Qualfon Mission Leader

The Mission Leader

Leadership: Three Dimensions at Qualfon Forewords by Alfonso Gonzรกlez Arocha and Mike Marrow

THE MISSION LEADER

A consecrated company is one that, responding to a special call from God, seeks to transcend mere business logic by living love for God and for neighbor.

The obedient response to this call is the underlying purpose of the Company.

It gives a unique orientation to its mission and vision, transforms the internal life of the organization—with a specially tailored culture, procedural framework, policies and programs—and improves the personal, family, and social life of each one of its members.

A Consecrated Company is not • The mere “act of consecration” by itself, a rite, or a ritual.

• A non-profit organization “without objectives towards building wealth" • A “religious movement” • A sect or a fanatical organization bent on proselytizing As a consecrated company, Qualfon respects and honors diversity in its employee’s backgrounds, beliefs and practices. To that end, Qualfon prohibits discrimination against and harassment of any employee or any applicant for employment because of their religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, veteran status or any other characteristic protected under applicable national, federal or state law where the Company operates.

Specifically, Qualfon recognizes the right of all its employees and business partners to exercise their freedom of religion and respects each individual’s personal and spiritual beliefs and practices as their own, and will take steps to reasonably accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of its employees.

All personnel who are responsible for hiring and promoting employees and for the development and implementation of Qualfon programs or activities are charged to support equal employment opportunity, to provide reasonable accommodation, and to respond promptly and appropriately to any concerns that are brought to their attention. All Qualfon employees are encouraged to raise any concerns they may have as it relates to discrimination of any kind whatsoever without the fear of reprisal.

Book and cover design by Lorena Mitre Jimenez.

Editor: Luis J. Medina The Mission Leader, Leadership: Three Dimensions at Qualfon. Copyright © 2017

by Qualfon.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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DEDICATION

This book fully details one of the foundations of Qualfon, our vital Mission Leader development program. Qualfon dedicates this book to the men and women in leadership roles at Qualfon who embrace and live the Company's mission as mentors who develop the skills of members of the Qualfon team, managers committed to improving Qualfon's performance, and messengers who inspire and promote unity around a meaningful purpose throughout the entire Qualfon family.

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CONTENTS Dedication....................................................................................ii Foreword from Alfonso Gonzรกlez Arocha.......v Foreword from Michael P. Marrow..........................x Introduction..............................................................................xii Chapter 1: Understanding Leadership at Qualfon..................................................................1

What Does It Take to be a Qualfon Mission Leader?......................................................1 Who is a Mission Leader?...........................................................4 Thinking in 3D...............................................................................5 Motivating Mission Leaders at Qualfon............................. 9 The Compass for the Qualfon Mission Leader: STRIDES.......................................................................................... 14

Chapter 2: Mentors at Qualfon.......................... 21 Portrait of the Mentor...........................................................22 The Mentorship Roadmap........................................................ 24 Growing a Mentorship Culture............................................ 28 Getting Results.......................................................................... 29

Chapter 3: Managers at Qualfon.......................31 Types of Managers....................................................................31 The Mission Leader as Manager...........................................32

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Measuring Success....................................................................34 Process Analysis and Improvement.....................................39 Eliminating Waste.....................................................................49 Managers Create Meaningful Engagement....................61 A Well-Rounded Mission; Our Value-Agreements........63 Keep_Commmitments@Qualfon...........................................65 Making the Most of Your Time.............................................68 Schedule Priorities, Improve Work Life...........................73 Add_Value@Qualfon...............................................................75 Adding Value in Practice.......................................................77 Move_Fast@Qualfon................................................................83 Optimize Yourself for Efficiency........................................87 Roadblocks to Speedy Work..................................................90 Spend_Wisely@Qualfon..........................................................94 Rules for Wise Spending..........................................................97

Chapter 4: Messengers at Qualfon................. 103

Ambassadors with a Message...............................................103 Traits of a Messenger.............................................................106 Inspire and Encourage ...........................................................106 Understanding Real Encouragement...............................108 Recognize and Celebrate Wins............................................112 Building Trust Inside Your Team........................................114 The Importance of Trust........................................................114 Be a Brand Ambassador..........................................................115 Telling Qualfon’s Story........................................................117 Positive Opportunities; Making Things Right...............120

Conclusion.............................................................. 124

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Foreword Alfonso González Arocha

D

uring the years of Qualfon’s existence, I have had the blessing to work with true Mission Leaders. It is easy to recognize Mission Leaders. They are positive individuals who care for others and are productive, with excellent results. The clients and their fellow employees trust them.

The Mission Leader is a person who welcomes his/her call or mission with an open heart and as a result, experiences peace and joy. By interacting with a Mission Leader, you experience the benefits of their belief that he or she has been entrusted with a consecrated company’s mission. This isn’t simply an abstract idea, but a personal value that drives and energizes all their actions. They embrace the mission and pass on the flame to their team members, who will then share it with others beyond the Company.

In my opinion, a Mission Leader is a person who, accepting the mission of the Company, is inspired to fulfill his life and transcend ordinary expectations: He or she considers themselves a servant leader, believing that they can do unimaginable things, not for personal gain, but because we all share a common purpose to serve others.

A Mission Leader helps others to reach personal and professional fulfillment, providing them with the support they need to carry out their responsibilities to a high standard and also to respect the organizational values and the culture the company

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has established. A Mission Leader demonstrates first and foremost through example.

I have encountered many Mission Leaders who joined and remained with the Company because they believe in the mission and are willing to go beyond ordinary expectations – helping others and helping the Company to grow and improve. Some of the Mission Leaders who have joined the Company had the opportunity to work in bigger companies, but they decided to remain with Qualfon because of our mission and the opportunity it would offer them to transcend their lives.

I recently visited some of our operational centers and it is a blessing to see the kind of good Mission Leaders we have. In one of the centers, I spent some time speaking with the manager in charge of one of the Company’s key clients. This Mission Leader helped Qualfon to rank first in the client network of providers, competing with some of the most well established and highly regarded BPO companies around the world. Our manager was in constant contact with the client and knew all that the client was expecting from us.

Something important that this Mission Leader was doing very well was developing the team members under his responsibility, giving them opportunities to grow in the Company. I saw him walking around his area and being present for any of the needs of his subordinates. I was present in a meeting in which he met with the Mission Office Manager to ensure that his people participate in the opportunities that the Company provides to its employees.

This Mission Leader tended to and cared for his employees in a way that went well beyond the traditional manager. He was

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passionate, accomplishing our mission, and his people trusted him.

A Mission Leader leads a coherent, consistent, harmonious life: he is a peaceful, humble, confident, respectful, and generous person. Personal connection is a priority and the Mission Leader is committed to a balanced life, even when it is a challenge to accomplish such balance.

While a Mission Leader always strives to do his or her best, a Mission Leader recognizes that perfection is not possible and recognizes that there is always opportunity for improvement.

The Mission Leader sometimes encounters situations that are less than ideal because we are all “made out of clay” and are imperfect. The mission for a consecrated company and for the Mission Leaders provides the “why” for all we do - sets the strategy, plans and goals for the Company. The actions of the Mission Leaders are key part of the culture of the Company and allows Qualfon to distinguish itself from other companies and fulfill its purpose.

In the book Managing Oneself, Peter F. Drucker (Harvard Business Review) tells us, “Organizations, like people, have values.

To be effective in an organization, a person’s values must be compatible with an organization’s values. They do not need to be the same, but they need to be close enough to coexist. Otherwise, the person will not only be frustrated but also will not produce results… Values, in other words, are and should be the ultimate test.”

One of the most significant goals of this mission is the transformation of “leaders” into “Mission Leaders”. In a

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consecrated company, an understanding of the Company’s values and ensuring that they support the Qualfon’s purpose is essential. Because an appreciation of what Qualfon stands for is so important, we focus on leadership qualities during the recruiting process.

Sometimes there are situations in which the needs of the business may be in conflict with the specific needs of an individual. For example, there might be a situation in which an individual is not performing well, but is an excellent person who loves the mission. We examine those situations individually and if there is a way to support the individual for improvement which does not run counter to other important objectives of the Company, we will endeavor to provide such support. While supporting the individual is a critical part of Qualfon’s mission, Qualfon remains a business with high expectations from its employees and, therefore, employee separations are sometimes necessary.

Other difficult situations arise with respect to supporting employees. For example, if we have an employee with serious health problems. How far can or should the Company go in helping such an employee? What if the employee has needs that surpass what most any other company would consider to be reasonable?

