An organization’s ability to comprehend and appreciate the thoughts and perspectives of their employees holds immense value. By actively seeking to understand what their employees think, business and team leaders can foster a culture of open communication, encourage innovation, promote employee engagement, and drive organizational success. The significance of knowing, valuing, and understanding the employee experience is vital to the development of the individual and is crucial to the performance of the team.
Understanding = Engagement
One of the biggest obstacles to team, company, mission, and vision is engagement. Process, competency, service quality, and customer satisfaction all suffer when there is a lack of engaged staff. Typically, teams fail when a collective purpose and shared experience doesn’t materialize. By actively seeking to understand what your agents think, you can prioritize and jump start employee and team engagement from the start. Leadership that listens also promotes an environment of psychological safety, a space where agents feel comfortable expressing their opinions and ideas. Encouraging open dialogue and actively listening to perspectives fosters trust, boosts team morale and establishes a strong foundation for effective collaboration. Understanding what employees think from the beginning enables leaders to tap into a diverse range of ideas, setting the stage for innovative problem-solving and decision-making.
Evaluate Viability
When a new team forms, it’s often with tremendous anxiety. What’s the team's purpose? How do we fit in organizationally? Can we work together to accomplish our goals? What are our goals?
As team dynamics begin to form and individual roles become clearer, it’s imperative that leaders actively seek to know what their employees think in order to tap into the collective intelligence of the team and assess progress. Regularly soliciting feedback and involving employees in decision-making processes empowers them, boosts their sense of ownership, and increases their commitment to the team's goals. This inclusive approach fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation, where every team member feels valued and their thoughts are taken into account, increasing the odds of success. Regular self-assessment also provides a chance to evaluate individual strengths and gain valuable insight that would otherwise prove difficult to gather. Observation of team dynamics through the eyes of the team members themselves can often give you the most complete picture of an employee and a team’s overall health and resiliency.
Maintain Momentum
Once a team has established a baseline for success, we love to see more of it. It’s not hard to imagine that under the right conditions and the proper guidance, all of our employees could be successful. By understanding what motivates them, we can promote a shared purpose, vision and system, thereby empowering employees to perform better. Leaders who understand what their employees think can maintain momentum by continuously seeking feedback and monitoring employee satisfaction. This regular engagement helps leaders identify potential challenges, areas for improvement, as well as emerging performance trends. Understanding employees' thoughts during challenges allows leaders to provide the necessary support and resources to foster employee growth and maintain high levels of motivation. Businesses also want to be able to replicate the conditions of greatness. By seeking feedback on the team's performance and the overall experience, leaders can identify the type of environment, management style, and level setting that leads to high output and performance. Understanding employees' thoughts and emotions during successful campaigns enables leaders to celebrate achievements, provide closure, and set the stage for future successful initiatives.
The power of employee perspectives is not to be underestimated. Understanding what your workforce thinks is a proven path to effective team development. By investing time and effort in understanding employees, leaders can cultivate a positive work environment, improve collaboration, enhance communication, boost motivation, and drive productivity. Building strong interpersonal connections enables leaders to harness the full potential of their team members and demonstrates an investment in employee’s futures and overall experience. In order to continue to attract and retain new and developing talent in an ever-changing industry, you’ll need to understand what it means to be a part of your organization.
Our new Agent Index report is designed to help you shape a thriving contact center and the traits to look for when seeking or developing the highest-performing talent for your team.
The 2022 report contains eye-opening details including these key takeaways:
- Expectations are rising and engagement is down 10% – Are you adapting to meet agents’ needs?
- While compensation is still important, agents also want a flexible work environment – what else are they interested in?
- How to find your “Golden Agents.” What key traits should you be looking for in your top performers?
Get more details, information and statistics in the full report.
