Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

This is my best call center management tip.

Spend time on the front lines, in the trenches

When I started my call center, I was the only one there to answer the phone, so I came to understand how difficult it is being in the trenches and on the front line.  As our company grew, I found that supervisors and operations directors were so removed from the day-to-day grind of the front-line agents that they had a tendency to create unreasonable expectations of the agents and not acknowledge the tough job that the agents were doing for the company.

I remember hearing about how Herb Keller of Southwest Airlines would help load baggage or help clean the plane - he knew what it was like in the trenches.  He encouraged pilots to help out behind the counter.  He created the culture where people understood and appreciated the contributions of others.

I always tried to keep my desk either out on the call center floor or right next to it, instead of being insulated far from it.  I could just pick up on the pulse of how things were running and if things were off track or not.  Often as CEO I knew more about the details of how a project was going than did a project manager, because I spent time listening to phone conversations around me, talking to supervisors or agents, than did the project manager, who spent his time looking at numbers hidden away back at their desk.

So I finally came up with the policy that required everyone in the Call Center management to spend time on the phones.  This included me as CEO, it included our programmers, it included our trainers, etc.  What we found by doing this, was a lot more respect and admiration and appreciation for the agents.  Instead of derision, there was respect.  Programmers saw new ways to improve the applications the agents were using.  Trainers saw where there were holes in their training.

I think this one policy would do more to make your call center a more unified and efficient place than almost any other thing you could do.