Recently one of our employees was hit by a car in front of the Qualfon building resulting in life-threatening injuries. The Company health insurance only covered a portion of the medical care required for saving the employee’s life, and the amount needed to help him regain his health was well beyond what most any other company would spend on an individual employee.

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Deciding how far the Company was willing to go in order to support this individual’s needs was not easy, and the fact that life-saving procedures had a low likelihood of success only further complicated the situation. Nonetheless, the Company made the decision to provide extraordinary support, both financially and otherwise, to try to save the employee’s life, and I thank God – this person has recovered, and is working again.

Some of the examples demonstrate the special and unique aspects of Qualfon: the consistent, holistic way in which the mission guides the Company and in turn serves each person who is a part of Qualfon. The strategies at Qualfon are targeted at fulfilling the Company’s mission, and each individual’s role in support of that mission. Because of the importance of the mission, we seek leaders who are authentic Mission Leaders who will pursue the goals of caring for the individuals who work at Qualfon and pursuing the highest business standards. These aspects are not separate. They are part of the fabric which makes Qualfon special. We are all one leadership team that strives to accomplish this mission together.

Every day that I arrive at my office, I give thanks to God that I am working at a company consecrated to Him. Working in a consecrated company is like experiencing a taste of heaven on earth. I never could have imagined the gift and the joy that can be experienced working in a special company such as ours Alfonso González Arocha Founder and Chairman Qualfon

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Foreword Michael P. Marrow

O

ur mission, “To be the best BPO and make people’s lives better,” is easy to state and incredibly difficult to achieve.

Fulfilling our mission requires a belief that the impossible is, indeed, possible. It requires an unwavering determination to make the dream come true and never give up.

Most companies desire to be the best at what they do. Most companies would like to be “people” companies. Very few companies accomplish both. We are special. Our mission says we can and we will accomplish both. We are not “most companies.”

We are Qualfon.

All companies in our industry have managers. Some also have leaders. But only one has Mission Leaders. Qualfon. All of us at our company share the special opportunity to participate in something amazing. Something we create. Something that exists only at Qualfon.

A Qualfon Mission Leader has many qualities. If we believe we can do it, we are capable of being Mission Leaders. We can all share in the opportunity to live this dream.

Being a Mission Leader means we pursue our mission through thick and thin. We don’t stray when times are tough. Every day, we say to ourselves that yes, we can be the best BPO and we can make people’s lives better. We live our STRIDES values, which we discuss more in this book. We walk the talk. We show our people we believe in our values and never compromise on them, no matter what.

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Being a Mission Leader also means honoring the four agreements to Move_Fast@Qualfon, Add_Value@Qualfon, Spend_Wisely@Qualfon and Keep_Commmitments@Qualfon.

Being a Mission Leader means working hard to help your teams and your colleagues succeed. We do many things and must do many more to be the best BPO and make people’s lives better.

And, we do many things and must do many more to be true Mission Leaders.

We believe that all Mission Leaders must be mentors, managers, and messengers. Mentors know themselves and seek to help other learn and succeed. Mentors truly care about others.

Managers guide us in our pursuit of excellence in how we serve our clients and run our business. Managers are good stewards of company resources. Messengers are the cheerleaders who rally us to live the mission. Messengers are the face and voice of Qualfon to our customers, to our employees, and to the communities where we work.

Our Mission Office has produced a fantastic series of learning modules. Over the last year they have held many live sessions to help us learn these lessons. This book summarizes those lessons.

I encourage you to take the time to go through this book to supplement what you learned at the live sessions. You will find this book refreshing, inspirational, and one more excellent tool to help you and our company leaders be better Mission Leaders and “to be the best BPO and make people’s lives better.”

Michael P. Marrow Chief Executive Officer

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Introduction

T

his book is brought to you with a lot of love. Great care was taken to make it. In this book, we believe we’re bringing you the essence of what being a Mission Leader means at Qualfon.

The book was created in direct correlation with the sessions produced for the Qualfon Mission Leader Program. As you watch the recorded sessions and read the book, the synergy will be clear, but you will also notice that some topics are more deeply understood through one or the other two types of media. For instance, topics taught using polls answering minicase questions or audience responses to rapid-fire questions are more effectively covered during the recorded sessions. On the other hand, you will notice topics that are covered more in-depth and more effectively in the book.

The book will also serve as a useful tool for focusing on certain points that might be of particular interest to you. When you come upon such a point, I invite you to close the book and take some time to think about what has captured your attention. Perhaps you have been reminded of an area in which you feel you can grow in your work or family life. Or perhaps you are prompted to consider an opportunity to help one of your teammates advance toward reaching his or her total vocation. Did something you read inspire an idea about an improvement that you know a client will be thrilled about? Take a moment, think over what you’ve read and develop a short action plan that you can put in practice the next day. After a few days, you may find yourself well on the journey to be a Mission Leader who will write the next version of this book!

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Finally, I hope that this book will motivate you to “do it better tomorrow than today� and help you develop into a Qualfon Mission Leader as you discover and put into practice ideas that will benefit you, your teammates, our families, and the communities where we serve.

Enjoy it!

Alfonso Barrenechea Director of Qualfon University

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1 Understanding Leadership at Qualfon WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A QUALFON MISSION LEADER?

I

n December 2014, the Executive Team worked together to define a Qualfon Mission Leader. This Mission Leader profile became the foundation for the creation of the development plan that every Mission Leader would follow.

A Qualfon Mission Leader is a results-oriented professional and a mission-driven mentor, manager, and messenger (M3).

Qualfon Mission Leaders accept responsibility for the mission that has been entrusted to them; therefore, they are good stewards. In turn, they entrust the same mission to others to support our clients’ needs in order to develop each person, family, and community to their full potential.

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As a MENTOR… At the center of the mentor is his or her INTEGRITY. Qualfon Mission Leaders develop the people around them in all dimensions. Qualfon Mission Leaders treat others as they want to be treated. They abide by the highest ethical and moral principles, and of course they observe the laws of each country, state, or region where Qualfon operates. They acknowledge their mistakes and recognize others’ successes.

Qualfon Mission Leaders live with DIGNITY. They work passionately to improve the talents of each team member to fully develop the individual’s vocation, as well as their own (Virtue = Prudence). Qualfon Mission Leaders are SERVICEoriented. Qualfon Mission Leaders understand that effective leadership begins with being a follower regardless of rank.

Obedient to their principles and vocation, they encourage others to lead through their personal example (Virtue = Humility).

Qualfon Mission Leaders establish relationships. They know and understand every team member and ensure that all members are supported to reach their full potential. They take this responsibility as an everyday moral obligation, regardless of the time and effort it may require.

As a MANAGER… At the center of the Manager is his or her eagerness to deliver RESULTS. Qualfon Mission Leaders manage their time, set goals, prioritize, and monitor compliance

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systematically to surpass the clients’ expectations. Qualfon Mission Leaders perform effectively as individuals and recognize the value of TEAMWORK. They are conscious of the talents and resources entrusted to them and thus become good stewards. They communicate with their team to emphasize the importance of reaching targets to ensure profitability (Virtue = Justice).

Qualfon Mission Leaders are SERVICE-oriented toward our clients and their own team members as well. They provide the resources needed to achieve results that clients expect.

They practice servant leadership by supporting their teams to achieve the Mission Index goals.

Qualfon Mission Leaders care for their teams and provide them with the time, tools, systems, methods, and processes to meet their obligations and exceed their KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). They are aware of the need for the team’s accuracy and continuous improvement. They are willing and able to empower the team’s members to perform fully. They take action.

As a MESSENGER… At the center of each Messenger is constant ENCOURAGEMENT. Qualfon Mission Leaders enthusiastically communicate the mission. Qualfon Mission Leaders face challenges and difficulties with a positive attitude. They communicate ideas with coherence, clarity, and sincerity. They listen attentively to exercise empathy (Virtue = Hope). Qualfon Mission Leaders value each person’s

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DIGNITY. They appreciate the richness offered by diverse talents, cultures, and perspectives. They never think of themselves as superior or inferior to anyone, an attitude that is expressed through respect and consideration to all (Virtue = Charity).

Qualfon Mission Leaders believe in TEAMWORK. Thus they create trust in their team members and collaborators from other areas so that communication flows openly. They proudly express their values wherever they are, encouraging their team members to do the same. Qualfon Mission Leaders are leaders who inspire and encourage our shared values and mission, energizing the Qualfon culture. They recognize and celebrate others’ wins. They do not limit themselves to indicating “what” to do but complement the message with “why” we do it. They are brand ambassadors who champion their teams to meet the highest standards.

