The best businesses rely on an effective customer service program. The most effective customer service programs rely on great leaders.
The greatest leaders? They rely on the four pillars of leadership.
Managing all the moving parts of a service team isn’t a simple task. And as the world of customer support continues to evolve at a break-neck pace, your employees need a leader who is constantly learning, adapting, and improving their leadership skills to keep up.
Mastering each of the four pillars listed below can ensure your managers are capable of leading your customer service team – and, by extension, your business – to be the best it can be, no matter the changes that lie ahead.
Let’s dive in:
1. Relationship Building
Your agents already know the importance of relationship building. They do it with their customers every single day. But just as your employees build relationships with clients in order to foster trust, so too must your service leaders with their team members.
Developing personal relationships with your employees will, in turn, develop employee confidence in the business itself. Service leaders who get to know their agents as people can expect higher levels of trust and a happier team overall.
2. Change Embracer
From the technology we use to the hours we operate, the way modern customer service teams operate is constantly changing.
The best leaders have to be ready and willing to embrace these changes as they come. Viewing changes as opportunities – and approaching them creatively – can keep your service program from getting bogged down in “the way things should be.”
3. Talent Development
Leaders aren’t born, they’re made. And in addition to managing the team day-to-day, a good leader will also look for opportunities to make leaders out of others.
Creating growth and management opportunities for all levels of employees will build trust, employee engagement, and loyalty. Recognizing good work in others and knowing how to delegate will keep your team operating as, well, a team – instead of as a hierarchy.
4. Strategic Thinking
The difference between a great leader and a leader who’s just okay is the difference between action and reaction.
Great leaders think ahead to form contingencies, concerning themselves with the “what if” of every scenario and making a game plan to deal with the potential outcomes. Thinking strategically requires that customer service leads are decision-makers, that they are comfortable and capable of having a response at-the-ready should anything go wrong, rather than working on the fly once something does go wrong.
Leading By Example
These four pillars of leadership – relationship building, change embracer, talent development, and strategic thinking – can be used as a way to measure and improve your leadership skills when it comes to customer service.
But you can’t do it all alone.
Deskware’s suite of service management tools have been crafted to support thoughtful organization, meaningful collaboration, and quality leadership in all that you do. To learn more about how Deskware can help your customer service team, visit us online today!
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