THE ABILITY TO LEAD . During the interview uncover if the candidate has successfully lead a group of people. Presumably the candidate has call center management experience, so ask about other leadership roles, whether it was in Boy Scouts, the military, schools, team sports, etc... How do they define their leadership style and how do they measure if their leadership style is the right style. Have them give at least 2 examples where they lead a team towards a desired result(s).
SENSE OF HUMOUR. My biggest strength as a call center manager is my use of humor to create levity. A call center manager who takes themselves too seriously just adds unnecessary stress into an already stressful environment and will eventually alienate their supervisors and agents. Being able to find the fun and enjoyable aspects of being employed in a call center, and there are many along with the benefits of, and then exploiting them will naturally keep agent turnover at a minimum, while maintaining a high morale level. Does the candidate appear relaxed and approachable? Do they make remarks that make you smile and laugh? We all enjoy being around people who a genuinely fun to be around.
ABLE TO SELL IDEAS. Call centers are constantly changing which means agents must be sold on the benefits of the changes. Selling ideas, actually selling anything, comes down to showing "What’s in it for them?” We buy into ideas that benefit us in some way (i.e. makes our job easier, reduces stress, removes a tedious routine, increases efficiency, etc...). For example, if you are faced with agents not following the established dress code regarding proper footwear you can sell the idea as wearing sandals and flip-flops is a health and safety issue. The agents will understand why this is and comply, because there's a "What’s in it for them?" in not badly damaging their toes. Give the candidate a hypothetical scenario, or better yet one your call center actually experienced, where the agents had to learn a new process, technology or there was a change in policy and ask how they would have sell this change to the agents.
UNDERSTANDS MANAGEMENT IS NOT ABOUT HAVING CONTROL. Most call center managers have the misconception that their primary role is to "put out fires". If a call center manager is spending their day putting out fires that is a sure sign they are not giving enough, if any, authority to their supervisors and agents to make decisions. Does requiring authorization to pick up overnight delivery costs warrant putting the customer on hold, thus increasing the call handle time, the agent's time in locating a supervisor or the call center manager's time and then the supervisor or call center manager's time? In past call center managerial roles how must authority did the candidate's agents have? Is the candidate comfortable in giving agents a high level of decision making? A good call center manager makes sure their supervisors and agents have the tools and training to do their job and to make decisions which are in the customer's and company's best interest and then... here's the key... allows (READ: trust) them to make those decisions. By the way management is about guiding people towards a sought after result(s).
A VISIONARY. THE BIG PICTURE... a good call center manager is always looking at the big picture, which why they do not want to be spending their days putting out fires. Having a vision of what the call center will look like in a year's time, 3-years time, 5-years time, etc... and guiding the call center to where they see it being is critical to not being left behind while the competition increases its call center experience by taking advantage of the latest technology and motivational psychology. Outsourcing, web-enabling, marketing, the Do Not Call registry, advances in telephony technology, tele-working, etc...have literally forced call centers today to operate differently that just 5 years ago. Give the candidate an overview of your company's business model and competition and then ask how they see the next level of the call center looking? This is where the 25% comes in. Are they on top of the last call center technology? Do they see where they can integrate CRM software and workforce management to enhance to caller's experience? How about feeding back results, data, customer feedback to various department heads throughout the company so business processes, product lines, ordering, etc... can be adjusted to accommodate the ever changing consumer demands? Today we expect to be able to order a pizza by simply giving our telephone number. The agent repeats back our address and has our order history. Not long ago this was not the case. Major pizza chains now offer the ability to order online. Within the next 3 years I predict the majority of pizza will be ordered online. How will this change the way pizza chain call centers interact with their customers?
OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKER. This is by far the most important attribute for a call centre manager to have. The amount of creativity that can be used to manage a call centre is endless. I am a big proponent of incentives to reward certain behaviors and key performance indicators (KPIs) and therefore spend a good portion of my time creating, implementing and maintaining incentives. The return I get is well worth it and I find the more creative, but not complex, the incentive is the better the results. Up selling in a creative way, such a creating value packages, will yield much better results than simply trying to tack on a product or service to an order. Being creative in how technology is used to create call center efficiencies, increase revenue (even uncover new sources) or manage the productivity of agents is what differentiates a good call center manager from one which is mediocre at best. Managing a call center is an art in itsel