Who is a Mission Leader?

Qualfon believes that no matter what job title a person has, he or she offers something unique to the Qualfon family. That’s why Qualfon encourages employees to go beyond their basic job descriptions and use their personal talents to make a difference.

A Mission Leader is, just as the name suggests, someone who accepts the responsibility of taking Qualfon’s mission to heart, living it, sharing it, and watching it spread. While Mission Leaders might perform the roles of a manager, team leader, or supervisor, their responsibility extends far beyond the basic requirements of these titles.

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Qualfon entrusts Mission Leaders with the goal of being the best BPO and the desire to make people’s lives better. As a result, Mission Leaders have the added responsibility to be good stewards of that mission. They are called to entrust that mission to their team members to support client needs and to enrich the lives of all people, their families, and their communities.

To become a Mission Leader, one needs to work and live under the inspiration of the virtues of integrity, dignity, service, results, teamwork, and encouragement. These virtues provide a foundation for the Mission Leader to do the work entrusted to them. As a Mission Leader, the individual takes on the role of mentor, manager, and messenger in the workplace, with the foundation of virtues important in each of these roles.

Qualfon Mission Leaders forge relationships with every member of their team, no matter how much time and effort it requires. Qualfon Mission Leaders care for team members and make an effort to provide them with the time, tools, systems, methods, and processes they need to meet and exceed goals.

Qualfon Mission Leaders inspire and encourage others, spreading enthusiasm for Qualfon’s shared mission and values.

Thinking in 3D Qualfon encourages “3D thinking.” That means going beyond the ordinary or “the way it’s always been done” to solve problems in new ways. Not only does 3D thinking mean Qualfon is less likely to see the same problems emerging over and over again, but that more voices are heard when solutions to problems are discussed.

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“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”

Edward de Bono

Edward de Bono’s Theory of the Six Hats Edward de Bono’s theory of the six hats in the workplace is one that gained popularity in 1985 and continues to inspire corporate culture today. In de Bono’s theory, each of the six hats represents a way of thinking. While some people may feel more comfortable with some hats than others, he encourages everyone to try on all of the hats when trying to solve a problem.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

A. Hicks Blue Hat

Responds to a problem or issue with a cool head and refers to past experience to find possible solutions.

Red Hat

Responds to the issue/obstacles with intuition and emotion with phrases like “I feel…”

White Hat Responds to the issue/obstacles with objective facts and figures.

Yellow Hat Focuses on positive outcomes and encourages ideas.

Green Hat Thinks creatively and generates or builds onto possible solutions.

Black Hat Thinks cautiously and evaluates ideas for feasibility.

To solve problems successfully, de Bono theorizes, each of the six hats needs to be used before arriving at a solution. If the six hats are used consistently, de Bono found it could free up around 30% of a manager’s time to focus on other things.

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Qualfon believes 3D thinking leads to innovative, long-term solutions that get results, so Qualfon has adopted this approach into its M3 program. Mission Leaders at Qualfon must be mentors, managers, and messengers to serve successfully. While each role will be discussed in more detail, the following briefly summarizes what each role in the M3 program requires.

The Mentor: Pushes employees to fulfill their potential, sees the big-picture vision, and makes decisions that move Qualfon closer to this vision.

The Manager: Knows the client’s needs and the resources available to meet those needs. The manager determines the feasibility of potential solutions and provides alternatives where necessary.

The Messenger: Shares news clearly and at the appropriate time. While not all news is good, the messenger takes a positive position and supports creative solutions to solve problems quickly and effectively.

A Mission Leader who strives to be successful in each of these roles is able to share that success with members of his or her team while cultivating a dedicated and innovative workspace. “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.�

Edward de Bono

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A supervisor at Company X kept receiving transfer requests from employees who worked under Manager A. The employees didn’t want to work on a new project or change departments.

They just wanted to work on another team, under a different manager.

The supervisor wanted to see what was going on, so he observed how Manager A and his team worked together for a week. Here’s what the supervisor found: Manager A rarely came out of his office to talk to team members unless there was a crisis.

When Manager A spoke to his team he was always yelling or being condescending.

Manager A’s office door was always closed. If team members came to him with a concern or an idea his response was always “I’m too busy.”

Most team members did only the bare minimum of work to keep from getting fired.

Team members who did exceed expectations were never recognized. In fact, when Manager A saw someone using a new, innovative strategy he’d often yell that that “wasn’t the way things were done.”

“When I talk to managers I get the feeling they are important. When I talk to leaders I get the feeling that I am important.”

Anonymous

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MOTIVATING MISSION LEADERS AT QUALFON As a company consecrated “to love God and neighbor, committed to providing clients with excellent results while caring for our people without forgetting our goals,” it’s important that Qualfon takes steps to ensure that its Mission Leaders are achieving results. One way Qualfon does this is through the Mission Index, put together and analyzed by the Mission Office.

The purpose of the Mission Index is to see that Qualfon’s Mission Leaders are fulfilling their purpose to help as many people as possible pursue their total vocation as individuals and as members of society. In short, the Mission Index helps everyone from team members to Mission Leaders to executives work toward becoming the best BPO and make the lives of people they come into contact with better. To measure this, the Mission Index has put in place four KPIs that measure: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Qualfon’s ability to create jobs.

Qualfon’s ability to retain employees.

Employees’ engagement in giving back to the community.

Employee satisfaction.

By focusing on these four key areas, Qualfon is able to create programs and services around issues that matter to people. These programs and opportunities lead to a highly tenured and engaged work force, which results in better care for clients and customers.

An employee’s attitude is contagious, and Qualfon is dedicated to making sure employees are as happy as they can be at work.

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Measuring Impact The Mission Index is designed to hold Qualfon’s management and executives responsible for their mission to enrich the lives of employees, their families, and communities. And just like with business goals, these Mission Leaders are results-driven. Qualfon measures success in these four elements each month and shares progress in the global STRIDES newsletter to which all employees at all Qualfon locations have access.

“Good leadership isn’t about advancing yourself. It’s about advancing your team.”

–John C. Maxwell

Creating New Jobs.

Generating jobs means generating opportunities, which helps reduce poverty in the world and unemployment in the communities where Qualfon currently does business.

Employment—a Qualfon job in particular—brings economic, social, and spiritual growth to employees. In turn, employees are able to share the benefit of this growth with clients and their communities.

Keeping Employees at Qualfon.

Qualfon strives to provide meaningful opportunities to employees and to create a culture that gets people excited about coming to work and being part of the Qualfon community. We hope that, when employee needs are being met and opportunities for growth are present, employees are less likely to look elsewhere for employment.

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The numeric value of this goal is calculated based on voluntary attrition, or resignation. The number of voluntary attrition instances in a given month divided by the total number of Qualfon employees at the beginning of the month provides the metric for this monthly goal.

Opportunities for Engagement.

Qualfon constantly aims to create more opportunities for employees to engage outside of work. When employees feel valued, enjoy their work, and have plenty of chances to keep learning, they’re more likely to stay with the company since they see their position as more than a job.

Qualfon has developed five core areas that focus on enriching employees’ work lives: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Communication@Work Care@Work Learn@Work Give@Work Fun@Work

Each of these areas gives employees opportunities to engage in meaningful activities. Communication@Work is designed to keep employees in the loop through monthly newsletters that share the Mission Index information and other important updates, schedules of meetings, clubs, and other special events.

Communication also extends to town hall-style meetings where employees are able to ask questions and get feedback on upcoming projects or events. The new Qualfon Plaza App gives employees access to up-to-date information about what’s going on

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at their site and all the Qualfon sites. The app also offers access to continuing-education videos and allows employees to participate in the biweekly “You Matter with Mike” survey.

The “You Matter with Mike” surveys are ways for Qualfon to collect employee feedback on issues that may not come up every day but that are still important. The anonymity of the surveys gives employees a freer voice in expressing themselves. In addition to a survey question, employees are also given a chance to write comments. The survey data is then given to management, which has the opportunity to discuss the comments and, when needed, develop any needed solutions.

Care@Work is designed to help employees make people’s lives better. The Caring Cases program gives employees an opportunity to give feedback and offer solutions. Qualfon-sponsored service projects enable employees to work together while serving their larger community. Worksite chaplains are available to show caring toward employees when guidance of a personal or spiritual matter is wanted.

There are myriad ways for employees to Learn@Work.

