Transforming Global Service Delivery: Anila’s Journey with QBS

Anila managed an international telecommunications service centre and her team faced numerous challenges. Their responsibilities included providing global customer support in multiple languages, all while working under the continual expectation to enhance service standards and reduce costs. The team faced a challenging environment with numerous new products, staff cuts, and unexpected turnover particularly detrimental due to the time required to train new hires to competency.

Anila sought to find a more intelligent approach to meet their customers’ service expectations while simultaneously addressing budget constraints.

Ineffective methodology for improvements

Traditional coaching and performance management methods, based primarily on phone statistics per agent, had been applied within the contact centre.  However, these methods were ineffective as the team was already making substantial efforts.    The problem was not the people, it was the business and management processes that needed to improve which required a lift in operational intelligence (OQ).

Anila’s introduction to senior leader training at QBS motivated her to introduce Operational Excellence leadership programs to her team. Here’s how they benefited from the programs:

• Key managers were selected to participate in the COE program, which provided them with a structured approach to analyse their respective business areas and develop strategies to address issues. Regular engagement and challenging discussions with Anila encouraged these leaders to think at the right level. Their teams also got involved, contributing diverse perspectives to the discussions.
• High-potential team members underwent the Introductory OE program, complementing COE activities. This approach promoted a common language, engaged teams, and facilitated more improvements. QBS also added a half day on difficult conversations – demonstrating their flexibility to meet client needs.

Not all easy

Anila’s team faced a few tough discussions when some participants didn’t complete the program. These discussions, though challenging, were necessary to ensure the right individuals progressed. Some individuals struggled to apply what they had learned—showing the importance of aligning words with actions, and the effectiveness of in-person collaborative training over online formats.

“This is a fabulous way to develop leaders and improve your business at the same time.  Future leaders can also do the program and achieve great things.  We got honest and direct feedback on how the people were going.” Anila 

If you and your team have tried traditional coaching and performance management methods, and things are still not clicking, then there might be some leadership skills gaps in your team. Check out our audit where you can quickly identify what it is here.