piece of gossip. Like the Paparazzi, as soon as the interviewee was no longer under the protection of management, they would pounce on the victim and determine what secrets if any were revealed.

During this process, we still had a business to run and HR was apart of that business. She made no mention of the interviews, and expressed no interest in knowing what was being uncovered and completed all that was expected of her.

She didn’t need to ask me… She would go strait to the source, or the Paparazzi.

Black Monday

2005-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Black Monday

I told her that an employee, the litigator, came forward and made some very serious accusations against her. HR immediately asked me if she was fired. I said absolutely not, and proceeded to explain that I would investigate the issue, and if I determined there to be some validity to the complaint, that we would address it at that time.

Her attitude of being my right hand person and ally dissipated and she became very cold and solemn as our call concluded. As I hung up the phone, I felt like I was hanging up on a relationship. Many can’t distinguish between job position, and personal relationships and how the loss of one does not necessarily mean the loss of the other. I had a suspicion which category she would fall into.

I knew that she was now aware I would not bend the rules for anyone including my own, which was a very different experience from the prior directors. She could tell that her position did not guarantee immunity in my eyes, and I could see that realization had her on the defensive. I couldn’t control the circumstances, but only how I respond to them.
With the receiver back on its base, I thought quietly to myself for a moment or two and then resumed my weekend with my family.

Monday I arrived to find HR already there. It’s clear she had already expressed her thoughts on the situation by the time I arrived. The entire site was affected by a situation that they shouldn’t even know about. HR just didn’t seem to get it…

I brought HR into my office and recapped what we discussed by phone, and comforted her with the fact that the truth would prevail. I explained that I would be thorough as possible as I worked through the due diligence process. The fact that I would get to the truth didn’t seem to comfort her much. With it being a Monday, I decided to wait to begin the interviewing of the employees the litigator identified as witnesses to harassment until the following day.

The next day however, it was time to jump in…

The Phone Call...

2005-06-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

The call….

As I pondered my new challenge, I thought of bobbing heads, and little green cars and finally drifted off to sleep. As the city slept, enemies of Call Center, USA had set into motion a plan to exact revenge against a member of my team. The plan was conceived, and executed by one or more unknown parties with the purpose of striking a blow against this person for the unknown grievance.

The next morning I had barely finished my coffee when my phone rang. It was HR. She was clearly upset and crying into the phone. My first thought was the litigator. I asked her what was wrong, and through the tears she explained what had happed. The attack had been planned against her. Someone overnight, had slashed her tires, and carved descriptives into the black paint on her relatively new car. The tires, well they were flat. The descriptives, well they were descriptive.

HR was falling to pieces on the phone clearly devastated as she described what had happened. All was thinking was the possibility that it was the litigator who I was speaking to less than 12 hours before. As she sobbed into the phone, I asked her if she knew who had done it.

She said yes, and called the litigator by name. I asked why she thought it was him. She explained that that very morning, prior to her finding her car, he called her cell phone to just say what’s up. She said he never calls for any reason, and that it was so out of the norm, in her mind, it confirmed his guilt.

I asked her if she had told the police. She said that she called them first thing that morning, gave them a statement, and they had already been over to talk to him.

I told her that I had something to tell her, but that it couldn’t wait until Monday. I explained that it was serious enough that if she didn’t want to discuss it by phone, I would drive up to work to discuss it with her. (She was at work, because it was her rotation to work Saturday’s for coverage.)

She immediatly stpped crying as if a swith was thrown, and said very seriously to tell her now.

Gumbi's Rant Continues...

2005-06-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

After he left, it was probably after 9:00 PM, and I desperately wanted to get home to my family. I needed to confess that I had depleted my emergency slush fund, and that I now had an extra woman “in my head”. I felt an over-whelming need to share with my family the pain that I had inflected on my poor, defenseless employees with my cruel sadistic leadership style. I had to share that an adversary that was cunning, had a masterful command of his rights, and was from a long lineage of successful lawyers challenged me to a duel of process.

Whatever Gumbi…

We (my family) did have a good laugh. Despite the obvious humor around this situation there were some very specific incidents / accusations that I had to deal with. I knew that if his facts were confirmed around HR, that we (HR and Myself) would no longer be able to do business. Her days could very well be numbered, and I think her number was just called.

HR’s real value came in the form of sole ownership of payroll, and the maintenance of our insurance licensing process. This was a very complicated process, which involved the simultaneous monitoring of 10+ insurance agents who were each licensed in 40+ states on intervals that resulted in an inconsistent order of renewals and licensing requirements. Know on else knew this process or was every trained on it. HR was the sole owner and was the keeper of the keys.

This was my largest concern in having to remove HR…. Not her as a person, because if you’ve got to go, then you’ve go to go, but rather her knowledge.
I thought I would have at least until Monday to build a plan for address the issue… Once again, by timetables were accelerated and the next morning (Saturday) I was forced to tell HR about the accusations against her.

The Flight of the "Green Gumbi Mobile"

2005-06-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

HR was not the only employee he was trying to take down… He was now after the Ultimate Fighter, one of Call Center USA most formidable foes. (Ref: Blog dated 4/11/05)

He was accusing the UF as always trying to “fight” him, while protesting that he was just here to do his job and go home. (Do his job- that’s debatable, go home, well that sounds more like him)

He then referenced a specific alteration where she began to talk bad about his baby’s mother, and referred to him personally as a “Bobble Head” little bitch and referred to his car as a “little Green Gumbi Mobile”. The entire comment read like the below: “Your just a bobble head little bitch, cruising around in your little green gumbi mobile with your head just bobbing.”

The insult, the outrage, the audacity…Bobble Head Bitch, Green Gumbi Mobile… Believe me or not, but this stuff is too crazy to make up.

The conversation had broken the two-hour mark now, I had now run out of tape and didn’t bother to get more. I had all I needed. I had his complaint, but most importantly, I had him verifying that he was keeping his hours low here, so that he could defraud the Unemployment office by continuing to receive unemployment from a prior company. I also had him on tape passing off ridiculous fiction “HR was in my Head” as fact, and sounding like a lunatic with some of his other “off color” remarks.

I knew that I would do the right thing and investigate his complaint, but I also knew this guy was looking for a payday. It was clear that he would rather sue, than fix the issue. It was also clear, and on tape that he not once ever brought up these concerns before, so I knew that as long as procedures were followed going forward, the company would be protected. He let me know that a little company like ours couldn’t handle a lawsuit, and that we would just settle out of court.

This guy really thought he had it all figured out, and actually thought he was in control.

He also let me know 5+ times that he was no dummy (debatable), he knew his rights (debatable), and that his family was full of lawyers (improbable) which he had already consulted prior to his meeting with me. He also informed me that he was going to be a lawyer as well (impossible). I let him know I would research his claims, do the right thing, and get back to him at the completion of my research.

If things couldn’t get any stranger, at the conclusion of slamming the company for the past 3 hours, he let me know that he had “Skills” and wanted to be a supervisor and work for me.

Unbelievable… This guy just asked me for a promotion.

The Accusations continue...

2005-06-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

I almost fell out of my chair over this guy’s allegation. So let me get this straight. I was caught looking down HR’s shirt, was busted, and then had to tap into my “slush” fund in order to pay her off and keep the situation on the down-low. As these thoughts and many more raced through my mind, I realized the genius in the accusation. Why try to motivate or performance manage employee’s when I could just pay them off for their cooperation. At first, it sounded like a great plan and new approach until I realized I was already doing that. Every two weeks, I was already paying each employee for his or her contribution to the organization and for any “pain and suffering” they could have endured. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Actually, I was aware that HR had in fact received a personal check from corporate for about $500 for reimbursed medical expenses. I didn’t notify him of the real source of the cash, but I had to admit this his version was much more entertaining than the truth.

After he let me know that he knew my “little secret”, he then arrogantly looked at me and told me that he knew I must be surprised that he even knew that piece of information and then quickly said that he wouldn’t reveal his “source”. I told him that his “source” does interest me (due to the gross inaccuracy) but asked him to continue with his complaint.

He continued on, citing claims of unwanted touching, and solicitation and told me that he wasn’t “thirsty” and didn’t need another girl (HR). He said he had a girl, and that was all he needed.

He kept saying that I knew that she (HR) was like that (slept around) because the former SD (Site Director) had told me. He repeated this probably 4-5 times. His statement shocked me, but I actually knew what he was talking about. For long-term followers of Call Center Grit, please revisit the Blog dated 3-25 and titled, “Chop Stick” interrogations.

I just sat and continued to listen. He then began to tell me about guys that she (HR) had “dated” and fired when the employee wanted to break off the relationship. I told him that no one is fired without my approval, and that she doesn’t even have the authority to term an employee. He changed his story just a bit, and said that her aggressive actions, and retaliatory manor would force them (the harassed) to quit on their own, but that she was still responsible.

He then started giving me names, dates, and circumstances around some of employee’s who had witnessed, or were subjected to this type of harassment. Some of the names he gave were actual reps who I had personally wondered why they had unexpected resigned.

Let’s just say now this guy was really starting to get my attention.

HR - The Final Count-down

2005-06-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

While T-Money is being brought up to speed, it’s time I caught you up to speed on the trials and tribulations of HR. I can’t remember where we left her at (in the story line) but I’m sure she was causing drama.

I had continued to receive complaint after complaint regarding favoritism, harassment, and abuse of power. Her argument was that she was holding their feet to the fire over, and these substandard performers were actually retaliating against her. It was true that the complainers were high maintenance and very low performers so at the time, it was hard to discern fact from fiction.

