Have you ever wondered why your contact center experiences high agent attrition? Are you aware of the subtle forces that might be influencing your agents’ experiences and their decisions to leave? Could a phenomenon known as “ambient gaslighting” be happening in your organization?
In a recent USA Today article, physician psychiatrist Dr. Grant Brenner discusses the concept of “ambient gaslighting.” While the article doesn’t specifically address contact centers, I believe a clear thread connects this phenomenon to the agent experience in these settings.
Dr. Brenner describes ambient gaslighting as a form of background noise. “There’s just this background feeling that maybe I’m being tricked in some way,” Brenner says. This feeling can create a general sense of unease. In the context of a contact center, this unease can lead to dissatisfaction, disengagement, and, ultimately, attrition.
In contact centers, ambient gaslighting manifests in various ways. It can be as simple as a leadership style that makes a team fearful to speak up or as complex as imbalanced information that affects perceptions.
Ignoring “ambient gaslighting” can lead to a pervasive sense of uneasiness and susceptibility among agents and, thus, low morale, decreased productivity, and a lack of engagement, contributing to higher attrition rates. The cost of replacing an agent can be significant, factoring in the expenses of recruitment, training, and the time it takes for a new agent to reach full productivity. High attrition rates can also lead to a loss of experienced staff, negatively impacting the quality of customer service provided.
Moreover, the effects of “ambient gaslighting” extend beyond the agents themselves. The customer experience is directly impacted by the agent experience. Agents who feel valued, respected, and supported are more likely to be committed to their work, leading to improved customer interactions. They’re likelier to go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction, fostering more robust relationships and loyalty.
“Ambient gaslighting” is a subtle but pervasive force affecting individuals and organizations alike. Contact center leaders must recognize its presence and take deliberate actions.
By understanding the nuances of ambient gaslighting and implementing the strategies outlined above, leaders can create a contact center environment where agents feel confident, valued, and empowered, leading to lower attrition rates and ultimately, better customer experiences.
Remember: Agent Experience and Customer Experience are intertwined. When we nurture our agents, we indirectly nurture our customers. They are, indeed, two sides of the same coin.
(I co-wrote this with Dr. Brenner, originally featured in Psychology Today publication)
Doing CX Right podcast ep. 14 featuring Stephen Shedletzky
Doing CX Right podcast ep. 33 featuring Marcy Rader
Keyword themes: agent experience, customer experience, psychology, Communication, Customer Service, USA Today, Contact Center, Call center, employee experience.
Customer experience (CX) is a significant driver of business success in the modern age. Customers expect more than just good products and solutions; they want authentic personalized experiences, high quality, and delivery of the brand promise. This does not happen without prioritizing agent experiences and investing in their success.
Agents are the front line just as much, if not more, than sales teams. Service agents have the power to make or break a company’s success. It’s no secret that engaged agents are motivated, connected, and satisfied with their job, team, and organization, and this connection transfers to the customer.
Investing in agent experience is about more than just providing them with the proper training and tools. It is also related to helping them feel valued and appreciated for their contributions, providing support and resources, and empowering agents to succeed. So let’s dig deeper into agent engagement tactics.
Deploying the right technology is essential for agents to do their job effectively, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems access to customer data and analytics. Equipping agents with tools and simple ways to do their job with less effort, they can quickly and accurately diagnose customer issues and provide the best solutions. Additionally, having the right tools help agents save time, enabling them to focus on building customer relationships and increasing retention.
Furthermore, recognizing agents for their hard work and dedication fosters loyalty and appreciation, which fuels them to provide even better customer service on purpose. Recognition can be in the form of rewards, such as bonuses or promotions, or it can be more informal, such as public praise and a personal thank-you call from the CEO. Remember: small actions usually have significant impacts!
Including customer service agents in decision-making is another essential aspect of investing in agent engagement. Customer service representatives have a unique perspective and understanding of the customer experience, and their insights can be invaluable to the business. In addition, giving agents a seat at the table to represent the “voice of the customer” makes them feel empowered and motivated to go up and beyond. So, it’s a win for the company, the agent, and ultimately the customer.
The following are some actionable tactics to improve agent experiences and success for better customer outcomes:
Investing in agent experience is crucial to delivering exceptional customer experience and long-term success.
Listen to CX QA Live show hosted by Rob Connelly at Vistio, where I was the featured guest. We dive deep into agent engagement topics and strategies for Doing CX Right. Got questions? Let’s talk.
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Have you ever felt drained of all motivation and energy and struggled to find purpose in your work? If so, you’re not alone. Burnout and disengagement are two common issues affecting millions worldwide, causing decreased productivity, low morale, and poor mental health.
