One of my life guides is a guy called Wayne Dyer.  He is one of those people that tries to keep a holistic view of the human experience and its relationships.

In one of his talks he brought up the idea of being Right vs. Kind and the thought that the inflexibility of rightousness often strains relationships with those dear to us.  I think this may also apply to customers.

It is not unusual for the customers to be wrong, unreasonable or otherwise simply off their rocker.  This makes us (the company, the agent), RIGHT, and it feels so good, doesn’t it?

I have found in speaking with agents, that they have a tough time letting the customer off-the-hook when they are wrong, and inspite of this, doing their best to assist.  Sometimes we simply get stuck on “customer is wrong”. 

A clarification that usually helps me is:

Customer Service is not meant to be fair.  There is no right or wrong.  The goal is to help the customer with their issue to the greatest extent that we can.  If we find ourselves being Right, let our rightful position empower us to express Kindness.  Our mission is to serve, provide understanding and a gesture of a caring attitude.

Of course, as a philosophical point of view, this is easy to understand.  But in a practical world, how Kind can we be?  What is allowed by policy and our bottom line? 

Answering this question and providing the appropriate guidelines is the responsibility of management.  It is up to us to train our organizations to take action in different situations.  It is also our responsibility to empower our front lines to look for the best way they can serve the customers and take action on behalf of both, the company and the customer. 

Customer Service cultures can, at times, reach an adversarial point of “Us vs. Them”.  This should be avoided at all costs.  To the extent the culture begins to defend itself from customers, things are only going to get worse.  (The first symptoms are usually found in defensive policies that affect all customers, in an effort to defend against a small group – see a previous post)

When agents have a difficult time letting go of “Being Right” for the benefit of the customer relationship, it usually means management is more interested in being right than in serving their customers.

Between Right and Kind, we should always choose Kind.  It doesn’t mean we need to stop being right.  It means the customer should always feel the effort and gesture of a caring attitude. 

If you’ve been around the call center industry any length of time (say, 5 minutes), you’ve heard the buzz about “agent empowerment.” It’s a hip-sounding phrase, and if you’re a call center representative it has a nice ring to it. If you’re a call center manager, however, it may sound more vague and perhaps threatening to you (“I’m supposed to be the one with the power, right?”).

Of course, if you’re a call center manager, the chances are you’re a “people person,” anyway — since that’s an essential quality for success in the people-intensive call center environment — so you may already be touchy-feely and confident enough to appreciate the idea of empowering your employees. Don’t be scared: it will be good for you!

To help everyone understand the truth behind the buzz about agent empowerment, ICMI assigned our crack research team (that would be Greg Levin) to investigate. You can read the report for free if you’re an ICMI Member, or download it for $24.95 if you’re not so privileged. Here’s what you can expect:

Just how well are contact centers today empowering and engaging their agents? ICMI sought to answer this question by conducting a survey on the topic in October 2007. In all, 350 contact center professionals—representing a diverse range of countries, industries and center sizes—responded to the survey. The results indicate that most centers are doing a good job of empowering staff to meet customer demands and expectations; fewer centers, however, are giving agents ample power to improve key processes and practices that impact the center’s overall success.

It’s essential reading for call center professionals. Specifically, here’s what is included in the report:

• Agent Empowerment during Customer Contacts: impact on agent retention and engagement, and customer satisfaction

• Agent Empowerment with Regard to Processes and Practices: impact on hiring, training, quality assurance and coaching, rewards and recognition, interdepartmental relations/communication, technology improvement, customer satisfaction improvement

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