recruiting internal or external? - digital transform

Recruiting Internal or External?

From Catalyst20th July 2005

for Public Sector

Forums

© Copyright 2005 – Catalyst IT Partners Ltd

• Skills Analysis– Does the Authority have the right mix of skills to deliver the

service expected?

– What roles should there be in the centre and how do they change over the time?

– Who’s best positioned to fulfil each role?

– Do I make or Buy?

• What about the delivery team’s skills?

• Communications Planning– What messages have been received by the incumbent staff

during this period of planning?

– What messages should be sent out.

• Where do I start– Do I know what the operating model will look like?

I guess you are asking yourself these questions?

How many people do I need?

Demand Analysis


This is a Black Art, with Lots of Smoke and Mirrors But…..

• Design an operating model

• Establish the Demand and Intra day profiles

• Size for busy hour & Shrinkage

• Model and Run scenarios and develop most and least likely sizing-bums on seats calculations

• Test assumptions and model and try to establish a pilot

• Map bums on seats to demand and factor in shrinkage

• Then roster around the demand

• Monitor service standards and schedule adherence

All Sounds Easy Doesn’t It?

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Force 1 Weekend999 WeekendAlarm WeekendEmergency Weekend


What about the shift and opening times…?

• Taking the average hourly inbound volumes, and the weighted average to be call handling time, apply Erlang C calculation to get an agent requirement for each profile.

• Outbound call volumes are translated into agent terms via a straightforward linear formula as demand is in effect, controlled

• These demand profiles feed both the final FTE and the shift optimisation calculations.

• But that is just the Numbers game….

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An Operating Model will drive the Roles

Departments

Individual

Contact centre based

Specialist teams

Switch Board

EnqDesk

IVR?Consolidated Local Numbers

ContactCentre

1 stop

Face to face Customer Interaction

Backoffcie

3rd party IncidentManage

ment

CRM systems

Face to Face Officer Interaction

Partner agencies

Where do I get these people from?

Get the Right People


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Adoption

Ret

urn

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The Adoption Curve

Driver ( e.g. Technology)

Process

People

Results (ROI) = Initiatives x Adoption2 *

* Ian Gotts – Common Approach (Uncommon Results)

Get the right people,Get the processes right,

Get the people to use themThen use technology to enable efficiency

It maybe that it’s a chicken and egg situation between people & processes


People really do make the difference• The roles required for an assured service are grouped:

– Project Implementation resources to support the definition, design, development and deployment of the solution

– Operations resources to be trained and perform duties to meet the strategic objectives of the centre and the public access vision.

– A visionary and results driven Sponsor and robust Programme Governance to ensure it happens

• Develop Job Descriptions for each of the roles within these groups-including objectives, skills and competencies. That can be deployed in two ways:

– Formal selection of candidates for the roles -

– Verification of the suitability of your proposed candidates


The Process is no different to your existing HR process

– Agree Roles and Competencies

– Conduct interviews ( depending on the scope and method)

– Report Findings and make recommendations – without prejudice

– Personal and group feedback

Candidate Interviews

Org

anis

atio

n fit

Recommendations

Agree Roles & competency criteria

Your experience

JD


A Holistic approach that is collaborative

• Adopt a collegiate approach.

– Use Recruitment specialists as guides, rather than gurus..

– One size does not fit all, but certain roles and functions are key. Make sure you understand them and and can deploy this knowledge quickly – saving you money.

– Your objective is to assure change. Clear communication is the foundation for open dialogue. Open dialogue creates smarter solutions.


Remember you are recruiting for more than just call handling

• Ensure that you also review the risks associated with any gaps. This is will provide greater assurance.

• Identify how the gaps could be filled: Training, new recruitment, interim management, Outsourcing are all viable options.

• Don’t forget – its not only about recruiting the right call handling staff -This is also about professional Programme and Implementation management.

• Remember details of the business/products/services can be taught, core skills are what you will focus on


The typical reaction to change is followsa predictable path

shoc

k

angerbargaining

depression

denial

discovery

acce

ptanc

e

experimentation

integrationNeed to recognise that it’s not the same curve for everyone – some miss parts of it and others experience deeper curves

Successfully leading the organisation through change requires application of the most appropriate style of leadership at key stages on an individual basis

Recognise that middle managers are likely to be way ahead of others climbing the curve and will therefore have a different ‘view’


Culture Change is Key

Old Culture

• “Skivvy of the officer”

• It's our process they should adopt to it

• Different and inferior

• IT is admin

• You do as I say

• You do it if I say it’s “administrative”


Culture Change is Key New Culture

• Knowledge based and empowered

• Mutual respect

• Different and equal

• IT is everyone’s

• We decide

• You do it if you are best placed to do so

A By-product of the change is a greater ‘Professionalisation’

Making it Happen

Organisation and Culture


The Ideal Skills Combination

EXPERIENCE EXPERTISE

We’ve done this before

We’ve know all about contact

centres

CAPABILITY


Attract and encourage the best to come forward…

• Not rocket science, but need the right approach and the right people

• Process:

– Do the homework – the role

– Understand the components

– Stand back and focus on required outcomes

– Assess capability - objectively

– Automate as appropriate

– Document

• Don’t forget communications with Employee Reps


Address the Objection Handling Barriers• Having the imagination to create the future

• Professional concerns – well how well do you currently do the job then?