Qualfon focuses on student retention by giving employees the tools they need to finish school, earn a specialization, or explore a new skill they may move on to study in a bigger way either at Qualfon or at a university. Qualfon also offers Qualfon University programs for employees to learn new skills or prepare for a new role in leadership in the company. Mission Leader sessions help leaders continue to grow in their role by allowing leaders to focus on their own strengths and weaknesses. The Six-Sigma certification program demonstrates ways leaders can continuously improve processes by: identifying a problem, finding its root

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cause, discovering solutions, evaluating those solutions, and then putting those solutions into practice where they will, hopefully, stabilize for future use.

Give@Work is designed to help employees make people’s lives better in a very real way. Qualfon sponsors various volunteer and community-service opportunities for employees to participate in as often as they choose. These opportunities provide needed services to the community and allow employees to bond outside of work and get to know each other on a personal level. Recently Qualfon also started providing access to virtual community projects, where employees who may not be able to participate in a scheduled event are able to lend a hand at a time that fits their schedule.

Having Fun@Work is another way for employees to get to know their coworkers on a personal basis. Qualfon offers lots of ways to have fun at work, whether it’s celebrating a coworker’s anniversary, a club meeting of a shared interest or hobby, a department-wide potluck, or fun and games to get people moving around.

With all these chances for employees to grow as workers and as individuals, it can be hard to keep track! To measure this goal, the Mission Index takes the number of hours each employee dedicates to volunteer work, educational programs, training programs, and fun Qualfon-sponsored activities to come up with a metric.

Employee Satisfaction.

While each of the previous goals can also be used to calculate employee satisfaction, this metric comes from Qualfon surveys, where employees are able to share their thoughts and feelings

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anonymously. Qualfon’s goal is to have 100 percent employee participation in order to get the most accurate employee satisfaction number it can. The results of these surveys are broken out by location, and based on results every site adjusts or creates an action plan to improve.

“People don’t buy what you do… they buy why you do it.”

Simon Sinek

THE COMPASS FOR THE QUALFON MISSION LEADER: STRIDES STRIDES Leads the Way One way Qualfon supports its Mission Leaders is through the STRIDES values program. It works as the compass that keeps Qualfon and its Mission Leaders heading in the same direction.

STRIDES works to cultivate citizen-employees: men and women dedicated to their work as well as their community, making people’s lives better at work and at home.

SERVICE The first step in STRIDES is service. Service is the basis of how Qualfon employees do what they do. As agents, Qualfon employees work to provide the best customer service experience they can. By enhancing the client’s experience, they’re working to make people’s lives better. In addition, by thinking of their work as service, agents cultivate promptness and courtesy that strengthens their work with clients and their team members.

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As Qualfon Mission Leaders, employees work to serve both the customer and members of their team. As mentors, Mission Leaders serve by listening to team members, helping them succeed where they are, and setting them on the path toward fulfilling their vocation. As messengers, Mission Leaders communicate client needs and obstacles faced by team members clearly and with an emphasis on finding solutions. As managers, Mission Leaders serve through action by using their position of authority to put solutions into practice and celebrate successes.

TEAMWORK Even with the best of intentions, progress can’t happen without everyone working together. Qualfon believes it is one team with thousands of members working together toward the same goal. When everyone is all in, it creates a unified spirit that allows the team to accomplish great things.

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As managers, Mission Leaders help others work as a team by ensuring that standard processes and policies are met. When they’re not, a manager tackles the issue in positive ways, following up on improvement plans, and celebrating wins as a team. As mentors, Mission Leaders set a good example and embrace diversity by welcoming new and creative ideas that make use of team members’ strengths. As messengers, Mission Leaders work to spread a positive message and celebrate wins.

RESULTS “Winning can become a habit and when you have it you become disciplined enough to commit all your talents to the cause of winning.”

Jose Lenero, author of The Winning Team

A job well done brings life to a company, and Qualfon has a clear sixstep team improvement plan for overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of results.

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6-Step TIP • State goals and expectations clearly.

• Ensure adequate talent and attitude is in place.

• Cultivate the necessary infrastructure.

• Provide sufficient training.

• Follow-up with a timeline.

• Recognize and celebrate results.

INTEGRITY While important for all team members, integrity is vital for Mission Leaders.

Mission Leaders must act with honesty, decency, and trustworthiness. By following through on commitments, promoting respectful relationships, and taking responsibility for actions, a Mission Leader shows how daily behaviors are anchored to core values.

When a Mission Leader acts with integrity, he or she is leading the rest of their team by example.

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DIGNITY As a consecrated company, Qualfon is committed to advancing only in ways that uphold the dignity of all team members and the community they are a part of. Qualfon promotes dignity at the personal level, believing that dignity starts with an individual believing he is worthy of it.

When an individual believes in his or her own dignity, that belief influences his or her actions. People will show respect for themselves and others, act with fairness and justice, listen with an open mind, and treat others the way they would want to be treated. “The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers.�

Richard Branson

ENCOURAGEMENT As mentors, managers, and messengers, Mission Leaders need to remember that encouragement is just as important as getting results. Mission Leaders should always remember that their words

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have the power to motivate or demotivate team members.

By speaking with kindness, taking the time to say thank you, or offering to walk with a struggling team member, a Mission Leader can give team members the hand-up or recognition they need to start achieving their fullest potential.

ENCOURAGE YOUR TEAM MEMBERS: • Invite successful team members to speak at a Lunch-and-Learn.

• Buy them a cup of coffee and talk.

• Introduce them to a client as a “top performer.”

• Write a thank-you note.

• Offer a Lunch-and-Learn.

• Give a pat on the back as acknowledgment of a job well done.

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SPIRITUALITY I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes.”

Bob Goff

At Qualfon, it’s important to think big, but the small things are just as important.

Mission Leaders must remember that the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — is the ultimate bottom line. When the person is put first, it’s a reminder to love our neighbor as ourselves and that we are all part of something bigger.

For those who believe in a higher power, loving our neighbor is a way we honor God. For others, loving our neighbor is a way we show solidarity with humanity. Service to others is a way we grow. Embracing our beliefs with respect for the beliefs of our peers is a way we show we’re all in this together. And when we feel like we’re all in this together, we really can make people’s lives better.

“Let all that you do be done in love.”

1 Corinthians 16:14

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2 Mentors at Qualfon

O

ngoing growth has been a part of Qualfon’s mission from the very start. Qualfon began in 1995 in Mexico City, and after partnering with one of the largest international companies in the world, it was poised for growth. By the end of 1999, the small company had enough business to employ more than 350 people.

In 2002, Qualfon expanded further, opening a second center in Monterrey.

By 2003, Qualfon was starting to globalize, opening a new center in Costa Rica. The growth continued from there, and Qualfon moved from Central and South America into the Philippines in 2006 and the United States in 2013. Qualfon’s growth at home and internationally continues.

But Qualfon doesn’t just care about profit. Qualfon’s Founder, Alfonso Gonzalez, believed that it was his responsibility to build a company that felt responsible for the people and communities it served. This is why he made Qualfon a consecrated company that spends as much time looking outward to the world as it does looking inward to processes and bottom lines. As Alfonso wrote in Answering the Call, “It is not guaranteed that a consecrated business will be a commercial success...What is certain is that

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when we work as a consecrated business we will be better human beings and we will enjoy internal peace and a profound feeling of fulfillment.”

By putting his faith first and ensuring Qualfon remained a company consecrated to God, Alfonso was able to grow Qualfon into a successful company that always puts people first, whether those people are customers, employees, or members of the community. Making people’s lives better has been a mission at Qualfon’s heart from the very beginning, and as Qualfon continues to expand, people continue to be at the heart of the company.

Portrait of the Mentor Mentors don’t do the work for you.

They challenge you to think about things differently and utilize your strengths.

Alfonso Barrenechea, Qualfon University

Being a mentor at Qualfon is a unique position that allows for mutual growth of the mentor and mentee. It’s a relationship that’s all about continuous learning, bringing your best every day, and discovering how to use your strengths. But a Qualfon mentorship isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires commitment on all sides to be productive.

True mentorship means leading mentees, empowering them to make their own decisions, and then teaching them to take responsibility for those decisions. Mentees have to bring it, they

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have to be present. If mentees aren’t committed, you have to pause the program.

The success of the mentorship program requires that mentees be willing to put the time in. But mentors can make a difference in mentee motivation. It’s important that mentors think longterm and encourage mentees to do the same. By focusing on mentees’ strengths and empowering them to make their own decisions, mentors show mentees what it means to bring their best self and their best work into the workplace. This is why mentors aren’t always evaluated by their personal success. Their success is measured by how they influence, inspire, and promote.

