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Qualities Of A Great Manager
By Carole Sue Jones, Sat Dec 10th
In the call center environment we are often only as successfulas the people we hire. While our front line employees arecritical to our business, choosing the right managers powerfullyimpact your success. So what makes a good manager? Ask 100people and you might get 100 different answers. While thebehaviors that make a great manager may be open tointerpretation, there are some competencies and correspondingquestions, which stand the test of time. I think the face of business has entered an era of globalmobility and flexibility. To be a successful manager in today'sbusiness world you have to be able to shift gears and cope withchange effectively. You have to be able to make decisionswithout knowing all of the details or be able to see the bigpicture. Today's managers have to be able to function in anatmosphere of ambiguity in order to be successful. Learning how to deal with ambiguity is no small task and somemanagers are more comfortable with it than others. You candiscover a candidate's comfort level with a few questions thatassess how well they handle ambiguity.
Tell me about a time when you had to make adecision without having complete information. What did you learn? Tell me about a time when you were not given clearinstructions regarding a task to be completed and how did youhandle it. Given that we face an ever-changing market place, effectivemanagers must have strong Business Acumen. They have to be awareof the competition, best practices and market trends to stayahead of the game. Today's managers must not only think aboutgetting the job done today but must focus strategically on whatit will take to get the job done tomorrow. They have to be ableto track data, trends and information with an eye on how it is,or will, impact their business. Can your management candidate synthesize information and makeappropriate decisions based on the data available to them? How do you stay up to date on your competition? Whatare their strengths? How do you attack them? What do you seehappening with them in the future? What are your key sources for business information? Howfrequently do you need/use them? Give me an example of how youhave used information gained from this material in a salessituation? What global factors are currently affecting businesshere in the United States? What has been the cause? How arecompanies/industries responding to these factors? Having Customer Focus is more important now than ever.Customers have more choices about whom they do business with. Amanager that can establish effective relationships withcustomers is able to create customer loyalty and build trust.Interaction with the customers allows managers to garnercustomer information to use it for improvements in products andservices. Businesses that act with the customer in mind haveproven to be more successful. Does your management candidate interact with customers? Do theyhave customer service experience that can drive your call centerperformance? How do you know they will be able to resolvecustomer issues that may arise? You might ask them about severalcustomer service experiences. Tell me about two customer related situations, whichwere personally difficult for you? What made them tough to dealwith? What did you learn? How do you get and keep up to date information fromcustomers and what do you do with it? Today's global economy requires that managers be able tointeract and understand all kinds and classes of people. Theymust manage diversity dealing effectively with all races,nationalities and cultures. Managers today need to be confidentin hiring variety and diversity by supporting equal and fairtreatment for all. Managers who can work effectively with divers groups arebecoming more and more necessary. How will you know if yourcandidate has the skills you need to grow in a globalenvironment? Describe a situation in which you were able toeffectively "read" another person and guide your actions by yourunderstanding of their needs and values. Tell me about the most difficult or frustratingindividual that you've ever had to work with, and how youmanaged to work with them. A significant part of being an effective manager and producingresults is being able to Motivate Others. Effective managers areable to create a climate in which people want to do their best.They make people feel as if their work is important and theyempower people to contribute ideas, make decisions, and shareownership. Managers are able to deduce individual motivators anduse them to increase performance. Motivating people is about tapping into their ego, their desiresor their future goals. Finding someone who can readily motivatepeople can be challenging. You will need someone who can buildrelationships and
who also understands that different peopleneed different motivators. Tell me about some of the motivational factors thatyou see as pertinent for effective team development? What kindof team was being developed? What did you learn? Tell me how you have increased workers morale and whatwas the benefit? Describe for me your most successful motivationaleffort. Today's managers must also be able to take raw talent anddevelop direct reports. Setting clear goals and directions,assigning work fairly and providing timely feedback, accomplishthis. They must be able to deal with problems effectively andprovide ongoing development plans. Effective Managers are awareof their people's career goals and provide challenging andstretching tasks in order to help them reach those goals. An effective candidate will have the ability to provide ongoingcoaching and feedback that improves performance. They willunderstand how people learn and will set clear goals andoutcomes for ongoing development. How will you know if yourcandidate can develop people? Look for answers where they werein a developmental role even if they weren't a manager of directreports. Tell me about a time when you worked with someone tohelp them learn a new skill. What steps did you take? What wasthe outcome? Tell about at time when you set objectives or goalsthat forced others to stretch in order to accomplish them. Give an example of when you maintained two-way dialoguewith others about work and work results. What was the result? Very few people in today's business world are responsible forproviding the end product or service alone. Managers need to beable to build effective teams and relationships in order toaccomplish business priorities and goals. They define success interms of the whole team's performance and will allow people tobe responsible for the work they do. They must balance that withthe ability to provide the information their team members needto do complete their tasks while helping them feel good aboutthe work that they do. Informing is a critical task inproductivity and team building. In call centers a manager often leads a team, whileparticipating as part of a team. Can your candidate buildeffective team relationships? Tell me about a time when you perceived that someonewas not happy on your team. How did you find out they were nothappy and what did you do about it? What did you learn? Give me two examples of when you used different modesto convey the same information. Tell me which of the following is your favorite mode ofcommunicating at work, written, oral, or email. Give an examplethat shows why it's your favorite. Tell me about a time when you initially did not feelgood about being a team member, and what you did to change yourfeelings. What did you learn? Let's be realistic, today's business needs to be productive,competitive and profitable. An effective manager has to be ableto Drive for Results and exceed goals. Companies won't be inbusiness long if they cannot keep an eye on the bottom linewhile pushing for results. In order to create a successfulbusiness, great managers first must understand their business,their customers and their people and be able to take thatinformation and use it to mold results. Today's competitive environment requires a manager that canthink on their feet, motivate others and create success despitethe odds. Can your can candidate provide examples that encourageyou to hire them? Tell me about a time when you got results eventhough some significant factors were working against you(competition, internal customer differences, budget, etc.). Whatdid you do that made you different from the others? Tell me about occasions where you far exceededexpectations. What were the expectations and what did you do toexceed them? Give me an example of a business situation in which youhad to think and act quickly. What was the problem? Whatalternatives did you consider? What were the results of yourdecision? Finding a candidate with the perfect balance of all of thesecompetencies might be difficult. Decide which results are mostimportant to you and your organization, determine whichcompetencies best match your needs and consider asking therelated questions in your interview process. Look forindividuals with the best mix of attributes and skills. With theproper competencies in mind choosing the best candidates will bean easier task. You can be confidant about the people anddevelop and be at ease to be judged by how good they are.
About the author:Carole Sue Jones is a contributing writer for InteractiveQuality Solutions. She is a training and instructional designprofessional with a strong focus on management development. Ifyou are interested in reading more of Carole's articles pleasevisit http://www.callcentercafe.com andhttp://www.righttolead.com.
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