Contact Lens
A Closer Look at USP’s Contact Centre Operations
December 2021
It’s cold, freezing, icy, and quite simply, just unpleasant.
The only people digging right now are doing it because they have to, whether it be to repair essential service or complete projects that have gone on long from the season. Contractors and Members continue to install plant, upgrade service, and repair utilities throughout the winter season to ensure they have all of their required systems in place for the following season.
Similarly, the USP Contact Centre has been digging deep to try and update and overhaul our Performance Management Program, which is the system used to monitor, assess and coach our frontline staff in their day to day duties. Personally, I have committed a significant portion of my professional career (and in fact, my adult life) in the pursuit of an ideal system. Of course, as USP evolves, so too must the methods and procedures we use to manage our staff. Every three years or so, there is a robust re-assessment of our current practice and the subsequent refurbishment of existing techniques.
In the past, I’ve admittedly worked more insularly to create these processes; I wasn’t too far removed (for a while anyway) from being a frontline Agent myself, and the differences in the position were not as pronounced, so I was (for the most part) able to create a fair and equitable system that helped Agents understand their routes of progression, and allow Team Leaders to act on them early. This time, however, I worked in multiple consultations with Team Leaders and frontline staff, including two Agent surveys specific to the task, and no less than three Discovery sessions to try and nail down what we could be doing better.
In January, the cumulative result of all of these consultations and meetings and excessive spreadsheeting on my part will come to fruition, and I for one can’t wait to see the results!
Joe Rosenberg - USP Contact Centre Manager
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| Pictured: The author’s desk. Well, an ideal form of it, anyway. |