• This is not about Job Losses

• Developing a collaborative, customer centric culture

• Knowing enough about your customers and doing better – there is nothing wrong with this objective

• Speed of deployment

• Data Protection and sensitivity

• Thinking that you need all the answers up front.

• Remember its about empowering the staff


Experience of the management team - fundamental

• Managed/Implemented Contact Centres

- No prior experience in proposed management team? This does not equate to having a customer focus…. You need coal face experience

• Understanding of organisation and services

- Many new staff in proposed team (positive, or negative depending on project roles assigned)

• Have worked in a structured Programme, so test:– Project involvement in:

– Change Management (Cultural and Process)

– Technology Adoption (Voice and Data)

– Balancing day-to-day tasks with project work


Expertise – Supervisors- the catalysts for change

• Contact Centres coaching and mentoring

– Manage performance

– Queue aware

– Exposure to contact centre performance management, or knowledge of best practice

– Developing understanding of technology applications needed to support a contact centre.

– Maybe a previous role as a ‘super user’

– Are participative and can motivate!

Either put new head on old shoulders, or limit exposure to risk


Capability- your call handlers

• high levels of Capability– Large number of post-grads in proposed team- looks

fine in short term - but they move on

– Good balance of listening and key skills

– analytical and interpersonal skills

– High degrees of adaptability.

– Product knowledge is a training issue only


Capacity

• Demand based sizing and Dedicating time to the project

– May well affect Saturday working and out of hours –but should be seen as an opportunity to demonstrate flexible working

– No significant issue for IT team members

– Business Workstream members may experience tension between regular duties and project commitments.


Summary of Risk

• Factors reducing risk

• Capability

• Organisational Culture appears “Can Do”

• Factors increasing risk

– Expertise

– Experience

– Possibly Capacity issues.


The Positive Side

• Increase chances of success– Limit pace of change (phase roll-out planned)

– Limit focus of change, but ensure that customers get value from the service

– Ensure that supporting technologies are in place at the start.

• The Pilot Programme– Identify a pilot service with predictable contact

volumes, low seasonal demand variation, reasonable variety of query types.

– Focus on information provision, not transactions


The Positive Side

• Don’t create unnecessary barriers– Communicate strategy clearly to all stakeholder

– Work in partnership with departments migrating services to the contact centre

– Ensure that internal and external expectations are managed.

– Engage with staff reps and Unions from DAY ONE!

How do I drive up performance?

Organisational Development


VALUE CHAIN

Empowerment Through Knowledge and Culture Change

ShareKnowledge

ApplyCapability

DevelopMessages

&Services

HarvestExperiences

MethodsData

Knowing your customer

Making that knowledge available organisation-wide

Using that knowledge to manage each and every relation with the customer

Understanding the impact of each customer contact

Measured by outcomes…. Information management requirements defined


Strategy for Career Progression

Decision Making

Information and advocacy/Problem resolution/complaints

Assessment or initial referral- some product knowledge based

Easily answerable work

Simple and transactional work and FAQs

BenefitRealisation


A Critical Success Factor is a Communications Plan

• Letting internal and external stakeholders know what’s happening.

– Has to be managed to ensure that a consistent message is delivered

– Central to any programme of change (acts as lubricant)

– Generates interactions that will be handled by the contact centre

– Reinforces success of contact centre, stimulating further use.


Summary

• Success is a matter of gradual implementation– Do we have the skills? Not yet…

– Can we develop them? A good foundation of generic capability sends out positive signals.

» Support those developing new skills in process migration and optimisation (BPR), and project management.

– Take path of least resistance when selecting staff for migration, but don’t compromise on recruiting people with NO potential – its not fair on them either

– Communicate to all stakeholders with a unified, clear message.

• Nobody gets it 100% right first time.– Establish expectations about initiation.

– Limit the scope of initial services provided by the CC to ensure that success is perceived. Only communicate success following the pilot stage.

Steep Learning Curves + Tight Time Scales = Risk


Remember the reason you are doing all of this….

• The aim is to improve access to services and empowerment of staff through better processes so that they are:

– Effective - doing the right things

– Efficient - doing things right

– Repeatable - doing it the same every time

– Predictable - controlled variability.

• But do this through a combination of thinkers, doer, motivators,planners, and managers.

recruiting internal or external? - digital transform

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