While burnout and disengagement are often used interchangeably, they are different. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, while disengagement is a lack of motivation and commitment to work. Identifying the signs of burnout early on is crucial to avoid its negative consequences.
Some common signs of burnout include chronic fatigue, decreased productivity, and feelings of cynicism and detachment from work. On the other hand, disengagement is characterized by procrastination, reduced quality of work, and a lack of enthusiasm for tasks.
The good news is that you can overcome burnout and disengagement by reconnecting with your work and thriving.
You can take some essential steps to prevent and overcome burnout. Here are some strategies that can help:
Productivity “power-ups” are habits and tools that help you work more efficiently and with less stress. Marcey Rader, a productivity expert, shares many great tips about “power-ups” on my DoingCXRight podcast episode 33. Ideas include:
Listen to Stacy Sherman’s Doing CXRight Podcast with featured guest Marcey Rader.
While attending 3 Tree Tech Customer Experience Executive roundtable, I learned about ThriveGlobal’s Reset solution presented by Richard Zee. If you are unfamiliar, I suggest you learn more about the popular product designed to help people quickly gain mental resilience, de-stress in real-time, and increase productivity. There are tons of use cases for contact centers, technicians working in dangerous environments, and more.
ThriveGlobal figured out how to link science and storytelling to help people pause and focus on their breath and what is most important in life. It’s integrated into popular conference platforms such as Zoom and Webex too. More details are on the company’s website.
Prioritizing your mental health and well-being is essential to avoid burnout and disengagement. By identifying the signs and taking steps to prevent burnout, such as using hacks to stay motivated, taking productivity power-ups, and amping up energy, you can stay on top of your game while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. The same applies to your colleagues and work teams, where technology platforms like Thrive Reset can be a valuable resource. By taking care of yourself, you’ll be better equipped to show up as your best self for your customers, colleagues, boss, family, and friends, no matter what challenges come your way.
Customer Service leaders continue to face a paradoxical challenge – balancing the high volume of customer demands with the need to provide ongoing agent training and development. While it is important to ensure that agents handle as many calls as possible, neglecting their learning and development can negatively impact service levels and agent retention too.
So why do some contact center managers not make agent training a higher priority? I asked a few leaders and discovered that they view agent training as unnecessary and that the time spent on learning and development programs takes away from handling customer calls. Additionally, they see agent training as a one-time event rather than an ongoing process (indicating they overlook its importance.)
On the flip side, many best-in-class leaders believe agent training is an important investment and advocate for BOTH learning and development programs AND balancing contact center demands, especially during talent shortages. This approach yields better results for agents and, ultimately, customers too.
Investing in agent training is essential for improving customer satisfaction and reducing staff turnover. There are real ROI benefits that become visible over time.
Aent training does not need to be an either/or situation but rather a “Both/And” win-win opportunity.
Check out my conversation with Wendy Smith, a Professor at the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. She has done extensive research on strategic paradoxes and how leaders and senior teams can effectively respond to contradictory yet interdependent demands. I believe it relates to contact center investment decisions too.
I encourage you to get Wendy’s book co-authored with Marianne Lewis, as you’ll quickly understand our brains love to make either-or choices, and that we choose one option over the other. Yet, there’s a better way through Both/And thinking!
As technology advances, we have become accustomed to interacting with automated solutions like IVRs and chatbots for customer service. These systems have streamlined many processes, allowing us to get answers and support quickly and efficiently when companies follow CX best practices. However, the paradigm is changing, whereby it’s not just humans contacting customer care departments but also AI robots acting on behalf of humans too.
DoNotPay, for example, is launching an AI robot that interacts with customer service agents through live chat or emails to negotiate bills, cancel a subscription, pay parking tickets, and more. So what are the ramifications? At a minimum, employee and agent communication skill building and training need modification. “Robot CX” is becoming a real thing.
Note to reader: If you have yet to read my favorite book, The Four Agreements, I recommend you do so, which is the basis of my above recommendations. The Four Agreements is life-changing for personal growth and incredibly valuable for leading business transformation, as I explain in my other article.
The lines are getting blurry as to who is on the other side of the customer call or online chat. So, always be friendly, helpful, informative, and impeccable with your words. Likewise, avoid taking anything personally or making assumptions. And do your best when negotiating or solving an issue. Get educated on AI robot capabilities and adapt problem-solving strategies.
While I’m expressing views about human-to-bot interactions, there will soon be robots handling complaints and questions from another bot. Will they argue? Will they get frustrated like humans? It’s kind of funny to imagine, yet, challenging to comprehend too. Time will tell. Buckle your seatbelts as we’re in for an interesting journey.