One night around 7:00, I had an employee come back to work to meet with me. This conversation would represent the beginning of the end of HR, and represent an absolute turning in the organization and bring me face to face with assault and battery charges filed against me.

This guy was litigious minded, a former drug dealer, and worked less than 16 hours a week. This guy was a real contributor to the cause if you know what I mean. Any way, I invited him in my office and he began to tell me the story of how HR had been sexually soliciting him for months, that’s sexual harassment, and if I didn’t fire her, he would sue the company and me.

I saw this guy was serious, so I asked him for permission to record all the dialogue going forward. He quickly agreed, and actually seemed to be getting exciting at the formal nature of my request. Upon the initiation of the taping, I made sure that I asked him for permission to record him so that his acceptance would be clearly archived on audiotape.

With his approval and acknowledgement archived, I allowed him to proceed with his complaint. He began to tell me that my 5”2, 95 lb blond HR had been “woman” handling him while he was at work and he just didn't know what to do. He said that she would come by and rub his chest, rub his hair, and tell him all the things she could do for him if he would only let her. He said that it was stressing him out, preventing him from doing his job appropriately, and that the company was allowing this behavior to continue. His fear was that if he complained, she would have him fired.

I asked him why if this was going on for so long, why didn’t he come forward. I told him that I couldn’t fix what I don’t know about. In his own language, he said that she was in my head so he couldn’t come forward. I asked him what he meant by, “In my head”. He said that she (HR) caught me looking down her shirt, and to keep her quiet, I paid her over $500 to keep it on the down low…
What’s scary was that HR did receive $500, but it wasn’t from me…

The Great Escape

2005-05-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

But it was clear that he also enjoyed having a good time. Within the first few hours of day one, he rolled out a “Will Sing for X-Sells” competition for a group of people who he didn’t even know. As we learned very quickly, T was the textbook definition of an exhibitionist if there ever was one. He was a call-center supervisor by day, and a hard-core karaoke fiend by night.

No one took him up on his offer to sing for x-sells… No one!

T’s first real taste of call center, USA came on his first Friday of employment. I had a client calibration that I needed to attend when I saw one of my crack-heads break rank, grab his bag, and make a run for the door. It was around 2:30 on a payroll Friday, which is when my fiends start twitching. I jumped in front of him and asked him where he was going.

While twitching (I’m being serious here), he said that he already had hit his 40hours for the week and was out of here. I told him to log in, he was not approved to leave early, and that SL was abysmal. He notified me that I could not force him to stay since he hit his forty hours. I was under the gun to log into to the conference call, and this guy was making me late. It was clear that there was not going to be a quick resolution to this issue. As I’m weighing my options, I heard my fiending friend begin to demand a policy manual to see where this “rule” was located. About this time, T-Money came walking over. I explained the situation, asked if he could handle it, and he simply replied, “No Problem”.

It was really nice to have some extra help in dealing with some of these issues. I felt a slight burden begin to lift off my shoulders. I got on my call, T-Money handled the issue, and the attempt at the great escape came to a close until 5:00.

It was nice to have that position filled...

T-Money's First Day

2005-05-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

After my team interviewed T-Money, we all came together to debrief. They felt he was a strong, solid candidate and would be a good fit into the team. I hesitated pulling the trigger on this move pondering my decision. It wasn’t that he wasn’t the best I interviewed, because he was. It was more along the lines of should I re-post to be sure I had the right guy.

The wrong move now, would further erode the sites stability. (If you’re a call center grit follower, you’ve come to realize that’s my favorite line.)

T-Money’s first day…

To save some keystrokes, I will refer to T-Money as just T going forward. T came in on his first day and all I wanted was for him to meet and greet the people, and begin to build relationships, and have some fun with driving some intra-day sales urgency. In short, I wanted him to focus on the people, and not on the product.

I knew that his immediate success or failure was not going to be whether he knew the product. I am a strong believer in product knowledge, but this was day one of week one. I had him booked to start in the next training class, but now I wanted to see what he brought to the table in terms of raw talent.

His style was militant, and highly structured, with a splash of fun. His first move was to name the different bay’s based off Monopoly Board Games. We now had our own Board Walk, Park Place, etc… With some markers and cardboard, each row now had an identity.

On the militant side, he posted no less than 4 signs displaying different standards, expectations, and consequences. T liked his signs, and loved the opportunity to use a little PowerPoint to convey a message.

The floor was cautious at first…

In walks T-Money...

2005-05-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Being one sup down, I took on the task of assuming his (the Pretender) opening role in the site. The first full day after his separation it was clear that the environment had changed. It felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t have to worry about his (the Pretender) commitment to the team, or his involvement with reps outside of work, or worry about his poor decision making skills. I didn’t have to worry about him at all, and if felt pretty good.

I began to cross-leverage my trainer to help support the floor in a more operational capacity. The good side was that he was very effective, with the down side being that he was forced to neglect some of his training responsibilities. I would pay for this move later.

Things were moving along, and I escalated the search for a new-supervisor. We posted online, in the papers, and internally. Applications flowed in and out. The site and it’s “culture” was different than anything I had ever dealt with and new that a professional from the outside would feel the same way.

I needed someone tough, politically correct, and able to handle intense, emotionally charged issues the same way that I could. I kept my standards high, and disqualified a lot of candidates as a result. This wasn’t a bad thing, but it did make for slow progress. Day after day, week after week, the search went on. My search was supported primarily from corporate.

Finally a possibility stood out of the crowd. A preliminary interview was conducted by corporate on one candidate, and it seemed he might be a winner. His information was sent to me, and I reached out to him to set up a meeting. Let’s refer to him as T-Money. T-Money was in his late forties and had a military background in Human Resources. He had worked in a call center before as a supervisor and possessed in-bound and out-bound experience. I interviewed him onsite. He had a very professional demeanor, and came across well. The interview was strong, but I needed more confirmation of what his guy was all about. I wanted to see how he responded in different environments, and if he was going to be consistent in his answers to my questioning.

I set up a second meeting at a local restraunt. I got to know him, and he got to know about me. I began throwing some wild scenarios at him to see how he would specifically handle them. As wild as the scenarios were, they were all real examples of what I had already dealt with at the site. It was after this meeting that I began thinking this guy could be the one.

Back at the site, the reps wanted to know why I hadn’t filled the position. I explained that this was the most important decision that I had to make at this time, and it required that I find the right person, and refused accept a lower qualified applicant.

I was sure T-money was the most qualified player that I had interviewed but it was important that my team was bought into him as well. I set up a third interview with my core staff and T-money. It was via phone, and other than doing a round-robin introduction, I didn’t participate in their interview.

Fall Out...

2005-05-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Tensions were high after the termination, and my staff was visibly shaken. I pulled them individually into my office to discuss the situation.

When a leader has to make a decision that others do not understand, and especially when it involves a well-liked peer, it’s important to stabilize, and reassure your team quickly. This tactic is also known as damage control.

I pulled each one of my staff members into my office and asked how they were doing. They were a little puzzled at my questioning at first. I explained that when tough decisions are made, and the result is that a staff member loses their job, the other members have a tendency to feel threatened if they do not know or understand the circumstances surrounding the separation.

I explained to each of them that an expectation was set and this employee, despite repeated chances, continued to fail to meet those expectations. This person’s own choices, decisions, and actions created a situation that prevented us from being able to do business.

This move had an immediate calming effect on my staff which was exactly what it was intended to do.

HR on the other hand became a poster child for the emotionally distressed. She cried constantly that day. I pulled her into my office to try and line her out. I told her that it was fine to miss the Pretender, but that it was unacceptable to have such an uncontrollable outburst of emotion. I explained to her that the floor would react based on how we (the leaders) react. If they see that life goes on for us, it goes on for them. If they see that we are emotionally upset, it will add to the emotional instability of the situation, and they will think they have a need to be upset.

Despite my conversations, HR did not improve. Not only did she not improve, she began to wear this bright, plush, purple jacket, with a giant Fat Albert across the back in memory of the fallen supervisor.

It was the Pretenders Jacket…

How could anyone in the site, especially the reps, move on when a member of my core take had made a conscious decision not to…
The Pretender was down and out, and now HR was really starting to tick me off…

Pretend(er) Drama

2005-05-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

As the last bit of confidence I had in the Pretender eroded, the truth that the best indicator of future performance is past performance burned into me.

Soon after, the client requested that we extend our hours of operation into the AM by 1 hour. The Pretender was the opening sup, so he took on the burden to come in earlier. As a week or so passed by, the client kept expressing concerns that they were not able to transfer us calls before 7:30. We opened trouble tickets and worked with IT to try and research the issue, but could never determine a root-cause.

A few days later, I noticed some irregularities in rep exception codes that spurred me to ask a few questions. The rep that was scheduled to open was always coded exception time for about the first 15-30minutes of her shift. The Pretender explained that she was exceptioned while he was on the phone trouble shooting the transfer issue with tech support.

Finally the rep came forward in a showing of emotion and tears and finally told me what was going on. She would arrive at work to only find a locked front door, and no supervisor. She would wait outside until HR arrived to let her in. HR would then pay her for her time that she had waited outside so that she wouldn’t feel the need to escalate the issue. HR had been abusing her authority, and working with the Pretender to conceal a very serious issue.

As usual, the floor knew what was going on, and when they saw her emotionally grab me that morning; they knew that she was brining me up to speed. When the Pretender arrived, I pulled him into the conference room and termed him.

His exit was as dramatic the second time as the first. He grabbed his stuff, and walked out. HR came running up to me and asked if she could drive me him home. He didn’t have a car, and he lived 4-5 miles away so I agreed.

