One of the part time
jobs I had done before matriculating into NUS was to work at a call centre for
XYZ government agency. Many times the work was emotionally draining, partly due
to the large volume of calls and partly because of long call time with
extremely annoying customers.
As our call centre was
underperforming, there was a change in management to troubleshoot the team’s
performance. Under the new management, it was required that all agents,
regardless of part timers or full time stuff were to answer a certain number of
calls per hour.
While I was
consistently meeting the quota, there was one day that I had to deal with
multiple long call time with quite demanding customers. This caused me to fail
to hit the minimum quota for that particular day. As a result the new manager
chided/lectured me over my poor performance at the end of my shift.
Feeling emotionally
drained after my shift, I shot back at the manager challenging him to fire me
since he claimed that I was under performing. While I was not fired, needless to
say for the rest of my employment term, I was given the cold turkey treatment
by the manager.
In retrospect, I could
have easily communicated the reason for my poor performance instead of assuming
that the new manager knew about it. I believe the reason why I was
confrontational that day was because I may have misinterpreted my manager’s
comments. What the manager could have meant was that I should improve on my
performance, yet after a tiring day, I let my emotions take over and
misinterpreted his comments that I was too incompetent and therefore I should
resign from the call centre.
When I related this act
of ‘bravado’ to a close colleague of mine, he simply couldn't believe that I
was foolish enough to pull off such a stunt. This was because no one would
benefit from having such a confrontational attitude especially when it comes to
career advancement. Instead, he advised that in situation whenever a superior
is pointing out certain errors, the best course of action is to apologise immediately
and offer a brief explanation for the error followed by a promise not to repeat
it again.
Needless to say, I
learnt a huge lesson from this incident. Not only would I need to be more aware
of my emotions in order to communicate my message effectively but also by
placing aside my ego would I be in a better position to diffuse conflicts as it arises.
So do you agree with my
colleague’s approach in dealing with such situation and what other approach do
you think I should have taken? More importantly, what kind of approach do you
think I should have taken in diffusing the cold turkey treatment from the boss?
Excellent example Ding Long. You could actually have asked pertinent questions as to whta you could do to improve your performance and then explained that you were behind because of the overly long calls. Perhaps then he might have taught you how to cut such calls.
ReplyDeleteHello Ding Long
ReplyDeleteYou gave an interesting scenario, which I guess most of us might face when we enter the workforce. However, I think that instead of challenging your manager to fire you, you should apologize for not hitting your quota and explain why you were unable to do so. Your reason was valid and I am sure your manager will be able to understand. He may even give you some tips on how to deal with difficult customers, yet still being able to hit your quota (if possible).
In future if your manager wants to talk to you about your performance at work and you are emotionally drained that day, you could probably suggest if you two could meet up another day. Give yourself some time to think about how you should explain and not be too harsh with your words. In this way, the cold turkey treatment may not even happen!
To diffuse the cold turkey treatment, perhaps you could greet your manager with a “Good Morning!” or with just a smile whenever you pass by him. I understand that it will be quite awkward, but one just has to put aside his ego and break the silence. Just like what you have mentioned.
It is good that you realized your mistake while you were doing a part time job, so that next time when you settle down in a full time job, you will know how to react appropriately to such a situation.
Great post!
Vanessa
Dinglong, I used to work in a call centre and the need to hit quota hourly just drives people crazy! I do not agree with your colleague's approach in dealing with this issue. His approach simply evades the problem and to tackle this problem, the solution lies in communicating effectively.
ReplyDeleteLast time, my team leader used to have debrief sessions once in a fortnight for the team to communicate. To me, I felt that it was a great platform to solve your above scenario. By having this debrief, it allows us to discuss about the difficulties we encountered while answering calls and at the same time, each of us can share about our own experience on how we manage lengthy calls.
For the cold turkey treatment, I feel that maybe you can take an active approach and ask him out after work for a drink to chat over this issues then move on.
Jieli