Getting the right guidance at the right stage pushes you to be better.

John Choi, Qualfon University

An early mentorship can be a key to success in any job. Many Qualfon employees join the team as sales representatives out of high school and work their way through the ranks using the tools and opportunities Qualfon provides. For employees who show strong dedication and potential in their work, an informal mentorship can be the opportunity they need to move toward continued success.

Having a mentor who believes in their work can motivate employees to work even harder and inspire them to rise through the ranks and become managers or supervisors themselves.

Knowing what mentorship meant to them, these Mission Leaders will continuously look for opportunities to develop and mentor others.

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My mentor relationship set up the foundation for what I was able to become.

Alfie Torres, Qualfon Philippines

Alfie Torres of Qualfon Philippines credits mentorship at Qualfon for his success as both a novice agent and now, as a veteran director of operations. As an active mentor himself, Alfie emphasizes the importance of accepting that you can’t help every agent all the time. Mentorship is about more than just monitoring someone. Successful mentoring requires getting to know your mentee as an individual. To help mentees fulfill their potential, mentors need to know the backgrounds and goals of their mentees.

One way to do this is to ask upfront, honest questions about what the mentee wants. Not only does this give the mentor direction, but it helps the mentee take ownership of his or her progress. Once this is done, the mentor can address what needs to be addressed, turn that into a timeline, make an action plan, and then follow up to ensure the mentee is on task.

Mentors, by being aware of what’s going on with their team and by identifying his agents, can establish credibility with their team. That’s one of the most important things mentors need before starting to mentor.

The Mentorship Roadmap 1. Know Yourself Before Qualfon mentors can start training mentees, they have to get to know themselves. By knowing their own strengths and

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weaknesses, mentors are better equipped to help their mentees work to their strengths and overcome obstacles.

A Qualfon mentor should routinely ask themselves the following questions: • What does it mean to be a mentor?

• How much time and effort do I put into understanding and helping my team with personal and professional goals?

• Do I understand I have a moral obligation to help my team members succeed?

• How much time and effort do I put into learning how to be better?

• How do I inspire those I mentor?

The first time mentors ask themselves these questions is a good time to take the 16-Personalities test. The test will show how they approach interactions with others and tasks in the workplace.

This test can be found at www.16personalities.com

2. Know Your Team The 16-Personalities test can help mentees. Mentors should encourage mentees to take the test early in the mentorship process, and mentors should take the time to explore the results with mentees. As David Cooperrides says in his book Appreciative Inquiry, “Discover the dream and help design the path to achieve it.”

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It’s important that mentors emphasize positive change while focusing on each mentee’s capacities, achievements, assets, or end goal set at the beginning of the process.

This doesn’t mean mentors need to be positive at the exclusion of the truth. Not all news is good, and some mentees may need to hear a hard truth before they can make a change. A good mentor doesn’t hold back but finds a way to position negatives as opportunities for positive change.

“Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”

Khaled Hosseini, MD

3. Begin Mentoring Once the mentor and mentee have established a foundation of trust and understanding as well as a goal they hope to accomplish, the act of mentoring can begin. It’s important that the mentor provide personal support tailored to the needs of the mentee.

This might mean a brief check-in over coffee or more formally scheduled follow-up meetings to assess progress.

“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”

Steven Spielberg

Mentors should also provide academic support where available. In some cases this means opportunities for additional training or skill development in an area a mentee has shown an

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interest in and aptitude for. More advanced mentees may benefit from a micro degree program, especially if a micro degree would help them excel in the journey toward their goal. Finally, for qualifying mentees, Qualfon offers the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in business administration (MBA).

8 ELEMENTS OF A MENTOR While working through the mentorship road map, it might be beneficial to reflect on the 8Ms, or 8 Elements of a Mentor that former football coach Tony Dungy sets out in his book Mentor Leader.

1. MANDATE. Focus on the significant.

You’re influencing someone for the long-term.

2. MIND-SET. Focus outward and prepare for success but not credit.

3. MATURITY. Commit to personal growth.

4. MARKS. Don’t focus on “can’t.”

Assign tasks according to strengths.

5. MOMENTS. Look for opportunities to make people’s lives better.

6. MEANS. Maximize team performance by celebrating together.

7. METHODS. Remember the 7Es: engage, educate, equip, encourage, empower, energize, elevate..

8. MEASURE. Be an example. Inspire others to go out and make people’s lives better.

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Growing a Mentorship Culture While mentorship usually happens one-on-one, the impact of mentorship done well can have a lasting impression on any company. As Qualfon has grown its mentorship program, it has found added benefits for improving the company as a whole.

As both the mentor program and STRIDES values suggest, winning and discipline go hand in hand. The more team members get used to working together, winning together, and celebrating together, the more likely they’ll be to work together toward continued success. As mentors grow a mindset of accountability and teamwork with individual mentees, teams begin to reap the benefits. With each team member in a position that allows them to work with their strengths, attitudes become more positive and results grow.

CASE STUDY A supervisor is having trouble connecting with his team. He’s become distant and has trouble communicating with members of his team who need help as well as those doing well who have ideas for improvement. This problem has led to the team becoming dysfunctional. Only minimal work is getting done, and high-achieving employees are getting pressured to work less.

After observing the situation, the supervisor is encouraged to take the 16-Personalities test, where he learns he is strong in working with numbers and hard data but weak in communicating with team members. Armed with this information, the supervisor pushes himself to talk with

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each team member and offers each the chance to take the 16-Personalities test so he can better understand how to work with them.

The supervisor uses this new information and data he’s collected on the teams’ sales-per-hour rates to create a team improvement plan and timeline for results.

With new attitudes and clear goals in place, the team steadily improves.

Getting Results If you want to lose weight, you don’t do what you’ve always done and expect the pounds to fall off. If you want to save money, you don’t stare at your account balance and wonder why the number doesn’t change. You work for the change you want—even if it means you have to sacrifice, sweat, or move outside your comfort zone.

Getting results at work is the same. If you aren’t willing to work for change, you’re not going to get it. For a mentor, this means following-up with each mentee to offer encouragement and make sure changes are sticking. Follow-up also lets the mentor lead by example. When a mentee sees assignments are valuable enough their mentor is taking the time to see them through, he’ll be more likely to finish the task at hand on time and to the best of his ability.

Sometimes, though, results still aren’t coming. That’s when mentors might consider working on an PIP (Performance Improvement Plan), the same as the Team Improvement Plan, with their mentees.

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In summary, mentors must: • Know themselves.

• Know the needs of their team.

• Offer appropriate supports and opportunities.

• Build a culture of trust.

• Focus on positive solutions.

• Follow-up.

• Intervene with an PIP when necessary.

• Recognize and celebrate success.

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3 Managers at Qualfon TYPES OF MANAGERS If you search online for “types of managers” you’ll find endless lists of management styles—some serious, some humorous. To an extent, there are as many types of managers as there are people who manage. Every manager will be different based on his or her own strengths, weaknesses, and personality. But there are three types, or styles, of managers that appear most frequently.

1. The Authoritarian Manager. This type is like Manager A in the opening story. They have little time for employees unless something’s gone wrong. They’re poor communicators and don’t like seeing things done in ways that aren’t theirs. They might get things done, but their employees aren’t loyal and tend to leave when they have a chance.

2. The Couldn’t-Care-Less Manager. Such managers don’t care about anything: the company, the client, or the employees. They might not yell like the authoritarian, but they won’t try to improve anything, either. These managers think the status quo is fine.

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3. The Leader-Manager. These managers don’t just get stuff done, they lead their team while they’re doing it. LeaderManagers want: to see employees fulfill their potential, processes that work, and pleased clients.

“Leadership is no longer about your position. It’s now about your passion for excellence and making a difference. You can lead without a title.”

Robin Sharma

THE MISSION LEADER AS MANAGER The same supervisor then wanted to see what was happening on Manager B’s team—the team everyone wanted to transfer to.

The difference was amazing. Even though both teams had the same tools, the same workload, and the same hours, everything about team B was different.

• Manager B’s door was almost always open, and employees frequently came to him with ideas and questions.

• Manager B worked with his team members before problems happened by offering training to struggling employees and inviting top performers to share their strategies.

• Employees were encouraged to be creative when solving problems and thinking of new ways to work.

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• The team celebrated together. One person’s success was the team’s success. Everyone was encouraged to work together and win together.