After going back into the conference room, a verbal assault initiated on the rep who came forward. Instead of the floor coming to the logical conclusion that his own actions resulted in his own termination, it became the reps fault for breaking the “code” of silence. Reps were crying, HR was falling to pieces, I had reps walking off the floor…

Will the drama ever end...

Going down in flames...

2005-05-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

As you read this, you may disagree with me allowing the Pretender to stay employed. It wasn’t an easy move, but I will say this. It took more for me to keep him on, than it would have been to term him. His separation did represent the path of least resistance, and would have been the easiest move . I've also learned that the easiest move might not be the best move.

With that being said, this guy’s level of influence was great enough with the floor (again, they loved this guy) that his “miss-understood” termination, would have set us back months not to mention he represented the lesser of the evils. I use the term "misunderstood" because it is inappropriate to discuss any circumstances regarding suspensions or terminations. He also had another thing going for him. If I termed him, I had no one to fill his shoes and there was not an extra hour left in the day that I could give to Call Center, USA.

His peers (most of them) and the call-floor greeted him with open arms upon his return, as I greeted him with cautious optimism. I wasn’t sure if I made the right move keeping him on board.

My optimism soon turned for the worse as I saw the Protector plain and simply fail to execute. I witnessed a total lack of initiative, and the absence of an effective decision making process. I was holding this guys feet to the fire and it was as if he couldn’t feel the heat.

During one of my moments of disbelief, I watched him go to his desk (which is in the middle of the call floor) and open a newspaper. I don’t mean it was folded up on his desk and he was discreetly reading it. This thing was spread full-eagle, with words dibbling down the full expanse of the paper. From header to footer, it to me represented either an act of defiance, or pure stupidity.

I called him into my office, and asked him what he thought he was doing. I told him that after the “strain” in our relationship (his two week suspension), that I would see more effort not less.

I told him that if he had it, I needed it, and bring it on..

He agreed, and hit the floor. I could tell that while I was ready to move on, he wasn't. After that conversation, I could tell that he was truly defeated after his close encounter with his termination. I’ve seen it a hundred times.. People make a wrong move, or are held accountable, and their ego become so bruised, they are not able to recover. All confidence is gone, and they spiral out of control, as they count the days until they are termed….

He was crashing and burning before my eyes… All I could do was empower him, drink to second chances, but the recovery was up to him.

I’ve done my piece but now I both needed and expected results. I tried to help, but it only seemed to fan the flames…

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2005-05-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

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2005-05-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

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2005-05-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

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2005-05-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

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Second Chances, or to the Past

2005-05-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

With his admission of guilt, the criminal phase of the trial ended. It was now time for the penalty phase. I suspended him short-term, until I could decide what long-term action was warranted to address such a serious integrity issue.

I was leaning towards termination, but learned never to make decisions when I am emotionally “peaked”, and let’s just say I was definitely “peaked” after being lied to for the past half an hour.

His anger transitioned into regret, as I witnessed the heaviness of depression spread across his face. This guy made his bed, and now he had to sleep in it. He was loved by his reps, mostly for the wrong reasons, and loved by HR, definitely for the wrong reasons.

His departure was slow, and steady, literally leaving a trail of tears as he departed the building. The floor didn’t realize that he wasn’t termed, and viewed his departure as a loss to their family.

As I was contemplating his separation from the company, I was once again forced to accept that there was no bench strength in the general population to pull from. The one person who had the experience was Bonnie (reference Bonnie and Clyde), but with Clyde still being an active employee, she was not a long-term option.

We placed adds in the paper, and the search was on for a new supervisor.

After two weeks of suspension, I called the Pretender and set up a meeting with him at a local bar, which was close to his home. I had an offer for him; an offer that he couldn’t refuse.

When I pulled into the parking lot, he came over and got into my truck where I was going to consider offering him a second chance.

I had already decided that if he gave me any attitude, or displayed any manorism that I didn't like, I would term him and our meeting would be to drink to old times. If he humbled himself, and graciously approached the meeting, we would drink to second chances and an opportunity to do business a little longer. His approach was the later. In crystal clear dialogue, I laid out the terms of my offer. My terms included placing him on a “Final Written” for the integrity issue, and a fact his leash had been shortened, and that he would have to re-build my trust in him.

We then went inside and ended up drinking to second chances…

The "Great Protector" turns into the "Great Pretender"

2005-04-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Back to the Protector, one of our first characters we met in CallCenter Grit...

I continued to be plagued with his poor decision making abilities. He had all the potential in the world, but people are not judged on potential, they are judged on results. I held his feet to the fire, and instead of improving his decision making process, he decided to start concealing his mistakes.

Poor decisions are one thing, but I have no tolerance for integrity issues. There was a project he wanted to initiate and presented to me during a one on one. Words are cheap, but I wanted to see how fast and far he would run with it. I agreed, and gave him some guidelines for implementation.

A week or two later, during our next one on one, I asked for an update on his project. The same project that he asked me if he could implement. His answer was muddled and lacked detail, and his eye contact and body language told me he was being deceptive. I felt the guy was giving me a line, so I asked him those infamous words. I told his to show me.

He was gone for probably 8-10 minutes, and during that time I was alone in the conference room. During that time, I hoped that the Protector understood that he was now making a career decision. I hoped for the best, but I also knew the best indicator of future performance is past performance.

He brought back a group of documents and presented them to me as confirmation that he had been working the project. The documents looked forged, with fake looking, repetitive signatures, all in the same color ink.

Also, from my one-on-one’s with the QA’s, what he was presenting looked like the project they had committed to executing and not what we discussed.

I told him that I thought he was a good guy and wanted to do the right thing, and I asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell me before we go any further.

He immediately got defensive, and played ignorant.

I asked him to be straight with me, and tell me if they were authentic. He confirmed all was on the up and up. The longer I stared at them, the more I knew they were fakes. I was insulted that he didn't take my gift and come clean, so I asked him again. Had he been straight with me, I would have placed him on a developmental plan and let him know that if his integrity were ever in question again, I would term him.

He quickly took that option off the table…

To my amazement, he continued to stick to his guns defending his story. When I threatened to inspect his documents, he didn’t waver. He said I would find that his work was legit. He has now limited his options, because now he has limited mine. He passionately asked me why would he lie. I told him for self-preservation. He reminded me of our first one-on-one’s where he immediately admitted to removing documentation from employee files. His argument was that if he would come clean on that, why would he lie now.

My temper was raging fueled by his persistence. I told him to sit tight, and went to the call floor with his documents in hand. I went to my QA, and asked them where these documents came from. She said they were her documents and the Protector got them from her 10 minutes prior. I asked if she was sure, and she said yes.

I went back to the conference room, where the Protector was waiting. I again, asked him where the documents came from.

Even with the knowledge that I had just come from the floor, he stood the ground that was quickly crumbling under him. I gave him the facts that were given to me.

He was stoic, and stuck with his story... I could have just whacked him, but I wanted him to tell me the truth. I want him to confess the docs were fakes. I just expected and deserved more respect and honesty than this guy was giving me.

I finally got up, and went and brought in my member of QA who confirmed that the documents were hers. She then told me the same story, in front of the Protector...

Again, he remained stoic… Unbelievable!!!!

She left... I was more disappointed now than angry. I knew his fate was sealed, but I still wanted him to admit his crime. If I termed him, it would ensure that he would not get unemployment, but it would also allow us to part on better terms.

I looked directly at him and told him that I thought he was a good guy, and wanted to do the right thing. I then got up, and moved down the table, and set in the chair right next to him.

In a non-defensive posture, I told him that good people make bad decisions every day. I told him that he made a commitment to me to complete a project, he didn't follow up, and that I he panicked when I wanted to inspect his progress.

He looked down, and said, “Yes, I was lying”.

Just a little more crack...

2005-04-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

My heart started to pound, as the excitement of the search had now surged into action. I quickly pulled my car into a convenience store, and turned around to head in the direction of my suspect. As traffic cleared, I quickly pulled into traffic to narrow the 5-6-car lead she had on me. I carefully, but urgently negotiated through traffic until I was right behind her.

Always something new...

My job description was always evolving at Call Center, USA and my day's off seemed to be no exception. I’ve never really considered myself a man of action, other than taking my two kids, ages 4&5, to Wal-Mart on a Saturday, but here I was in pursuit of an employee, who stole a car from another employee, who happed to be her supervisor.

I grabbed my cell and called my supervisor. My voice was shaking from the surreal nature of chase. All I could say was was, “I got her, I got her.” Hearing my urgency, he knew something was going down, but he couldn’t comprehend what I was telling him. He kept saying, "What? What?” I finally managed to get my message across that I found his car, was in chase, and his rep was now a crack-head on the run.

As tough as it was for me to accept that his car was stolen, it was equally tough for him to accept that I had found it, and was in pursuit. He just couldn't believe it..

The chase was on...

I’m not sure she recognized me, or knew that someone was following her, but either way, she pulled into a convenience store into a parking space. I pulled up in the spot parallel to her. She looks right at me, puts the car in reverse, and takes off again. I threw my car in reverse and hit the accelerator. No real speed was needed, as she slowly pulled away from me in a low-speed, OJ style escape. All she needed now was a white bronco, and Kato.

She maneuvers directly out of the parking lot, and drives down the street into another convenience store parking lot. She was preparing to make another change in direction, pulling a tight u-turn, and heading back towards the street. It was quite possible that this was not her first time evading.

This crack-head was on the run!

Fearing that she would duplicate her last maneuver and make it back to the streets, I parked in the middle of the entrance far enough that I though me car was safe from inbound traffic and jumped out. It wasn’t the best idea to use my car to block the entrance to a high-traffic convenience store, but I parked and took off running at her. I didn’t have a real clear idea of what I was going to do when I got there, but I knew she wasn’t going to leave.

