1. performance matters / jan 2012
Empowered
Employees Drive
Continuous
Improvement
Culture
Give your front line
a voice in process
improvement for long-
term change that impacts
culture, performance and
employee morale.
by Natasha Gonzalez, Wyndham Consumer Finance Inc.
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2. Empowered Employees Drive Continuous Improvement Culture
I
n a contact center, it can be difficult to keep employees motivated and challenged on a daily
basis. Because the work environment can be fairly regimented, employees may feel
intimidated to voice their opinions. They often feel that offering suggestions is a waste of
time because no one will do anything about it, which, in turn, makes them feel hopeless
and unmotivated. And if no one cares how the employees feel or makes an effort to listen,
then why would they want to do their best to make the company as successful as it can be?
This is a question that my employer took to heart. Company leaders decided to imple-
ment changes to make employees’ concerns a priority and to ensure that they know that
Natasha Gonzalez
their opinions are valued. How? By engaging frontline agents in process improvement.
Wyndham Consumer
Finance Inc. Empowering employees gives them a chance to be part of the company’s decisions and
goals, and allows them to take ownership and responsibility of their own work.
Identify Your Staff’s Pain Points
We began the process with our yearly associate opinion survey. From that survey, we com-
piled the four most talked about issues and then conducted “sensing sessions” to focus on
those issues. During these sessions, which consisted of frontline employees and team leads,
we discussed the major and most common issues that were encountered in the center.
A session facilitator helped the participants to brainstorm the key drivers of each category.
The drivers were then included in a multivoting process to help identify the high-priority
items. The benefit of a multivoting process is that it helps to focus on the intensity of the
issue. Every employee wrote their concerns under each category. The categories with the
most concerns or issues were the ones that the company ranked as the most important to
change.
We discovered that one major concern within all of the departments was the call evalu-
ation process and form. The employees felt that the form was too subjective and left too
much room for personal opinion. They felt that a 96% failing score was demoralizing when,
in school, a 96% is considered an A, or excellent. They also felt that evaluators scored employ-
ees harsher if they did not favor them, and that the scoring was not consistent. An over-
whelming number of employees shared the same opinion about the call evaluation process,
so the company decided to create a process excellence project around the issue.
Because the call evaluation process was such a big concern to the frontline agents, man-
agement decided to include them in helping to improve it. A team of supervisors, team lead-
ers and agents were selected to be part of a five-day Kaizen event to change and improve
the call evaluation process. (A Kaizen event is an intensive two- to five-day team session
focused on improving specific processes, and targeting rapid, action-oriented results.)
Using Six Sigma Tools
to Improve Processes
During the Kaizen event, the team utilized different process excellence tools to identify what
was critical to quality. Our goal was to remove subjectivity so that the employees would feel
that they were being scored fairly and accurately. One tool that we used is called the X-Y
matrix, also known as a cause-and-effect matrix, which is a Six Sigma tool that allows a team
to identify performance gaps and areas for improvement.
As a team, we came up with a proposition statement: The value of the call monitoring
process is to “engage, train and develop employees, provide ‘Count on Me!’ service, while
meeting all business and legal requirements.” This proposition statement aligned with the
organization’s overall business strategic objective for 2011.
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3. Empowered Employees Drive Continuous Improvement Culture
In our X-Y matrix, the X represented the output parameters and the Y represented the
scoring call inputs. Therefore, based on our proposition statement, the outputs were:
●● Engage,
●● Train and develop employees,
●● Provide “Count on Me!” service, and
●● Business results.
We used the definitions of each item on our current call monitoring form, as well as the
new items that the team thought were important, as the inputs. Then we ranked each
definition a 1, 4, 7, or 10 depending on the output. For example, verifying the customer’s
information is part of legal compliance and the business would be greatly impacted if it was
not verified, therefore, we rated it a 10 under “business results.” We rated it a 1 when it came
to “Count on Me! service” because whether the employee verified the owner’s information or
not typically would not impact the customer’s phone experience.
A teAm of The team continued the process until all inputs were rated. After this was complete, we
supervisors, summed up all of the ratings for each call definition. The items that were above the median
teAm leAders or those that were dramatically higher than most were the items that were critical to quality.
And Agents We included those call definitions in the new form and process. The X-Y matrix was just one
of many process excellence tools that we used during the Kaizen event.
were selected During the event, we also focused on making changes that would increase employee
to be pArt morale with the call evaluation process. The purpose of the call evaluation forms is to help
of A five-dAy train and develop employees. There is no pass or fail. If an employee misses the same items
KAizen event every time, it is now measureable and we can focus on those areas in which the employee
needs more training. New employees are not held to the same standards as tenured staff.
to chAnge Our goal is to have everyone perform at the same level.
And improve The new clear call definitions helped to remove subjectivity, and a new dispute form was
the cAll also implemented. If an agent feels that the evaluation they received was unfair or incorrect,
evAluAtion they can now dispute the form and come to an agreement with the evaluator, or a quality
assurance specialist will evaluate and review the call. This way, employees can feel more
process. comfortable with their evaluations.
Implementing the Changes
After the Kaizen event, the team was split into groups. My group was responsible for com-
munication and training of the new process. The agents who were part of the project had
the opportunity to present the new process to their peers. This was especially exciting for
those who presented, because it gave them the chance to show their peers what they had
accomplished. The employees were excited and interested to hear about the changes that
were made and to see how their opinions influenced the change. Overall, the reactions of
the employees were positive and they looked forward to beginning the new process.
Once everything was finalized and the changes were approved by the business, it was
time to embrace the new culture. The training began with the team leads and above. With
any process change, it’s important for the management team, not only to be supportive, but
to make it visible. Some employees may not feel comfortable with change; therefore, if the
management team shows that they support it, the employee will be more accepting.
On the day that we rolled out the new call evaluation form, we made it a festive event
and emphasized the fact that the new process was a result of the staff’s voice and opinions.
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4. Empowered Employees Drive Continuous Improvement Culture
We decorated the center with balloons and banners that said, “You spoke, we listened.”
A Continuous Improvement Culture
After the new process was in place for six months, we conducted more sensing sessions
to gauge its impact on employee morale. An overwhelming 97% of the employees who
took part said that they trusted the new process and felt more comfortable that they were
being evaluated fairly. They also felt that the evaluation form was a useful tool to help them
develop their skills.
This Kaizen event was a start of a new culture to include all employees with major changes
in the company. The employees who were part of this process excellence project not only
learned new ways to implement changes, they also received a Yellow Belt for their basic
training in Six Sigma tools.
In addition, the entire team attended an awards dinner after the project was completed,
and was recognized at a quarterly town hall meeting. This encouraged other employees to
come forward with new ideas and the desire to be part of future projects and changes to
help our business be more successful.
Natasha Gonzalez is a Team Lead, Contact Center Operations, for
Wyndham Consumer Finance Inc.
Natasha.Gonzalez@Wyn.com
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5. Empowered Employees Drive Continuous Improvement Culture
About Contact Center Pipeline
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