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Negative CSR

 
Author Ana1111
Member 
#1 | Posted: 18 Apr 2007 16:32 
Hi There!

My call center is fairly small and very close knit except for some bad apples. I have one individual who meets all of her standards she's good with customers however she does not get along with her fellow CSRs. She is very negative and always picking out peoples mistakes. She avoids all communication with them. She basically clocks in and out with no interaction. No one interacts with her because she is so miserable.
I have questioned her on her behaviour and she insists nothing is wrong. The kicker here is she use to be very pleasant.
I am concerned... any advise.

Author pltech
Member 
#2 | Posted: 19 Apr 2007 07:50 
Ana1111,

Difficult situation for a supervisor. You have to get to the root of the issue. Provide her with specific examples and ask how she was feeling at that moment in time. Try not generalize her behaviour, but address it on a case by case basis. Also, if this is causing a negative impact on the team, make sure she is aware of that. If she doesn't care, she has given up on the team concept....my 2 cents. Hope it improves!

Author ayaree
Member 
#3 | Posted: 19 Apr 2007 21:28 
Ana, how long has she been around, and how long have the others? The questions that entered my mind were: was she slighted in any way, was she overlooked while someone else was "formally" recognized?

If things of that nature are not in this equation, I don't know what to picture, other than an in-fighting situation of a purely personal nature rather than a symptom of work politics going the wrong way for her--particularly if she "used to be pleasant." Your description of her change on a social level sounds like someone who needed to opt for an approach that is more mechanical ("I'm just going to do my job and be out of there when I'm done!") than the socially engaging person she was earlier.

My instinct (operative word, this is not science and I am not there) tells me that there is something that took place that has miffed her, and she sees it as a mature or appropriate thing not to expose that issue, while the common feeling seems to be that no one knows what they did wrong (you or your your team member individuals).

In my opinion, the approach to take depends on a few things. You say there is no issue with customers feeling bruises from her. If you are satisfied that is ultimately true, then OK, that is checked off the list. If there is anything she is doing ("doing") to create negativity toward others, then that is worth looking at, but if she is not "doing" anything besides retreating from social interaction and focussing on the mistakes of others, then she is not doing anything wrong in my opinion, she is just different and she just doesn't match the colors of every wing in the flock, and this need not be her problem, we need to respect that.

But if she is not willing to be engaged by others when it comes to collaborating on client work, then this is where she is a problem, and she would need to be questioned on what is preventing her from exercising regular interactions for the sake of a customer deliverable. (Notice how I have not used "team" words in that phrase, in the event that there is some kind of aversion on her part for the use of such words).

Eventually it WOULD come down to teamwork in subsequent conversations, as it is unavoidable that you need people to work together in order to deliver. If she is so averse to that, then she would need to be gone, as this is not going to get things done any better from the broadest point of view of the company, whether she has certain clients that appreciate her or not. She's not a one-employee company, she is in a team environment that has people that depend on each other through the fun and through the yucky.

But in HER defense: I think it is worth exploring whether there is something that you (or someone in your organization) could have missed with respect to recognition. By pointing out errors all the time, after having been a reportedly "pleasant" person, this has a ring to it for me of someone who is "getting back" for some reason.

As for the harping on errors and her diligent efforts to bring those to light: this is something that puts a damper on things, it's rotten when errors happen, and it's difficult not to feel a reaction that condemns a person for exposing these. Taking this to the brass tacks, however, what she is providing is EXCELLENCE. This is the dilemma, we are questioning someone on her interpersonal dynamics, all while she is presenting opportunities for improved success.

Typically, when someone is good at pointing out things that are wrong, that person is handed the task of figuring out how to fix it (I've been there!). I think there are limitations to that knee-jerk reaction, especially when the person has interactive challenges. If there is a hope and an expected outcome that this particular team member would stay and that this would be beneficial on all counts, then it could be that she needs to have her responsibilities modified, and maybe she becomes a QA person.

Ultimately she would need to feel happy and the team she is a part of needs that for her too, even if they are miffed at her for a "change in personality." In my conversations with her, I would want her to reach an outloud decision with me on what would make her happy, and what came out of the conversation would need to be a change in her eyes as well as the eyes watching her. Brass tacks would be that she does not have to like people in her team technically, but as an employee that will give what is needed, she is going to have to find inside herself an ability not to be grossed out at dealing with other people that need her to collaborate. If she isn't able to do that, then it's a different plan, and she will want to find a place that WILL have people she can engage.

Author harindra
Member 
#4 | Posted: 20 Apr 2007 03:08 
Hi Ana

If she is not used to be like this, then definitely something must have happened to her.
If this behaviour is bothering you and other co-works you need to take an action.
Take her to a room and clearly mentioned her what, you need to discuss without beating around the bush.
Tell her what you have observed. You need to have evidence rather than telling her, I got to know that you are not talking to your colleagues.....

When you have evidence, she can't say nothing is wrong.

Tell her that this really bothers as everybody should work as a team.

Ask her how she would feel if someone starts picking on her instead the person who is charge. (Give a copy of her job description to stress the fact that picking on people is not part of her job-Worst case scenario)

Tell her that been negative won't help her. Tell her that this will be considered as a negative point and it's not acceptable. (If you have performance apprailsal, you can also say how it affects the rating)

You need to probe if you want to get the root of the cause.
Ask leading and open ended questions.
If the company has code of conducts, then you can also say that this behaviour is not accepted not by the team but by the company as well.
Nobody can argue far more when they agree to company ethics as they obliged to adhere.

Hope this will help you.

Author patilint
Member 
#5 | Posted: 25 Apr 2007 09:41 
You say she is negative and miserable....yet she has no interaction with any of her peers.....can you give me a few examples of what you mean by neagtive?

Also, the picking up of others mistakes - since she is good with customers and does her work- does she have a low error rate? maybe she feels like others are not doing their job and she is picking up for them....I know I have worked with some CSR's that spend the day doing personal stuff and I ended up with all the customer calls. This can be irritiating if it is not recognized and is let to continue.

Does she interact with management? Have there been any clues to a personal problem? maybe a domestic situation, an illness or something like a brain tumor- horrible to think of and probably not the case - but could happen , financial problems?

I can imagine your frustration since she used to be pleasant.....something happened... How does this impact the others in the group? Something needs to be addressed because your group morale is probably suffering and eventually it will transfer out to the customers....

Good luck .....

Author ayaree
Member 
#6 | Posted: 11 May 2007 22:27 
I'm still quite curious about what became of this negative CSR that was at one time pleasant and then later had bouts of retreating from being an engaging person and instead locating instances where the company could improve???

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 Negative CSR

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