Throughout the chase, I noticed that her driver side window had been down, and upon my approach, she began to roll up the manual window was fast as she could leaving only a two inch gap at the top.

I called her by name, and told her to stop. With her lips pointed towards the two-inch gap she had left open, she said that she was taking the car back to him as she continued to back the car up. I continued to walk towards the car, and again told her to stop and get out. She ignored my comment, and kept the vehicle in reverse.

When she finally placed the car into drive, I stepped in front of the car demanding that she park and get out of the car. She continued to inch closer as I again demanded that she stop the car. If I was a cop with a night stick, I would feel a beating coming on. Anyway, I’m not a cop, I’m a Site Director, but I think the beating would be just as appropriate.

I finally got her to consent, and park the car. When the door opened, I demanded the keys, and with keys in hand, I called the cars owner.

The chase was over.

The "Final" Crack Tale for now...

2005-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

The "Final" Crack Tale for now...

Saturday's are short work days for us with the site opening at 8:00AM and closing around 1:00 PM. The day started out the way all the other Saturday's do, but this one was different. This one, was going to be.... special! While checking attendance, my sup realized that one of my weekend crack-head "transformers" didn't show up and She was scheduled to open at 8:00am.

Struggling Service Level...

Saturday's are mission critical for SL, and with staffing light already; we approach the weekend with an all hands on deck approach. When an employee doesn't show, set in motion our contingency plan, which requires us to try and reach the associate. We initiated a call to her, and made contact. She stated she didn't have a ride. With it still being early, and since she lived less than 10 minutes from the site, her friend left to go pick her up.

The Crack Head arrives...

She arrived around 9:45. Upon her arrival, she mentioned to my "male" supervisor that she needed to purchase some feminine hygiene products and needed his car. Word of advice, if a crack-headed asks for your care, just say no!

FHP- Feminine Hygiene Products..

Hearing those words: feminine hygiene products; my supervisor’s common sense dissipated like dust in the wind. Just to add a little salt to the wound, there was a 5000 square foot convenience store in the same parking lot as my site, which I’m sure sold exactly what she was looking for.

One would think that would at least surface as an option, before handing over your car, but alas, his wit’s had completely vacated by this point.

I dropped by the site around 10:30, to find a visible distressed supervisor. He recapped the story, and stated that she had not returned. I couldn’t believe that story he was telling me.

I left shortly after, and received a call from him around noon. She still had not yet returned with his car, and the site closes in 1 hour. He asked me that if she didn't come back, could I give him a ride home. I agreed, and around 1:30, I saw his name flash on my caller ID.

The search begins...

I went and picked him up, questioned his decision-making capacity, and then primarily laughed at the situation. He wasn't amused. I drove him around looking for his car. Our search area was determined by asking ourselves, if we wanted some crack, where would we go...

I can honestly say that was one question I never thought I would be asking myself.

We cruised the downtown area, and circled her apartment a few times. I then took him to the police station to report the car stolen. His hope for help only turned into more frustration. Since he gave her the keys, he couldn't report the car stolen. The cops took down the tag, and agreed to stop the car, but no formal charges could be filed because no law was broken.

To no avail...

Uneventful, and full of despair, I dropped him off at his house. I was not quite ready to give up the search quite yet so I took a less than straight route on my drive home. I was scanning every car, every parking lot, and every ally looking for signs of the crime.

To my absolute disbelief, I see the car, the crack head, and both just drove right past me.

White Lightning and Grand Theft

2005-04-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Crack wasn’t the only drug being abused at my site...

When the parking lot emptied, I noticed the ground would be scattered with a collection of 6-8 bone-dry pints of vodka. When I first saw the bottles, I didn't think much of them. We had a liquor store within sight, and I assumed that we were on the path of an alcoholic making their daily pilgrimage. I didn't realize the journey was originating and ending at my site.

What added to the mystery of the bottles was the realization that the parking lot was cleaned weekly as part of regular building maintenance. We are not talking evening cocktails here. This was hard-core alcoholism.

Back to the vault ...

HR accessed her “vault” and told me of least 2 people that were alcoholic's, or rather suspected alcoholics. I brought my sups together to discuss the situation. No one claimed to have seen anyone drinking, but they had the same suspect in mind that HR identified.

White Lightning...

Let’s call her "Thirsty". Thirsty was a very petite, well dressed, woman who was in her late 50’s to early 60’s. She was 5’5”, and seemed very grandmother like. Grandmother or not, “Thirsty” had a problem with the “white lighting”. My sups claimed to have smelled alcohol on her, so I felt that with their first hand knowledge, I could address the situation and try to head off an issue at the pass.

We brought "Thirsty" in, discussed the facts, and asked if she had ever been drinking on the job, or before work. She denied it but sincerely thanked us for our concern. The meeting didn't go anywhere, but it did provide us a forum to outline the consequences he we ever confirmed she was drinking, or intoxicated while on the job.

Thirsty goes down...

Within two weeks, the client notified us that this agent had deliberately encouraged the customer to lie while confirming a sale. Needless to say, she was gone, and the sea of bottles left with her.

Band of brothers...

To give you some more inside drama on "Thirsty", her son had grown up with one of my other reps and his brother. Apparently when Brother 1, and brother 2 were young, their mother was a crack-head and “Thirsty” adopted them into her family since they were friends with her son. She gave them shelter, food, and protection when things were to tough to go home...

Brother # 1 was working at my site, and HR knew" knew both #1 & #2. As I mentioned, HR was “connected”. Late one night, brother #2 called HR, and said he was intoxicated and couldn't drive home. HR went and picked him up, and on the way to his house, brother # 2 admitted that he had burglarized "Thirty’s" house. HR was shocked. She was aware of the break in because it devastated "Thirsty" and she openly talked about it at work.

Now here was HR alone with brother # 2 as he confessed his crimes, through alcohol induced tears... HR drops him off, and then notified the police the next day...

Will the drama ever end?

Crack- Tales

2005-04-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

The more my tenure increased, the more my staff, and reps opened up to me. Apparently, the drug dealer used to come by the site at least once per week, unless the dealer was employed by CallCenterUsa. Before my time, apparently it was an obvious transaction. Back when the Hustler was in charge, the Police Department actually called the facility and let him know they suspected someone was dealing out of the site.

The Hustler then walks to the call floor made an announcement that if anyone was dealing, that it needed to stop immediately because the cops were watching...

One of the more alarming stories, which was confirmed my multiple people, was when one of my older crack-heads (he was in his fifties) daughter began working at the site. Let’s call him OC. It turns out that the "Ultimate Fighter" used to have another roommate that also worked at the site, used to deal coke on the side. Well the story goes that they had some surplus of rock to sell, and gave it to my agent to sell thinking he would have some connections.

I don't sell crack, but I don't need anyone to tell me that giving crack to a crack-head to sell is not the best move. Now if I had a lot of crack that needed to be smoked, I would know exactly who to take it to.

So my agent takes the crack, and smokes the crack... I'm sure you are surprised about this as I am. When it was time to pay up, he had no cash. Again, another surprise! In an attempt to get their cash, they began to harass his daughter. They told her that if she didn't find the cash, or pay up, they would hurt her father. She somehow comes up with the cash, and pays them off and then quits.

Now let's advance the story and bring me into the picture...

I had one rep that was working for me that we will call the “Kid” because he looked 12. All I knew about him was that he had three babies under a year old, he was young, and rode to work every day with HR.

One day I was talking to him about his absenteeism, and he broke down crying. He said that cops had been harassing him, and that they suspected that he was dealing (crack). I asked him if it was true, he said no. He then began to tell that it was two current employee’s that actually turned him into the cops.

Ever since that conversation, I was cautious around this guy watching for signs of anything illegal. I was sitting at the receptionist’s desk as the “kid” was signing out for the day. Out of no-where the (Older Crack-head) OC walks up and tells the “kid” that he will swing by his place that night to play some basketball. The kid says, uhhh, ok... These guys never associated at work and there was probably a 30+ gap in age, and they were not family. I immediately knew what was going down, drug deal.

The next day, OC (older crack-head) says he needs to talk to me. He looked awkward, and nervous. I told him I could talk in an hour, and he agreed to wait. When I came out of my meeting, my sups said he had left, but was asking everyone if he could borrow $50.

That incident passes and A few weeks later, the "kid" shows up with a broken hand. He said that someone cursed in front of his child, he asked them to stop, and they didn't, so he punched the guy out.

The same week I get a call from OC, who said he fell off his bike (which he rides to work) and broke his jaw on the curb. He was out for 8-9 days, before he finally came in. I didn't believe he was hurt until he came in and "wiggled" his broken jaw for me. It was one of the nastiest things I've seen.

Now let me take you forward to December. The site is closed now, and I'm having drinks with my trainer. While talking "the kid" came up in conversation, and my trainer said that HR told him that the kid broke his hand hitting OC. All of a sudden, it made sense...

One crack-head, one suspected dealer, a fake ball game, $50, one broken hand, and one broken jaw...

It looks so obvious writing it down, but it was vague at the time.
All I could say was, "un-believable"

Tales from the Pipe- Call Centers on Crack

2005-04-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

While I'm making light of a serious situation (Einstein on Crack), the unfortunate reality of substance abuse and specifically "Crack", will play a larger role at CallCenter, USA.

As various reps had attendance issues, I began to learn more and more what drove these issues. HR, as you know loved drama, and made sure she kept herself in the middle of it. Not only was she a smoker (the normal kind), which automatically increases ones level of situational awareness, but her relationships with reps outside of work only added more knowledge to her vault.

