by Gavin Miller, Team Leader at Webhelp Greenock

“A fast paced changing environment”. This is normally the first thing you read when you apply for a job in a contact centre and there are no better words to describe our business. We see change as positive, which if handled correctly usually leads onto bigger and more exciting things… but it does bring about some challenges along the way.

One thing that always struck me as odd until I became a team leader was the phrase “oh no, it’s my Monday today”.  I couldn’t get my head around that because people would say it with a genuine sound of fear in their voice… and on different days of the week!

But as a team leader, your first day back after two days off, no matter what period of the week it falls on, is most definitely a Monday. A day so manic that everything goes an extra 10mph faster than you could ever prepare yourself for.

It’s on these days that your “to do list” takes up both sides of the page, and you drink so much coffee that you could stay awake for a week. Before you know it you are knee deep in reports and you’ve seen so many numbers that you forget the pin for your phone.

For example, the key to success on a Weddy-Monday (My way of describing a Monday that lands on a Wednesday) lies in stability. If you can find yourself the tiniest fragment of stability on a floating Monday, then the clouds will part, rainbows will fill the streets, birds will sing! Well, maybe not that far but it can certainly feel that way.

My stability comes by way of our recently launched performance dashboard. What an absolute gem of a tool! All the things you must consider for your week ahead; Who to coach? Who to have a word in the ear with? What will my boss ask me about this week? Who has excelled? Who deserves a Star award? Who is beating my team? Am I on course for month end? Did I do better last month? Are my team productive? The list goes on and on…… but that is the stability you need as a team leader. You need something that can pull all of this information together and put it in one place. We happen to be lucky that it’s easy to read as well.

As front pages go, the performance dashboard is incomparable. It is like a strategically placed stall as you walk into a supermarket. You know, the one where your partner will stop and say “oh, look they have this on offer” and you realise it’s time to hide your bank card. That’s what the dashboard does, it draws your attention. There’s no array of numbers to meet you as you open it up, it’s just a simple overview of your performance and the cherry on top is the cheeky pie charts that make it even easier to understand.

Then as you drill down into individual performance, you find yourself 4 or 5 clicks away from a comprehensive view of your entire team’s key performance metrics. What could be (and I have experienced this before) a 2 hour Amazonian style trek through reports, becomes a 15 minute short boat trip on calm waters. An absolute joy!

But that’s not all the dashboard has to offer by any means. This constant and reliable piece of insight can suit anyone within our business. Personally, I just love having the peace of mind to know that I can walk in at the start of my week, sit down, sign in, and have my performance delivered to me on a plate. A not so manic Monday, what more could you ask for?