Contact Centers have long been plagued by the practice of fire fighting. This is the reason given for not attending to planning, analysis, or other quality initiatives. “We don’t have time for that – we are too busy putting out fires.” If you are fighting fires all day, every day, they will never go out. Embers of the flames remain only to reignite. If this is what your Contact Center is doing, you don’t need to fight fires any longer. You need an arson investigation! Arson investigations search for two things: origin and cause. When origin and cause are identified, the investigation proceeds to find the culprit and eliminate the threat.
It is time that Contact Center fire fighters become arson investigators. Management must commit to discovering what is causing conditions to be out of control, whether it be service level, abandons, productivity, quality, handle time, or something else. Take some fire fighting time and convert it to investigation time. Close yourself off and evaluate the situation. Create a list of fires and identify the situations, similarities, and drivers. Ask for input, and then just think. Focus on origin and cause – this is the hardest part – and not on trying to solve the problem. Before you can really solve a problem, you must first define it.
Will this take time? Of course, but guess what? It is unlikely that the entire operation will go up in smoke while you step back and evaluate. You may also be quite surprised at how much clarity emerges in just a couple of focused hours.
Categorize your findings around the fundamentals: hiring, training, resource management, and leadership. (You may even find that you have a couple of arsonists in your midst.) THEN search for solutions. Too often we attempt to first identify the solution (fire fighting) before we have clearly identified the problem (arson investigation). Take the time to organize your approach to solutions and embers will die out. This will yield fertile ground for genuine long-term improvement.
Give it a try. And be sure to let us know when you hang up your fire fighting gear.
My Best,
Kathleen