Been too negative

Dear FY,

It certainly did not feel good to return to office on weekend when every one had yet to recover from hangover. To make the day worse, the first email I read was a manager call back request. 

Looked around but there was no one to share this work load. Unwillingly, I didn't have choice but to call the customer myself.

Honest be told, I could not concentrate on what the customer said for the first 10 minutes. 

"Your problem is solved,,, get it done please" I mumbled in my thought.

When customer moved on to the next part of the story, I sat up straight and told myself I need to concentrate on this part. What the customer said next left me in awe, I could not respond quick enough to fill in the empty gap.

"I am glad every thing is sorted and you are satisfied with our resolution, Mr.X. There is no better way to start my day than you sharing your experience with us. I am confident the previous consultant will be very thrilled to hear your compliment. Thank you and appreciate your time to take my call."

It turned up to be a compliment call to the previous consultant! And trust me, when I reviewed the call, he was so lively and empathetic with customer. This was very unlike him. Perhaps he had the positive vibe that morning and passed to the customer. In a cycle it was passed back to me.

My boss shared this story to her boss, and higher and further. Global Head of Contact Centre congratulated him for such beautiful story. The least I could do to motivate and ensure his effort was recognised was by sharing this with the team. It's a valuable lesson that morning ; Don't be too negative and conclude with assumption.

In a separate incident, a consultant highlighted a possible account take over. This happened 10 minutes before the last manager ended his shift. So sad that the manager had to be me. I really appreciate that she notified us but the timing was seriously wrong. Curse the caller. Anyway this lady has a high instinct in identifying possible fraudsters. And I chose not to ignore her.

Investigating fraudsters calls is painfully time taking. As a result, we manage to identify several more findings and remedial actions were taken. Did I complain on the 3 additional hours I spent in office? 'Coz I did! They are charity!

Emails were circulated so far above. Internal reporters requested her pictures. Several conference interviews were conducted. Visitors who visited us requested to meet her. Our Group COO made a special request to speak to her during his visit to our office.

My name was not mentioned. No one but the same consultant ever thanked me. Heck that did not matter. 'Coz I know if I did not do this, more customers will be victimised. If ever I turn my deaf ear to her, she would not be where she is. At the very least she knew I helped her. Her picture is right at the entrance of the building. Her video was uploaded in internal news share. Little did we expect the investigation will turn her into a super star. I felt so proud her effort and talent was recognised.

Dear FY,

In reality many managers, me inclusive, blame the staff for not performing. I overheard a conversation last night between two staff near me, and I felt the same pain as they did; I meet KPI A, but it's not good if I fail KPI B and C. We find fault in them, hoping they will improve. How much more motivation are we taking away from them if we keep doing the same? How much support have we given them, I start to wonder?

I will be in Bangkok tomorrow, FY. I gave myself an assignment to find answer to my own question : If I have been so negative at work, what do I expect from my people?

Yours truly,

[Jino] - A man's not a man unless he knows how to shoot