Crack Tales…

HR began to open the curtains and shed some light on the sites dark, addictive little secret. She shared that we had a small population of our most tenured agents who were fully functioning (functioning is a relative term) crack heads. HR's flare for drama (Please reference the Emergency in the Women’s Restroom) always made it a challenge for me to decipher fact, opinion, or over-reaction, so I took this news like I had to take all news from her, with skepticism.

Through tenure and personal observation, I soon understood how real the issue was. During payroll Friday, that same group of reps would have the tendency to leave early or if they didn't leave early, they would usually miss Monday, or come in very late.

SL is a big enough challenge without throwing crack into the picture. We initiated the progressive counseling process, but the real issue here was that it took each agent 8-12 months to complete the licensing process at a cost of $20,000 not to mention these reps performed a mission critical task for our client.

Now the obvious question is what moron decided to License crack-heads… that credit I leave to my predecessor.

The Real Deal…

If one was missing, usually I would have a least one rep that would report seeing them walking around downtown all cracked out. These guys were the real deal. I actually had one rep that was at a party, and ran into one of them lighting up.

After a weekend coke binge, their appearances would be completely altered. They would age 20 years in 3-4 days, but the real tell-tell sign was in their eyes. I could never quite put my finger on it, but somehow their eyes changed. They usually would be dirty, and un-kept, but by Wednesday, that would be back to normal. They would be clean, kept, and look 20 years younger. I had never seen anything like it.

Smoking in the boy’s room takes on a whole new meaning…

It was clear that HR was not exaggerating and this was a very real issue in my site. Upon more investigation, it turns out that one of the more notorious crack heads was actually caught smoking rock in the bathroom.

When I asked why he wasn't fired, everyone said that my predecessor didn't mandate it. What kind of environment would need a "mandate" to term someone who got caught smoking rock in the building?

On a lighter note…

In an attempt to reach the floor and make a real connection, we built a suggestion box. It had a "help me help you" logo on the front. After a few days I decided to check the suggestion box. It was filled almost to the top with little strips of white paper, and this box wasn’t small.

Before commonsense set in, I really felt I had finally found the medium that I could use to reach the floor. I grabbed the box, and took it back to the conference room and eagerly began to dig through the suggestions. My excitement turned into agitation when I realized that someone thought it would be funny to make a hundred copies of "Pay us More", and fill up my suggestion box.

I was angry for several reasons. For starters, someone used my copier, and someone else (my staff) allowed him or her to do it. Here we were, again, trying to make a difference, and someone else was trying to be funny.

As for real suggestions, I received probably 10-15 suggestions asking me to end favoritism like is was State Sponsored, and believe it or not, I had probably 3-5 suggestions to stop hiring crack-heads.

Stop hiring crack-heads...now that’s a fine idea!

The problem was not just in my site, it was also in the families of my employee’s.

I was at the site for just over a month, when I saw one of my reps looking visibly upset. I asked him if all we well, and he said, "No not really, they just found my uncle dead... He overdosed on crack".

And the hits just keep coming…

Old Faces, New Hustle, and Substance Abuse

2005-04-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Old faces…

I want to step back for a moment and revisit a former player in call-center Grit. The original Site Director for Call Center USA who was my leader, and my mentor. If you’re a follower of Grit, you can feel my sarcasm. If your not, let me recommend that you go back to the first and second blog starting with "Felonies and Follow Up's". Since this player is still with us, let’s give him some identify. It needs to be something fitting, something descriptive… let's call him Einstein.

So with the departure of the fearless leader (Einstein) I finally assumed full control of the site. Since he was still with the former owners of the site, they were going to relocate him to another facility in Dallas. About 2-3 weeks after he left, he showed up at the site to pick up his last paycheck prior to the move. With check in hand, he spent a few minutes visiting old friends and colleagues.

He had just returned from Dallas on a discover trip, and was trying to set up living arrangements. Little did he realize, he wouldn’t be going back to Dallas. Actually, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

In the envelope that housed his check, was a note. The note was from his company stating that his services were no longer needed. He probably wouldn’t have spent so much time visiting, if he new what was in his hand.

Einstein again leaves the building…

I saw him arrive, I saw him get his check, and I saw him leave... The only way that I knew he was fired was that his company used my receptionist to place his notice of termination in with his check. She (My receptionist) told me what had happened after he had already left the building.

Man, What a company. No call, no thanks for your services, No Nothing! This guy was in over his head, but no one should be let down like that.

Einstein’s story doesn't end here.

A Little History on Einstein...

Some of my staff began getting calls from a prior director (The Hustler) that brought in and trained Einstein. Once Einstein was "ready", the "Hustler" turned over control of the site and left for a corporate position. He allowed Einstein take over his apartment lease, utilities, and rental furniture payments. The plan was for Einstein to formerly change the lease and various agreements into his name. That was the plan. What actually happened was that Einstein didn't change anything, and decided to stop paying the Hustlers bills resulting in over $5,000 in over-due payments.

This doesn't sound like Einstein at all!

The Hustler was going nuts, because Einstein destroyed his credit, placed him in debt, was that he was still in the Hustlers apartment!!!

The Hustler had maintained relations with some of my staff and began calling them asking if they had seen Einstein. We had no idea this guy was still in town. He asked some of my staff (unknown to me at the time) to drive past Einstein’s apartment and see if he was in there. Einstein was there; or rather his car was in the parking lot.

I was talking to HR about the craziness of the whole situation and asked her what she thought. She then explained that she believed Einstein had a little substance abuse problem.

Imagine that… Einstein on crack!

Polarizing Opposition, and the Parting of the Red Sea

2005-04-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

I went home, thinking all was well...

The next day started pretty much as usual. Turns out it was anything but usual... I walked in and said good morning to one or two people before I heard a vocal explosion coming from the front two rows of my call floor. I dropped my bag, and immediately headed in that direction. I heard one of the people I selected for the committee state in a loud, exaggerated tone of voice, "If you don't want to make cookies, fine!!!!” That's the only verbatim statement I can remember, but there were multiple volleys of heated dialogue going back and forth between committee members, and the barn bosses.

Mutually Assured Destruction..

The bosses decided they were not going to allow this process to be successful, and had launched a MAD campaign against its success. MAD was a term left over from the cold war, and it stood for Mutaully Assured Distruction. If this projected didn't include them, they would rather see it deystroyed.

I stepped between the two groups giving them both the cease and desist order. I looked like a traffic cop signaling two oncoming, opposing lanes of traffic to halt.

I told them the whole point of the committee was to be a positive, moral building force in the site and was not meant to tear us down, but build us up. I recapped that it was built for the people, by the people. I went to the disgruntled group to isolate what their issue was. Their primary concern was that they were not selected, and with their tenure, felt it should have been them.

I told them that I simply needed a starting point to get the process rolling until the formal election was going to be held. It was true I needed a starting place, but the reality was that I would never formerly or informally promotes anyone from this group into a position of authority or influence.

Their need for drama and conflict over-rode their all ready limited capacities for reasoning. After my explanation, I could see the look of understanding spread over them as I saw their defensive postures relax.

The conflict was over…

I could tell relations were damaged, but it wasn’t until after the first break for me to realize how much damage was actually done. Around 10:30, I walked out of my office and was shocked by the change in the landscape.

After the morning hostilities, the reps decided to segregate themselves from each other. The positive, and neutral reps shifted away from the more negative reps to the far extremes of the call floor, and the negative reps collapsed into a more toxic, poisonous group than before.

The Battle of Good Vs Evil...

It’s almost as if the polar forces took on good and evil magnetism literally pulling their armies of followers apart. The division was so precise it left the entire middle row of the call floor barren, with the exception of one person who was clueless as to why he was now alone.

Moses himself would have been proud of a division so complete. My floor continued to resemble the Red sea until my late shift reps arrived to fill in the void.

There I was, again, starring in disbelief… I had never seen such feelings or sentiment visually defined… As I looked on, I realized again the challenges that were in front of me, and all I head echoing in the background was, “If you don’t want to make cookies, fine!!!”

Crisis in the Womens Restroom

2005-04-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

After making this realization, HR explodes into this story about how the girls restroom was almost out of toilet seat covers, and that this first group was free, but the cleaning service would charge us the next time, and we needed to make a decision if the women’s restrooms were going to have them or not!

All I could do was just stare at her... This was the emergency that pulled me away from my project?

Back to the floor...

Despite all of our improvements, we were slowly reaching a plateau. We have driven production to a new level for the site, but our success had yet to be tested by time or circumstance. It was important that we stay focused, and not be comfortable with our success. We had to stay hungry, and stay paranoid, and always keep looking over our shoulder.

The floor had other ideas…

As a management team, we reevaluated the barriers that were still negatively impacting the floor. We looked at the environment and realized that Us vs. Them mentality was alive and well, and the negative barn bosses were still wielding a tremendous amount of influence. We needed to increase our level of influence, and diminish theirs.

I had a dream...

We decided to take the struggle to the people and created an Employee Relation Committee. The committee was made of the people, for the people, and was designed to increase moral by giving the floor a voice. The "voice" was to act as a sounding board for the floor and create contests, and incentives to increase moral and allow us to negotiate past the Us vs. Them attitude.

The committee was to be nominated from the floor, and hold the position no longer than 3 months. I communicated the plan with the objectives clearly outlined, and initially received a very positive response. To kick off the process, I needed a starting point so I chose some of the more positive individuals on the floor to be apart of the process until the official nomination occurred.

The group was highly excited to participate, and I pulled them together for our first session. We brainstormed, threw ideas around, and had a very productive first session and ended up with a dry erase board full of ideas. We reviewed our objectives and ideas, and built a plan for implementation. The ideas were going to cost money so the first activity was to raise money, and secure funding. To accomplish this, the group decided to hold a bake sale with all money going into a fund.