Managers at Qualfon should be more like Manager B than Manager A. That’s why Qualfon stresses the importance of not just being a manager, but a mentor and a messenger as well. Part of being a Mission Leader is learning how to manage a team so that every team member is working using their strengths and to their fullest potential. This is the ideal Qualfon is continuously striving for.

MANAGERS AT QUALFON SEEK TO...

• Adhere to the 4 agreements (keep commitments, add value, move fast, spend wisely) • Show integrity • Treat others with dignity • Practice servant leadership • Communicate effectively • Provide adequate training and resources • Achieve results • Celebrate success as a team

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While many other companies have mission statements, living that mission day to day isn’t always as important as profits and bottom lines. This is what sets Qualfon apart. As a consecrated company, the mission isn’t just a statement. The well-being of each individual employee matters to Qualfon just as much as numbers.

That’s why Qualfon trains Mission Leaders, not just bosses.

“The first job of leadership is to love people.

Leadership without love is manipulation.”

Rick Warren

MEASURING SUCCESS A manager at Qualfon drives results, but at Qualfon results are about more than just meeting a target number. So Qualfon takes particular interest in making sure not only numeric expectations, but mission expectations are being met.

On a team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together.”

Coach Bill Belichick

Qualfon managers achieve success (and results!) when they: • Know their team. It’s the manager’s job to make sure the right people are in the right positions.

This requires not only manager-thinking, but mentor-thinking. A mentor knows each team member’s potential. A manager takes that potential and puts it to work.

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• Know their tools and resources. A manager needs to know the systems, processes, equipment, and training his or her employees are working with. When equipment goes down or processes no longer work, the manager must take initiative and see that what’s broken gets fixed. This also means knowing when new education or training opportunities are available for team members.

• Communicate clearly. Here, the manager must also take on the role of messenger. It’s vitally important that team members know the expectations of the client, inside and outside the company. When managers can’t communicate client needs effectively, employees can’t serve the client effectively.

• Serve their team. Managers can’t solve every problem or do employees’ work for them.

However, managers can ensure that their team has everything it needs to be successful.

• Listen to their team. Before managers can serve, communicate, or know the team, they have to listen to them. Managers may do all of the previous actions, but if they dont listen to the team, they still won’t get results.

If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.

Zig Ziglar

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Sometimes communication and the right tools can lead to immediate results, as Cromwell Rabaya, Qualfon Operations Supervisor, shared:

The PIP Tracking System that Reduces Attrition The Performance Improvement Program (PIP) was a client initiative intended to raise the bar for those outsourcing agents representing them in the highly competitive BPO industry. The purpose of the PIP was to ensure that the client was getting the best service for its customers and that all employees were striving for their best performance.

In theory, this program would help both the client and Qualfon, but in practice there were multiple complications that needed to be addressed: • Guidelines were simple but not flexible. This meant agents had little room to improve after receiving negative feedback.

• There was a shift on the floor from proactive to reactive responses, meaning little intervention was happening to fix concerns before they became problems.

• The client’s long-term directive was realized but not until the last minute. This resulted in the loss of some employees.

• Because no historical data was retained, employees tended to jeopardize their performance on recurrence.

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• The data Qualfon needed to address these concerns was being collected, but it was underused.

As a manager, Rabaya saw the effect these issues were having on agents and knew that to save talent and provide results for the client, more information was necessary.

Rabaya explained that the biggest issue was that all the data they were receiving came in black and white: you do this = you get this…or else this. The data didn’t account for ways people could improve and didn’t provide specific metrics on what areas the agent fell short. People got reactive. Decisions started to be made with no clear evidence about how performance was affected, and talent was lost.

By not making evidence-driven decisions, agents were jeopardized. And what made it worse was that leaders actually had the evidence they needed—it just couldn’t be compiled in time.

Because Rabaya was thinking like a manager, he knew he had to find a way to communicate with agents more clearly and sooner in the process. He also knew he needed a tool that would enable him to take raw data and use it to analyze metrics and provide the evidence the current system lacked.

By supplementing the clients’ data with reports from the operations work force and the rest of the company, Rabaya was able to break down the metrics and get to what was necessary and relevant. This information was also able to log historical data, enabling all decisions to be based solely on numbers and history.

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Now managers could make relevant decisions based on facts.

This new information also allowed managers to become more effective mentors. It meant that instead of reacting to a result, managers could help agents make necessary improvement changes and intervene in the middle of an agent slump or when they first noticed someone trending downward. This new ability was necessary to save and preserve talent.

But having the information wasn’t enough. Managers needed to be sure their agents could understand it. The easiest way to do that was to break the information down and show how each metric affected agent performance. Once agents knew what to address, they could strive for their best performance in that area.

This new system was a success. With proper performance coaching enrollment in the PIP was completely eliminated.

Additionally, the system made it possible to predict future scenarios, which meant more planning ahead and more opportunities for agents to be given the help they needed to succeed.

The measurable results: • Pseudo-real time agent tracking meant more frequent coaching and less PIP paperwork and attrition. • Great ROI with no major cost investments.

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Process Analysis and Improvement Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

Tom Peters

The world today can be defined by one word: change. Just as in the Olympics, records are constantly broken. Only by building a continuous-improvement culture can Qualfon expect to become the best BPO. Process Analysis and Improvement is at the center of our strategy to fully accomplish the Mission.

This section will briefly describe the steps necessary to document, analyze, and improve any process. The process flow required to create a process has been referred to, by Qualfon University, as the “meta process” and it is shown on the next page.

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Company Goals, Mission, Vision, Policies

Prioritize Causes & Projects 6.0

goals, mission, vision, policies

causes for not using Ideal process

Define Desired Outcome 1.0 Document Current Process 2.0

Selected caus to attack Do Cause Analysis 5.0

desired outcome

Ideal process Ideal steps current process results

Create Current Control Chart 3.0

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Create the “Ideal” Process 4.0

undesired results

best practices

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Determine Improved Process 8.0

changes impacting policies & procedures

steps to achieve desired outcomes

se(s) k Create Project (action plan) 7.0

Create Control Chart 11.0

new policies & procedures

Modify Policies & Procedures 9.0

Document Improved Process 10.0

new process results

Meta-process: Process Documentation & Improvement Process.

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Here are descriptions of the steps in the “meta-process.”

STEP 1: Define the Desired Outcome(s) – What do you want to achieve? Defining the desired outcome will set the pace for the whole project. Because of this, we recommend keeping the SMART goal setting structure in mind.

SMART goal setting brings structure and traceability into your goals and objectives. Instead of vague resolutions, SMART goal setting creates verifiable trajectories toward a certain objective, with clear milestones and an estimation of the goal’s attainability. Every goal or objective, from intermediary step to overarching objective, can be made SMART and as such, brought closer to reality.

SMART is an acronym for a series of characteristics a goal should have:

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Specific Who, What, and Where? A specific outcome is one that declares it in terms that define it, leaving no doubt to its meaning.

Measurable The desired outcome needs to be measurable. Metrics such as a sales volume, profit percentage, cost, or Performance Metric measurements (EPMO, PPM, DPO, etc.), to name a few.

Attainable Is it possible given the available resources? When goals are not attainable they tend to be enablers of mediocrity, as there is always the excuse of nonattainability.

Relevant Will it create a positive impact? A goal that is not relevant to the business is a goal set for nonconformance because it is not important.

Time Bound When will this happen? When will your goals be attained? It’s important that the desired outcome is set to be reached within a time frame that is valuable to the company.

STEP 2: Document the Current Process How does your process look right now? Walk the process and create a “Pseudo Diagram” by listing all the steps in your process.

Draw a Cross-Functional Flow Chart indicating who—which department or business area—oversees each step of the process.

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An example is provided below.

Finance

Client Relations

Client

Start

Computes hours to invoice for the month

Invoice Hours Report

Produces Monthly Invoice

Monthly Invoice

Monthly Invoice Adjustment

Monthly Invoice Adjustment

Y

Approves

N

Approves

Monthy Invoice Support Info

N Submits Support Information

Produces Invoice Adjustment Note

Invoice Adjustment Note

End

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STEP 3: Create Current Control Chart How is your process performing? What are your current measurable outputs, or KPIs? Use a control graph to understand how your results look against the goal. You can create a bellshaped curve to understand the variation of your process and where you stand against any client specifications or requirements.

The tools you learned in your Six Sigma course will come in handy during this step.

