This article was originally published on ICMI.com in March 2020.
Time is a precious resource, and contact center leaders have a lot on their plates. Between monitoring the queues, coaching team members, and more, there’s only so much time to complete a mountain of tasks. It’s important to make each hour count.
Here are 20 suggested productivity hacks to give contact center leaders time back in their days:
Tech Productivity Hacks
1. Set up email rules – Not all emails need to be answered right away. Use Outlook rules to direct certain emails to specific folders automatically. For every rule you create, add an exception to ignore the rule if your name is in the “TO” or “CC” box.
2. Block off your calendar – You know when you work best during the day. Use your calendar to block off specific times where you are going to tackle particular activities.
3. Template frequently used email communications – You can still put a personal touch on each communication, but using canned responses for the bulk of the email saves you time.
4. Do a digital cleanup – Delete what you don’t need and file what you might want to reference later. The more organized you are, the more time you will save.
5. Use a second, or even third, monitor – Screen real estate makes a big difference. Extend your desktop to multiple monitors, and you will increase your productivity. I find this is especially helpful when doing quality assessments.
6. Dictate – It’s not a perfect technology, but it could save you a ton of time. Just make sure you edit the document before finalizing anything.
Process Productivity Hacks
7. Do your most important work first – Start each day striving to accomplish two to three significant tasks. Keep the list short, as you know things will pop up.
8. Create a Stop List – Sometimes, activities no longer provide value. Complete an audit to understand how you are spending your time. Once you have a sense of where you might be able to save time, eliminate activities that no longer need to happen.
9. Ensure meetings have an agenda – Keep the agenda to a maximum of four to five items. Once you are finished, end the session. Don’t linger.
10. Decline meetings – Talk with your leader about doing more of this if you are not sure. If they must choose between you coaching your agents and you attending a meeting that doesn’t provide value, I’m sure they will select prioritizing your people.
11. Batch similar-themed tasks – Constantly switching between tasks slows you down. Batch related tasks together, so you can get into the zone.
12. Give each day a theme – By giving each day a theme, you are better able to decide what to tackle.
13. Pick up the phone – A 5-minute conversation over the phone might save you hours of emailing.
14. Strive for Zero Inbox by the end of the week – Take a day and clean your inbox up, deleting what you don’t need, filing away others. You’ll feel less stressed and stretched.
Personal Effectiveness Productivity Hacks
15. Delegate – One of your key responsibilities as a leader is to mold the next generation of leaders, so don’t be afraid to share assignments with high-potential members of your team.
16. Empower your agents – Customers expect timely responses. Empower agents to make decisions themselves, arming them with guidelines and authority thresholds so that you, as a leader, aren’t seen as a bottleneck.
17. Create short deadlines – When given too much time to accomplish a task, most people will procrastinate. To improve productivity, establish shorter, but realistic, deadlines for yourself and your team.
18. Set 90-day goals instead of yearly ones – Operating in 90-day cycles for any project reduces the chance of starting something that could be derailed by significant changes.
19. Schedule work-from-home days – Use these days to maximize your productivity, doing tasks that require focus.
20. Reward yourself –Micro-rewards, like treating yourself to your favorite drink or treat, can keep you motivated and help improve your productivity.
I hope you can use the time saved by these other productivity hacks to invest in yourself. As a contact center leader, your productivity has a massive effect. Free yourself up, and you will make your team better as a result.