The group would bake items, and get the floor to contribute items as well. The group left charged and excited, and I was feeling pretty good myself. I felt we were close to the break through that we needed.
Little did I know that this was the beginning of the end of our employee committee, and by the time it was all said and done, my call floor would be relationally torn in half.

My A-Player gets a D

2005-04-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

Relationships revealed...

As the facts unfolded, I soon realized there were deep personal relationships between some of the QA Staff, HR, and the "UF" Ultimate Fighter. They would all get together after work but the relationship didn't end there. Not only was the "UF" and HR friends, they were roommates.

So now one of the more disorderly reps has teamed up with HR resulting in a performance issue with immunity. This was an entirely inappropriate arrangement, which formed only after they met each other at Call Center USA, which to me was even worse. It would be one thing to enter into an arrangement with a company already being roommates but for a rep to move in with HR after meeting at the site represents a new level of poor management. Neither situation is right, and both situations set the stage for favoritism.

Suspicions Confirmed...

Now that this relationship was known, I watched their interactions very carefully from across the call floor. I watched the "UF" ask HR for numerous privileges and HR would give her blanket permissions with no regard to SL or the fact that she doesn't have the authority to authorize anything. These exchanges would go down in front of the supervisors (who were in charge of the floor) without them (supervisors) saying a word. I watched HR provide excuses on why the "UF" was late because HR moved the alarm clock without telling the "UF". All my fears were being playing out in front of me.

HR and myself had a long discussion about her role, and what she can, and cannot do. I told her that she was treating the UF differently, and that was unacceptable, favoritism, and grounds for action. She acknowledged my concern, stated it had not be an issue before (before my arrival) and that she would cease and desist. I spoke to supervisor staff and asked them why they would allow HR to control their teams. Their answer resembled HR's by stating that’s just how is was. I again explained their roles, and what I expected from them. I was losing my patients with their inability to step up. I cant stand victim statements, and I felt like I had a staff full of them (victims). I should have immediately demanded a resignation or demotion from either the "UF" or HR. That was my mistake.

More on HR...

My plan was to transition into more on the "UF", but I feel compelled to into more on "HR".

While my A-Player (HR) does posses some really strong skill sets, her opportunities were just was defined. I realized that she loved drama, and loved a good crisis, and was actually responsible for creating more than she prevented. As an example, within my second or third week at the site, she finds me working on a project. Her body was riddled with urgency, and she had a real look of panic in her eye. I asked her what was wrong, and all she could do was hastily reply that I needed to come with her. I dropped what I was doing, and jumped up to follow her. My mind was racing, was someone hurt, was there and emergency, what was going on... It was all I could do to keep up as she led me through the call floor, down the back hall by an emergency exit, and into the women’s restroom.

I quickly realized that we were the only one's in there... We were alone..

Ultimate Fighter Continued...

2005-04-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Continued...

Despite all the imagery that I provided, one more thing that you need to know about the (UF) “Ultimate Fighter” is that she wasnt just a good performer. She was our top Out-Bound representative.

More on the culture...

The value of this statement is that the former culture maintained that performance equals immunity. Former Management would extend "privileges" to those top performs in order to keep them "motivated" to perform. The problem that this creates is an "Ends" justifies the "Means" attitude. It supports the, “I don’t care what you do, or how you do it, just hit X criteria when I needed you to, and all will be well.” The result is a population that’s prone to cheating, corruption, and very tough to manage.

This belief was fueled by every step of the way by former management, and was still being fueled by the current account manager. Let me explain. The AM (Account Manager) would call me and I quote, "I you don't perform better, I'm going to take the business and move it." The first time I heard this from him was around day 3 on the job. He expected instant success and unrealistic results. I understood the urgency around performance, and had a plan that we were urgently executing against in order to take the right steps.

As described, the site was "in-flex" and I was fighting a culture that supported and drove the wrong behaviors. While Scare tactics or threats do not intimidate me, it could really encourage the wrong behavior from a manager with less experience. A young manager, who just received a big promotion, and a nice pay raise, has just elevated the standard of life for his family. This manager might be persuaded into making some less than ethical choices, adding more fuel to the fire, and continuing the cycle.

Back to the ultimate fighter...
I support the belief that you can't give what you don't have, so I questioned how she was able to make so many sales. I talked to my QA's, supervisors, and HR about her performance and any prior issues. The general consensus was that she was clean, but that she was able to leverage her toughness into a very powerful assumptive sales approach. HR was surprisingly defensive of the "UF", and was personally supporting the legitimacy of this rep.

Why would a group of professionals choose to support such an obvious management issue? Why couldn't my staff see it, or were they choosing to look the other way...

What was I missing?

The Ultimate Fighter

2005-04-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Continued…

As a Director, I shouldn't be dealing directly with reps on this level. I pay the people that own the people, to take care these issues. Yet here I was. My conversation was quick, decisive, and ended with the rep saying that she appreciated my direct feedback, and that she would think less of me if I didn't deal with her attitude.

that's all it takes...

I was disappointed with my supervisor, but it was a reality check for me. Prior to my arrival, my staff had been provided one poor leader after another and when things don't go well, you can't blame the followers. Followers do what followers do. They follow! That was the past, and was no longer a current reality. Now I was the leader and our failures were now a reflection of me.

Despite their realistic challenges with prior leadership, it was time to leave the land of excuses...

I began a series of mini-coaching workshops on how to give, provide, and receive direct honest feedback. It delighted the client, and gave me a forum to instruct my team on the basics of feedback and how to handle the more advanced, emotionally charged situations, with finesse, while maintaining authority. I walked them through specific situations that they had seen me handle on the floor, and why I handled them the way that I did. They drank in the feedback, seemed highly receptive, but I needed more. I wanted to see where the rubber meets the road.

Talk is cheap, and I wanted to confirm the practical application of what we discussed.

The Ultimate Fighter...

With that said, it's time to introduce a new character in "Call Center Grit". She was the leader of my “informal leadership group” that was discussed in the previous blog. She had a ruff masculine demeanor, who had the aggressiveness of a chained pit bull. She appeared to be one of those hardened soul's that was the product of an apparent tough life that resulted in an equally tough personality that’s prepared to give, as well as take blows. If there were a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) for women, she would be sponsored by Tap-Out, as she snapped arms, and twisted ankles.

Her hand-to-hand combat abilities have actually been demonstrated with another rep during an all-out fight on the call-floor. The highly tuned negotiation skills of the former SD (Site Director) were used to break up the fight, and resolve the conflict with prescriptions of nicotine, and fresh air. No terms, no suspensions, not even a write up.... (It's truly great to watch a master a work....)

She would be a great test for my supervisors and their new skills...

Undeniable, Unacceptable, Unbelievable !!!

2005-04-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

Our absenteeism initiative was extremely successful, reducing lost time by over 50% the first month. Many reps improved, but many couldn't break the habits formed under the prior management, or rather the lack of. The culture was changing, and so did the look of the floor. Many faces were gone, while many others were hanging on by a thread.

We still had a long way to go.

I’ve always stated that I've never termed anyone, they term themselves. It's my job to ensure that the expectations and accountabilities are fair, clear-cut, and decisive. It’s this process, that allows me to do the right thing and sleep at night. Reps were beginning to understand my expectations. While some reps had left, my leadership team remained intact. This to, was soon going to change.

Undeniable

Despite our improvements, the site was still in a huge state of flex. The removal of the reps limitless freedom caused a great level of animosity against my leadership team. It also became clear that there was a network of informal leadership that existed within the site that was actively working to undermine our efforts. While I do refer to these guys as leaders, remember that Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Attila the Hun were all leaders themselves.

These "leaders" represented the old way of doing things, and there existence would prevent true organizational growth.

The lack of strong leadership inadvertently cultivated the environment that allowed this group to thrive. It was equivalent to almost a prison mentality consisting of a network of barn bosses pecking orders, and attitudes you couldn't knock down with a hammer. While these guys were hard-core, they were very cautious and reserved around me. It was clear I was a threat, but my sups were not?

During a business as usual day, I observed a supervisor giving one of our more aggressive barn bosses a directive. She absolutely let this sup have it. She chewed him up one side and down the other. The supervisor tried to reason with her, and sensing defeat, I watched him leave.

Unacceptable!

Who did this rep think she was, and what the heck is my supervisor doing by not handling the issue. I immediately grabbed my sup and told him to pull the rep down now and address the issue. I was furious!

I watched him ask her to log out. I was distracted with another issue for about 5 minutes. I looked up to see the rep and my sup right in front of me. My sup looked at me, said here she is, and then he turned around and walked off...

Unbelievable!

Skills

2005-04-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Despite the beauty a perfectly formed headlock, it's clear to see the problem with this situation. The supervisor gone pro-wrestler is none other than "The Protector". He was first introduced in the blog titled, "Interrogations Continued". "The Protector" or TP for short, was the superstar of the site in the eyes of the previous owners. He was young, talented, very likable, and was highly relational.

TP was also an incredible athlete. He was hand selected by Michael Jordan to go to his home in Chicago to help MJ’s son refine his ball game. In the immortal words of Napoleon Dynamite, TP had skills.

His opportunity was that he lacked discipline, and struggled excerpting his authority over people his own age. He approached issues in a playful, indirect manner that resulted in reps wondering if he was being serious, or just playing. TP liked to play...