STEP 4: Create the Ideal process How would your process look in a perfect world? List all the steps that are necessary (what the process needs, not what the owner of the process wants) to achieve the SMART goal. Create a multifunctional process map based on the best version of your process.

STEP 5: Cause Analysis What is stopping your current process from performing as the ideal process?

Identify any root-cause or problem. You can use one of the tools below: • Cause and Effect Diagram • Five Whys Analysis An example of the Cause and Effect Diagram is shown in the following page.

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People Factors

Process Factors

Cost of Operators

Type of Triage Rule EfďŹ ciency of Automated Call Filtering by Problem Type System

Numbers of Operators Time to Service Each Call Experience and Skill of Operators

Availability of Self Help Resources Ability of Customer to Self Help Customer Factors

Cost of Connection

Ability to Handle Calls

Number of Lines Machine Factors

STEP 6: Prioritize Causes and Projects What needs to be solved first? And how? Select the causes that are most-impacting your process or KPIs. You may use a Pareto Chart to stratify the problem, or break a whole into its parts.

Prioritize the solution of causes by using the Difficulty vs.

Impact matrix by selecting those projects that provide the most impact at the least difficulty, or select the project to work on by comparing all projects’ ROI (return on investment).

Do you have the money, time, and resources to conduct the project successfully? This question will help you evaluate the feasibility of the project.

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Pilot projects are often done to test out potential solutions in a controlled environment. Once the pilot becomes successful, a larger implementation can be envisioned.

STEP 7: Create a Project (Action Plan) Determine the steps that need to be completed to achieve the solution. Establish a deadline for each activity in the plan.

Use the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle to go about your improvement ideas. Set clear expectations, milestones, and time frames.

STEP 8: Determine the Improved Process Take the steps to improve by implementing your action plan.

Adjust as necessary.

STEP 9: Modify Policies and procedures Make it official! More often than not, new policies and procedures will have to be written or old ones adjusted to make the new process official. Change the current policies and procedures to reflect the improved process.

STEP 10: Document the Improved Process How does the process look now? Create a Cross-Functional Flow-Chart (process map) of the process after the improvement.

This new diagram will show the improvements made to the process, and it then becomes the new and official process.

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STEP 11: Create Control Chart and Plan How do your results look now? Create a control chart to track the results after improvement to look for any call-of-action behaviors, such as: • Trends • Dispersion • Deviation from the center Create a plan on how to make sure the process improvement is still in place by establishing: • Evaluations • Audits • Surveys Finally, a word on persistence. Often when embarking in process analysis and design type projects, one tends to treat it as a secondary goal. While such an activity is important but not necessarily urgent, one must stay persistent and committed to reaching the end. Do not attempt to “boil the ocean.” Pay attention to one process at a time and one activity at a time in your process improvement plan. Make sure there is a process owner with the resources that make him or her capable to conduct the project from start to finish.

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ELIMINATING WASTE There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker is right! Imagine what it’s like for a group of sales agents increasing their sales per hour only to know all these deals are being closed at the wrong price. In what’s called the Lean world, we would say the time invested in selling such deals was wasted. Part of our job is to identify causes of possible waste and redesign our processes to eliminate them.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that leverages its management philosophy and practices. This system is a major precursor of the more generic “Lean Manufacturing.” Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda, Japanese industrial engineers, developed the system between 1948 and 1975. Today the Lean philosophy is applied to all industries, such as construction, health, banking, and many more, including BPO. Its focus is the elimination of three different types of waste:

Muri — Overburden Mura — Unevenness/inconsistency Muda — No value-added activities

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It’s important to understand that taking out Muda isn’t enough.

Usually, Muda is there due to the other two M’s, Mura and Muri.

This means that the three M’s are interrelated, and we should strive to eliminate all of them. Here’s a look at each one.

1. MURA is the Waste of Unevenness.

Mura can result from uneven demand levels or the overdelegation of several tasks to a group while the rest have little to do.

When Mura is not reduced, one increases the possibility for Muri and Muda. Mura can be reduced by creating openness in the supply chain, change product design and create standard work for all operators.

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Some examples in a BPO are: • Two of the five supervisors in operations have 60 percent of the agents • Agents have a single skill (calls), so some have more work than others (low call volume for one skill) 2. MURI is the Waste of Overburden.

Muri results from asking too much or the impossible from people, processes, or equipment.

We can describe Muri as unreasonable and often unnecessary requests. In a BPO, Muri can be identified by absenteeism and eventually by low performance.

Some examples in a BPO are: • Supervisors with extremely big teams (over the ratio) • Excessive overtime hours • Only one recruiter for the entire site with three projects over 500 seats each • Agents working on processes they’re not trained for 3. MUDA is the Japanese word for Waste Anything that does not add value to the customer is muda, waste. Waste only adds to time and cost. Taiichi Ohno describes eight types (originally seven; skills was added later) of waste that can be applied not only to the manufacturing industry but also to

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the service industry. For a quicker way to remember them, think of the acronym TIMWOODS, built with the first letter of each from of waste.

Transportation Inventory Motion Waiting Over-production Over-processing Defects Skills

Transport

Movement

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Waiting

Over Processing

Inventory

Over Production

Movement

Waiting

Defects

Skills

Over Processing

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Let’s study them one at a time.

TRANSPORTATION This refers to the unnecessary movement of files, excess attachments, multiple hand-offs, etc. resulting in waste of energy, resources and adding cost.

Transport

Inventory

Examples: • An e-mail is sent to a massive distribution list requesting individual answers. Everyone in the distribution uses the option “Reply All.” • Sending reports to people that are not part of the process.

• Printing the entire PPT for a meeting and handing a copy to each participant when a short summary is adequate.

INVENTORY This refers to documents waiting to be processed, irrelevant data to be analyzed, more Transport personnel than required. This can take up valuable space, making it difficult to find things. We end up with obsolete information and losses due to damage.

Inventory

Movemen

Examples • HD keeps physical files of inactive employees in the file cabinet.

• The forecast says that we need to have 40 FTEs and we currently have 50.

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• We overprinted employee handbooks, and they’re being stored at someone’s office until they’re used.

MOTION Motion refers to the unnecessary movement of people. This can take time that could be used in production or invested in a different task.

Examples:

Transport

Inventory

Movement

Waiting

• An agent stands up to look for supervisor to ask a question while the customer on the phone is on hold.

• The supervisor is absent from the operations because he or she had to walk to the printer for a document.

• Agents are looking for information in several systems to answer a question.

WAITING This the time spent waiting until a specific step is accomplished to be able to proceed to Transport Movement Inventory the next step in the process.

It’s time that reduces production or prevents the fulfillment of a process on time.

Waiting

In a BPO we can find several Key Performance Indicators or metrics (KPIs) that measure this type of waste, such as Average Handle Time (AHT) and Service Level (“X” amount of calls answered in “X” amount of time).

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Examples: • In order to send the required report, I need to wait until the client sends the raw data to be analyzed and create the file.

• System downtimes.

OVERPRODUCTION Producing more than what is required at the moment. This can also include reports Over Movementwhen not Inventory Waiting sent automatically required, printing Processing documents before required or processing items before it is required by the next person in the process.

Over Production

Defects

Example: • Our goal is to produce all 1,000 tickets in two weeks, 500 per week. In the first week, we finished all of them. During the second week, production was extremely slow, so we started processing tickets from the next batch. The client complained because those tickets belonged to another site, so we’re not getting paid for them.

OVERPROCESSING This refers to having too much paperwork, too many approvals required, having the same data required in separate steps on the same Transport Movement Inventory Waiting process, many follow-ups on the same process.

Over Processing

Over Production

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Examples: • In order to purchase a new printer required for the new site, we need to have the purchase order approved by eight managers.

• In order for you to request vacations, you need to request it from your supervisor, who will pass the request to HR, then to the director.

DEFECTS These are all the mistakes that have to be reworked, therefore adding more time off production and cost to the operations. This Over Movement Waiting due Processing includes rejection toOver low quality, incorrect Production data entry, errors in any interaction with a customer.

Defects

Examples: • I sent the wrong information to my boss by mistake, and now I have to create and send the report again.

• The names we sent out were incorrect, so the badges for the building will take longer.

SKILLS Underusing employees’ potential is a waste.

Many times, we have employees with great skills but these skills are not put to use due to the Over employee’sOver current position or-pay rate.

Waiting Processing

Production

Defects

This can also happen when we: restrict employees’ authority and responsibility to make

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routine decisions; have highly paid staff do routine tasks that don’t require their unique expertise; fail to provide the tools needed to perform and continuously improve each employee’s work.

