Building a Human-Centric Culture for Delightful CX
– Philippe Plouffe, Senior Vice President, Operations.
Delivering experiences that are satisfying to customers may sound like a straightforward process: Place the customer’s needs at the center of all interactions and meet the customer’s expectations. In reality though, providing world-class customer experiences (CX) is more than just answering calls and resolving complaints. Delighting the customer requires purposely designed connections that will deliver the most positive experience.
In a call center setting, this means building effective processes and utilizing the right enterprise technologies to resolve customer concerns in a prompt and hassle-free manner, as well as actively nurturing the customer relationship with a human touch.
Technology is certainly part of the equation, but at the end of the day, truly exceptional CX comes from having a human-centric culture. Empathy, ethical decision-making, and commitment to the well-being of all should be fostered.
Industry leading firms cultivate a unique corporate culture. Granted, creating such a culture can take time and it depends on an array of factors. Beyond technical and customer service training, an effective onboarding process must steep agents in the company culture. This is a key element for success. Data proves that the success rate of a customer service agent grows proportionally with how well the agent was supported during the first 60, 90 and 180 days on the job.
“When employees feel valued, supported and empowered, they become passionate brand ambassadors”
Investing in agents is vital at the start of an agent's career and as they mature professionally. New trainees need to learn how to utilize digital tools and communicate effectively. Seasoned agents need to be provided with management skills training that builds on their CX expertise and offers career advancement. By honing an agent’s abilities and inspiring them to succeed, organizations can set the foundation for a human-centric culture that is key to delivering exceptional CX.
A thoughtful approach to onboarding, training, and career advancement yields manifold benefits. When employees feel valued, supported and empowered, they become passionate brand ambassadors who deliver positive and lasting customer interactions.
A human-centric culture translates into lasting improvements in CX and revenue. In a business landscape where margins are constantly under pressure and image matters more than ever, a call center that not only leverages the latest technology but also properly engages its agents can offer brands the sort of lasting relationships with customers that are needed to achieve sustainable business growth.
At Nordia, we have undertaken a series of steps to nourish a human-centric culture. First and foremost, our new agent onboarding involves a high level of support for recruits. Support during the critical onboarding phase leads to successful interactions with customers and agent retention. At some organizations, new customer service agent attrition can be as high as 30%. However, the leading organizations can bring this down to as low as 15%, which is far below industry-wide standards.
Certainly, a robust onboarding program must vest agents with CX expertise. In addition, we encourage new agents to interact freely with other staff, get guidance from more experienced peers, and build relationships. Such mentoring helps agents learn remedies to tricky situations. More importantly, it creates a support network. Even within a few weeks of joining our team, Nordia agents gain a sense of belonging at the firm.
Second, it is vital to train agents as leaders. Accordingly, Nordia has developed an in-house leadership program. It allows new and seasoned agents to develop management skills that build on their CX expertise. Leadership itself is changing though, as globally-dispersed teams and hybrid work replace the 9-to-5 office. Hence, trainees learn how to utilize a wide array of digital tools, communicate effectively with teams across in-office and work-from-home settings, and ensure consistent team-member engagement.
Graduates receive a certification but, more importantly, they attain a lasting skill set that catalyzes promotion and career growth. At Nordia, we know that investing in agents is vital, both at the start of their careers and as they mature professionally. It keeps them engaged and productive, and it ensures they are goal-oriented team members capable of leading in this dynamic industry.
This approach helps inform the next step in building a customer-centric culture: career advancement. All agents must have a clear line of sight to the next level of advancement within the firm. If they aspire to be a team leader or a trainer, they should feel they are on track toward that goal, just as team leaders must know that their talent can be rewarded with advancement into the executive ranks. Nordia’s CEO was once a call center agent, as were many of our vice presidents. Of course, some agents may seize on QA as their end goal—which is wonderful—but the path to the top jobs should be one that any agent can follow.
These steps have helped Nordia build a highly customer-centric culture. We not only train our new agents, we support them. We offer leadership training that imparts vital skills to meet the challenges of a globally-minded 21st-century contact center. And we stimulate our agents to achieve results by showing that promotion—all the way to the corner office—can be theirs one day.
Yes, one result of this approach is a very low level of agent attrition. But, our vibrant human-centric culture also delivers business outcomes that our clients greatly appreciate. Inspired agents are more productive. Our average handle time beats that of many of our peers. Currently, Nordia’s employee net promoter score (eNPS) is at 85. Actually, we have sustained it above 80 for more than a decade.
In short, a customer-centric culture works wonders for agents, consumers, and the brands they serve.