I was going to lunch one day, and had just walked out the front door and realized I had forgotten something. My feet had not even hit the pavement before I turned around to go back inside. When I looked over the receptionist area, I observed wrestle mania going down in the break room. There was TP, flailing all over the room, wrestling with a female rep. I once again witnessed his signature headlock. When TP's hold was secure, he laughingly looked up and his eyes locked on mine. TP'sfun was over...

Besides the professionalism issues, and the dangers of injury and litigation, the rep he was wresting with was married, and her husband worked at my site. For the avid followers of CallCenterGrit, the couple was not Bonnie and Clyde. Even TP would know better than that.

It became clear that TP's weakness with lack of discipline would diminish the effectiveness of his strengths. It was tough to imagine that TP was apart of the long-term solution.

I also noticed TP and HR had a tumultuous relationship. With HR's background, and TP's lack of discernment, I was curious with their history.

This story to, would come out in time…

A New Method

2005-04-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

The Plan...

We built a three-part plan to address the absenteeism issues. The plan would communicate the expectation, identify our disproportionate contributors, and initiate our progressive counseling process.

The first step of our plan consisted of sending out a blanket memo to the floor outlining the problem, it's impact on performance (Work Load, Service Level), and the expectation.

The second phase was to identify the 20% (Pareto's Principal) of the agents that were responsible for 80% of the absenteeism issues. Once our disproportionate contributors were isolated, our third step was to create and administer a blanket "Verbal Warning". It outlined how many days that rep specifically had missed, the expectation, and that failure to improve could result in further action up to and including termination.

This type of approach was new for both the reps and supervisors alike.

I was dealing with an entire population that was not used to any form of accountability. I walked my sups through the steps on how to communicate an unpopular message, and then dispersed them to the four corners of the earth to take the message, and the verbal warnings to the front-line.

Agent Reaction…

Some signed, some refused, and others felt that this was action was heavy handed and completely unjustified.

As the process continued, my expectations were high, and my supervisors were feeling the heat.

A new method…

Soon after the initiative was launched, I was sitting at the receptionist desk making a phone call when I saw one of our repeat offenders come walking in.

This guy had continued to miss work despite our best efforts, and his actions needed to be addressed. I motioned for his supervisor to come over, and directed him to address the issue. He agreed. I was thinking progressive action, suspension, or something along those lines, but the supervisor had an idea all of his own.

When the rep walked in the door, the sup called him by name, and asked him where he had been. The rep smiled, and made a weak attempt at an excuse. The sup then reached out, and brutally grabbed the rep in a full-head lock. The rep tried to smile through the headlock, as the sup marches him through the site to the back conference room.
Still on the phone, I thought, “Now that’s a different way to address performance issues.”

The Begining of a Plan

2005-04-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

My trainer’s loyalty, commitment, and sincerity seemed to be genuine. The reps loved him, and the staff respected him, but I could tell it would take an army to help keep that man organized. His method of organization involved placing all his papers in clean, neat, pile, and dropping them into an athletic duffel bag that he used as a brief case. I mean this bag was huge! When it came time for the transport, the size and weight was significant enough that he had to lean to the left counter-weight the bags heft. With his whole body committed to the lift, his face, and neck would strain forcing him to clench his cigarette in his teeth as he said good morning or good evening to all he passed. I liked this guy…

Inside was a piece of every class he had ever trained, or any program that he was ever apart of. Light some candles and burn some incense and this thing could have been a shrine to previous classes and former employee's. It was all in there.

My QA staff were stand offish, so the verdict was still out on these guys.

In the early weeks, I spent most of my time with my supervisors learning their strengths, opportunities, and how to effectively leverage them against the struggles at hand. I could tell that my morning supervisors had a strong bond with each other and with the support functions, but my closing sup seemed to be out of the loop all together. It's not uncommon for AM and PM shifts to have issues communicating. This was an easy fix. I pulled them together, and explained that when the evening sups come in, they need to have a 5-minute debrief from the AM sups to discuss real-time performance, current strategies, and any other type of floor impacting information.

When I pulled them together for the first debrief, I recapped what the objective was, and what needed to be communicated. I was shocked by what happened next. I had just finished the format review, and then they each extended their hands and shook. They had just officially met each other for the first time! While they knew each other, their need to shake hands and exchanged names represented a non-existent relationship.

All I could think was how this could be possible. How could you work in the same building, on the same project, manage the same indicators, and have never officially met. Once again, I was speechless.

Once of my first tasks was to set up and organize our reporting functions for absenteeism, performance, attrition, etc.. No type of internal reporting had ever been created. If you can measure it, you can improve it, and based on this, it was clear why performance was stagnant. Data was retrieved from two months prior to populate some absenteeism reporting in order to have some historical information for trending purposes.

This was the smallest site I had managed but it was clear this site had a disproportionately large absenteeism problem. Each rep level employee missed on average, 4 days per month.

I knew we had found a starting point...

and the audit continues...

2005-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

As the audit continues, the auditors pull the former SD (Site Director)and myself together to ask about site operating procedures. I was not there no to contribute to the questioning, but to be introduced to the client and the overall process. The former director began to metaphorically draw a picture of a site with excellent communication, planning, and an ability to get things done...
This guy was out of his mind... This was the first time in my career that I observed a Sr Level person so directly lie to the client jeopardizing the entire piece of business. What was worse was that the lies could be validated by simply inspecting the process or asking him to prove it. As the interviews continued with the other staff, I participated in (observed) several of them. I was amazed... Everyone, for the most part, told the same stream of lies.. They were all specific, hit the same points, and each story fit together like the pieces of a puzzle..
My thoughts at the time and I quote, "Un-believable".

The level of corruption was more organized that what I had thought, realized, or could even believe was possible. It's seems like everyone was doing the wrong thing, and that was how they liked it.
but there were some good guys...

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

2005-04-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

That’s all he does for the time being... I've heard luck described as when preparation meets opportunity. I'm not sure about luck, but that same equation could have been applied to Clyde. He to, was preparing and waiting for an opportunity.

The day goes on....

A few hours later, a little after 5:00, our first shift was leaving for the day. Of these individuals, one was the new-hire (Lucky) and the other was Clyde.

One of our clients was on our main call floor, with his back to 3 massive bay windows that face the main parking lot. With the confusion of a shift change, and resulting activity, Clyde put his plan in motion. Clyde backs his car up, and turns left through the parking lot, very slow, and very casual. As his vehicle starts to pass "Lucky's" car, Clyde brings his car to a stop blocking "Lucky's" ability to back up, or escape. Clyde and Lucky both get out of their vehicles and head towards each other.

Our client was still on the main call floor talking to me. His back was still to the window, as the drama continued to unfold 15 feet behind his back...

As the two men approached each other, Clyde reached out and placed his arm over Lucky's shoulders grabbing him by the back of the neck. He pulls Lucky in close...and begins to talk.

The showdown has now captured the attention of my call-floor. The floor is staring through me, past the client, and out those big, clear windows.

We couldn't hear the words, but we knew what was being said... If I had to guess, he was probably ensuring that the new-hire understood that his girl (Bonnie) was spoken for and if such a violation were to ever occur again, what the resulting consequences would be. The exact words will remain between Lucky and Clyde.

The client’s back is still to the window...He is still talking, still unaware of both what happened and what could have happened.

The drama ends...

For now…

The Clients Onsite, its "Audit Time"

2005-03-31T11:46:00.000-08:00

Early lessons...

First of all, in such a small site, even the smallest amount of drama has a "magnifying effect". The momentum of the business eventually drowns equivalent drama in a larger site, out.

It's like an echo effect. Take one person and place them in a large, spacious warehouse. That one persons voice can reverberate, off the floors, walls, ceilings, and have a more significant, dis-proportionate impact on the environment than it does in reality.

Take that same warehouse, fill it up with hundreds of people, and the addition of people will act as a buffer and no one voice, can be heard above the others.

Secondly, this is now the second accusation regarding inappropriate relationships, and favoritism with Human Resources. The "Releaser" was gone, HR denied the allegations, and my sup (the protector) cofirmed his knowledge was only hearsay on the relationship.
I took the opportunity to again clarify his role as a leader, re-iterate expectations, and point out that this situation should not be occurring because the rep should have been termed months ago.

For the time being, the above issue dies down...

The pre-audit's now over, and the client arrives... This client's audit process involved monitoring, auditing employee files, and employee focus groups. I viewed it as a real strategic advantage having an audit so close to my arrival. What better way to show improvement than to be measured by the client as a way to establish a baseline performance level, and then to have them come back 3 months later for a follow up. This was a perfect before and after opportunity...

Since I was new, there were two things I accomplished religiously. I went to employees in the morning, greeted him or her by name, and touched each of them on the shoulder. Every day, before I left, I thanked them for coming in, and again touched them on the shoulder. I learned their names quickly, and they learned that I cared.

There are two reps who's performance caused me to quickly notice them during my rounds. They were both tenured, possessed excellent service skills, and their sales performance was off the charts. It turns out that they were an item, and had two children together; a six-year-old daughter, and a four-year-old son. These guys were rock solid, and I was glad they were on the team.

What I did not know, and would learn until months later, was this guy had done hard time as a convicted felon, and possessed an uncontrollable temper, and was highly possessive of his significant other... Now looking back, this guys face was hard, and deeply scared with slashes through his eyebrow's and across his face... They could have been from a childhood accident, but it was easier to imagine their origin was much more sinister...

Ok, now let me set the stage...

The clients in the building, "Bonnie and Clyde" are taking calls, and a new-hire class was doing some monitoring. At the conclusion of the session, a new-hire walks across the floor towards the couple, extends his hand towards "Bonnie" and touches her on the shoulder. His remark, "Nice job on that call, your really good."
Clyde, at first, just watches...

My A-Player Gets a B

2005-03-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

I explained to him that we no longer needed his services... That went over about as well as you would expect. It didn't!
He became highly agitated and demanded to know why we were firing him. I repeated, "We no longer need your services". Again, as expected, this remark only continued to escalate the situation.

He felt it wasn't fair to term him and not know why, and I agreed. This guy was the end result of a failed performance management process.

He had continued to slip through the cracks and exploit the companies failure to set clear expectations, with clear-cut accountabilities. He was in the wrong. He was the one that hung up on customers not only once, but 5 different times!

But now his actions and the company’s failure to follow through have caught up to both employee and employer.

He continued to plead his case to his supervisor and myself. He said he was working hard at improving . He said his performance was up, he was dressing better, and trying to take his job more seriously.

All that could be true, but it didn’t matter now.

Doing the right thing now and holding him accountable appeared as an act of inconsistency, with an alterior motive for his separation... By the company not doing the right thing first, it now appears we are doing the wrong thing.

I gave him some very direct, very honest feedback, which he finally accepted. He left the building...

The next day I came in, the buzz on the floor was about "The Releasers" separation, and his plans to sue for wrongful termination. I asked his former sup what the deal was. The sup said that this rep had been “involved” with my HR manager romantically (my A-Player??), and that he had tried to end the relationship. (That piece of information would have been nice to know)

He felt that his termination was direct retaliation, and resulted his desire to end his relationship with her.

Damn it... I was pissed. This is now the second time I heard that HR was..."available", and this guy honestly couldn't grasp that maybe it was is own actions that resulted in his separation...

To further aggravate the situation, this guy drove by probably three times that day to verbally assault her from his car window while she smoked... During one of the evening drive by’s, I saw that his former supervisor, my current employee, was the one driving the car...

You’ve got to be kidding???????????

The First Casualty

2005-03-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

My next series of interviews was with QA and Training (Nothing really unusual here) and concluded with my PM closing supervisor. This guy was highly educated, and was within one month of completing his Masters Degree. He was a teacher a the local college during the day, and worked for us at night...

When I sat down to meet with him, the first thing out of his mouth, was that he wasn't happy, didn't like the job, and was aggressively trying to get a full time teaching job...

Fabulous! Another satisfied employee...

The other significant event during my first week of orientation was that the site was going through a pre-audit with account management (AM) in preparation for an onsite client audit the following week. To say the least, this was a big deal! The account manager (AM)was tearing through files, checking for evidence of a coaching, and trying to identify a solid performance management process.

During his research, he found evidence that a rep was caught releasing the line on customers. The coaching forms (monitors) were found, but guess what wasn't? The write-ups... The best part was that we didn't find just evidence of a single occurrence, it had happened 5 times...

Account Management gave the word to whack him...

Now here's my dilemma. The ink was not even dry on the deal so we officially did not assume control for another couple of weeks. So short term, the original company was calling the shots... I had some short dialogue with account management (AM) that I viewed it as a liability to term this guy when there was not one piece of signed documentation verifying he was coached or written up.

Account Management (AM) confirmed that it was an "Employment At Will State", and not to term him for releasing calls but to let him know that his services were just simply no longer needed. So not only did I have to term with guy with "0" documentation, but now I term him and not give him a reason why.

If you haven’t guessed yet, this is one of the guys my sup had been protecting...

I talked with his sup, "The Great Protector", and told him that we had to term his boy. By being protected by a member of management, and then having that protection snatched out from under him, I knew there was going to be some emotion. I asked him how this guy would react based on the circumstances... His sup (The Great Protector) said that if the rep received un-employment, his guy would be happy.
While we aggressively fight every unemployment case, I knew the circumstances of this term did not ensure a company victory. (Unemployment will continue to be a theme in upcoming issues)

The “The Great Protector” and myself pulled him into an empty training class.
He looks at us, at me, and asks,”So what's going on?”

Interrogations Continued

2005-03-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

He began to talk about the site, and the staff, but he really targeted my human resource manager. This was my young quick witted, A player that I had liked from the first time I met her.

He went on saying that she had a problem with favoritism, and having in-appropriate relationships (sex) with reps and supervisors on the call floor, and that she was using her power to alter the demographic of the site, by bringing in young, athletic men that met her "criteria".

Initially, I was very skeptical of what he was telling me. This guys allegations were strong, and he sounded more like a disgruntled worker who was going to burn the ship down on his way out. My inability to respect this guy did not help his believability. However, for a non-tech support environment, I did notice there was a disproportionate number of young men, to women in a primarily CS/Retention environment.

Was this the actual demographic of the area, or was the "demographic" of the site was being influenced by one person. The first seemed more believable at the time.

I took his feedback, and pocketed it for a latter time. I really felt that I was out of $6.50 for his meal, and that our meeting had been a total waste of time.

Back at the site, I continued this one-on-one format with all my team.

My next shocking moment that came out of this process was that a supervisor was very directly telling me that he was protecting his friends from termination by going into employee files and removing company documentation and write ups. Despite my calm demeanor, my mind was exploding. Is this guy crazy, nuts... Who goes into a file and steals documentation, and who would tell their new boss it...

I asked him why he was sharing this with me. He said that he wanted a clean slate with me, and wanted to be directly honest. I appreciated the honesty, and then I very directly stated the expectation that any continuation of behavior like this, would result in our in-ability to be able to do business with each other.
Little did I know the events that started with the "protection" of one of these employees months before had already set the stage for for a crisis between, the client, account management, human resources, the state government, and of course myself.

Chop Stick Interrogations

2005-03-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

During the first week, my objective was to "mirror" the current Site Director (SD) to learn the daily routine of the staff, as well as the structure of day-to-day operations. Things were progressing, and my orientation was continuing... The more time I spent with him, the more obvious that it became there was nothing operational I wanted to learn from this guy.

The one thing that I knew I could learn (hopefully) was the background on the site and the existing personnel. I desperately needed to know some history, and why he thought the site was an ongoing struggle.. As I walked the floor, I was strategically preparing my line of questioning...
To place my plan in motion, I asked him to go out to lunch... He immediately said, "I have no Cash." (You've gotta love this guy). I let him know that it was my offer, and that lunch would be on me. Based on his recommendation he suggested a nearby Chinese restaurant. Upon arrival, we did the American thing and ordered the buffet.

It turns out that the restraunt used to formerly be the largest Call Centers in the area, employing in fact, many of my "new" employees. As I stared across the large expanse of the "Super Buffet", voluminous columns of hot steam filled the air with the spicy aroma of "authentic" Americanized dishes.

(I lost my job to someone in India, but these guys lost their jobs to the best in imitation meats. What a fate, Death by buffet.)

Standing there, trying to decide my initial point of attack, I could almost see the former reps in their cubes, head-sets on, complaining about their last customer, or about some new policy change..

Back at the table, my strategy was to start off my questioning light and casual, and gradually increase the level of intrusiveness.... I quickly learned my strategy was not needed.
It was clear he wanted talk. He needed to talk. He was on the way out, and there were some things he wanted me to know...

First Impressions

2005-03-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

A little about the site…Beginning

Let’s start at the beginning… When my company agreed to purchase, this site the prospect looked strong on paper. It was a relatively new facility as well as one of the nicest (New PC’s, flat screen monitors, decent cubicles) that existed within the network, but the site was in constant flex and struggled to maintain financially, and with key indicator performance.

My company represented significant strength in call-center expertise, with a proven track record for building and supporting high-performance organizations.

We’ve all come from the trenches and our scars run as deep as our experience, so a site in crisis was nothing out of the norm and represented great financial opportunity for our organization.

A little about me…

I was a recent casualty of the near-shore off shore “strategy shift”, and as a result, decisions were made, my facility was closed, and our customers were now serviced by Bangalore.

It’s no surprise that call center community relationships are tight, and circles we all run in are small indeed… One of my former Directors, now company owner, needed a Site Director for this new opportunity.

The opportunity aligned with my skill set, and I soon relocated with my wife, two children, and my dog to call center, USA….

First Impressions…

My first impression was that the existing leadership (which was on the way out), was beyond substandard, and no team can be better than it’s coach and no organization can be better than it’s leader. I knew immediately this guy was apart of the problem, and probably couldn’t spell solution…

My human resource manager was young, quick witted, and seemed to be an A level – player. My management team (supervisors, quality assurance, training) seemed to be committed, and were saying the right things, but I had no relationship with them, and their skill level was un-proven at this point…

All seemed to be progressing…

Felonies and Follow Up's

2005-03-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

True Grit....

The following stories you are about to hear are all true, with locations and identities changed to protect the innocent.... There were a few (innocent), but only a few...

I thought I was prepared for anything, I thought my training and experience, knowledge and understanding have set the stage for a quick win over a call-center in crisis... I... I was wrong...

I invite you to walk with me, at least for a little while, in a world that defies logic where:

the weak were surpressed by the strong, the strong battled for power, and where human resources was running a call-girl service accepting sex for favoritism and immunity...where we ran crack-head patrols (metaphorically speaking) constantly surveying our fiending friends who were always twitching to split at the slightest thought of getting rock...adding to an already struggling SL situation.

where the mention of feminine hygiene products scared a male sup enough into handing over the keys to his car to one of our more notorious female crack-heads... As you've already guessed, this was not the best leadership decision ever made... I'll walk you through the theft, the search, and low-speed OJ Simpson style pursuit ....

I witnessed first hand how a bake sale came close to resulting in civil-war on the call-floor, and tore relationships in half...

Join me as I walk you through our struggles, and successes (yes, there were a few of those as well), as we attempt to wrap our arms around a call center in crisis... Join me as I chronicle the day in the life of felonies and follow ups...