Example: • Six Sigma Green Belt certified supervisors not allowed to create CI projects.

4. How to Deal with Waste?

The best way to deal with waste is not to have it! There are three key elements that we Qualfon Mission Leaders need to keep in mind: • How to Identify Waste?

• How to Eliminate it?

• How to Prevent it?

Let’s look at them individually.

HOW TO IDENTIFY WASTE? Before we even make an attempt to eliminate any waste, we have to make sure we are eliminating what we don’t want. To accomplish this, a Mission Leader will: a. Walk her/his process b. Find the cause(s) of waste “Walking the process” simply means understanding how the process works, step by step. The term comes from Manufacturing, where the analyst would walk along the production line to see how the process develops and where he or she could find sources

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of waste. A Mission Leader does the same. Sometimes she or he may have to go to the floor and sit with the agent, or person(s) conducting the process to understand the step-by-step. Tools like single lane or multifunctional flowcharts are useful in this step.

At this point, although the goal is to understand the process and not to attempt to figure out a solution yet, there may be some opportunities to take action immediately because they fall in the “Easy to Resolve, High Impact” quadrant of the Pick Chart discussed earlier in this book. Thus, invoke the Move_Fast@ Qualfon agreement!

Finding the cause(s) of waste is the next step. Apply any of the cause-and-effect techniques learned through the Six Sigma Green Belt certification course, such as the Ishikawa (or also known as “fishbone”) Diagram, or the Why-why Analysis, to identify potential causes. If measurement of certain metrics needs to take place to understand the importance of the causes, use a time chart. Then produce a Pareto Chart to prioritize the causes.

Many times, the prioritization is evident to the experts. If that is the case, proceed then straight to the Pareto Chart. Remember Mission Leaders, Move_Fast@Qualfon!

HOW TO ELIMINATE WASTE? Mission Leaders at Qualfon avoid “Analysis Paralysis.” In some instances, “Just Do It” is the right approach. When we know the cause is a high priority and the resources are available…take the shot!

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When we are not sure what the consequences of an idea for improvement may be, a pilot study—or Beta version—becomes very appropriate. Implement your improvement in a controlled environment, such as a team of agents, and let it run until you know it reaches results consistently. If it does not reach its intended results, adjust the improvement and run it again. Once the idea is proven to reach the desired outcome, implement it widely to the rest of the organization, whether that is all the teams in an account, a site, a services department, or the whole company.

HOW TO PREVENT WASTE? We always approach continuous improvement starting with the identification of an undesired outcome. Mission Leaders are called to identify their mission-critical processes and proactively design and maintain them to be streamlined in such a way that they optimize the results from the get-go.

The way to prevent waste before it happens is clearly explained previously in this book. See Process Analysis and Improvement.

One word of advice. Waste elimination is not completed when an improved process has been designed, nor when the pilot has

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been proven right. To do a thorough implementation, training is key.

Queen Elizabeth II once said “It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you are properly trained.”

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Don’t let a proven process be underused simply because its executers don’t know how to run it. That is waste. Train your people and then train them again!

“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”

Unknown

MANAGERS CREATE MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT “A boss has the title. A leader has the people.”

Simon Sinek

While the results a manager gets in the workplace might be the only ones Qualfon can reliably track, the manager also hopes to see results in the individual lives of each of his or her team members.

Qualfon Chaplain Neilford Chase shares a story about one such changed life.

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CASE STUDY The Qualfon chaplaincy exists to offer caring support to every member of the Qualfon team. Chaplains are guided by the core values of confidentiality, compassion, acceptance, availability, respect, responsiveness, inclusivity, neutrality, and nurturing. By espousing these values, chaplains are able to engage people facing various challenges at life and work.

One such encounter was with a young man experiencing suicidal thoughts. Initially, the young man was unable to make eye contact - the result of feeling unworthy, unloved, and a burden to his family.

The chaplain listened to the situation and recognized these feelings were a result of several experiences that happened earlier in his life. First, the young man witnessed abuse in his home. The abuse resulted in the divorce of his parents, and the young man felt he was responsible for what took place.

The chaplain reassured this young man that what took place between his parents was not his fault.

This led to a life planning session which allowed the chaplain to talk with him about his course of studies and what he wanted to do with his life after he completed them.

They prayed and the young man was encouraged to start loving himself and recognize that to help those around him, he must first be happy with himself.

The benefit was that the young man is now better able to cope and appears more confident. He’s now engaging in conversations, has made friends, and completed his first course of study with plans to go on to a university.

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When a manager takes a proactive rather than a reactive stand on employee production and behavior, it can help not only improve results, but make people’s lives better.

A Well-Rounded Mission; Our Four Agreements In addition to the STRIDES values, Qualfon has four agreements all employees make a part of their daily work life.

Using the STRIDES values as a foundation, the four agreements provide the walls for a solid work ethic.

“To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”

Douglas Adams

The Four Agreements 1. Keep_Commitments@Qualfon 2. Move_Fast@Qualfon 3. Add_Value@Qualfon 4. Spend_Wisely@Qualfon

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Each of the four agreements are interrelated. By doing one, an employee generally touches the other three. However, it’s still important not to neglect or ignore any of the agreements. All four are necessary to provide the quality of service expected at and synonymous with Qualfon.

As noted in the previous chapter, 3D thinking provides the answer to the question, “What do we do?” The mentor, manager, and messenger of the Mission Leader answers the question, “Who does it?” These four agreements will answer the question, “How do we put it all together?” The four agreements give Qualfon employees a road map for how they will put the Qualfon values to work for the customer.

By keeping commitments, Qualfon employees show they are committed to following through on promises. This could be a promise to a client of reaching an agreed-upon target, or it could mean keeping a promise to a coworker to provide information on a project. By moving fast, Qualfon employees show they’re committed to action and accomplishing goals on or ahead of schedule. This might mean handling a crisis on-site, like broken equipment or a coworker out sick, with quick thinking or offering a client a positive opportunity solution that turns a negative experience around quickly.

By adding value, Qualfon employees show their commitment to finding better ways to serve clients and colleagues. This might mean finding a new way to do work that saves time that can then be used elsewhere, or by finding a way to help the client save money through a change in tools, process, or method. By spending wisely, a Qualfon employee can show he’s committed to helping both Qualfon and the client remain financially healthy

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for the sake of growing business and improving the lives of employees, their families, and the communities in which they work.

“People with good intentions make promises, but people with good character keep them.”

Unknown

Keep_Commmitments@Qualfon Qualfon is committed to following through on its promises.

Before discussing what it means to keep commitments, it’s important to know the source of commitments in the workplace.

There are foundational commitments, which are based on values, and include: • Behaving with integrity.

• Treating others with dignity.

• Delivering results to the client.

Long-term goals throughout the company work alongside the long-term goals of the company as a whole. These goals can vary in length. Some long-term goals may end at the end of the quarter, others may be updated yearly, and others may deal with strategies that take many years to come to complete or evolve.

Long-term goals include: • Sales level agreements.

• Company, department, and individual KPIs.

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Short-term goals are important tasks with quick deadlines, and these are usually the tasks that end up filling most of the workday. However, it’s important to sort out true short-term goals from distractions that pop up throughout the day. This is why it’s important to have a good strategy for sorting through tasks to optimize your workday. Short-term goals include: • Client or boss requests a special report or task to be completed ASAP. • Another department requests a meeting.

• Various requests that come in through e-mail, phone calls, and so on.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

Kenneth Blanchard

Once commitments are made, the next step is following through and getting results. How to make the most of your time will be discussed in a later section, but there are three simple steps that apply to all commitments. This is sometimes called the “black box of commitment delivery” process.

1. Acknowledge receipt, confirm requirements, and agree on what needs to get done.

2. Prioritize, schedule, and agree on a due date.

3. Do it! Deliver the results with professional communication.

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Read the following quotes about commitments in the workplace and jot your thoughts in the space provided below. If you’re reading in a group setting, pause here and take some time to discuss each of the quotes as a group.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Stephen R. Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Reflection “Urgency addiction is a self-destructive behavior that temporarily fills the void created by unmet needs.

And instead of meeting these needs, the tools and approaches of time management often feed the addiction. They keep us focused on daily prioritization of the urgent.”

Stephen R. Covey, First Things First

Reflection “The overload makes users less productive and more stressed; thus, there’s a need for some solution.

Passively ignoring the problem won’t work, since bits are still heavy, even if we pretend not to notice.”

Mark Hurst, Bit Literacy

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Reflection “It’s not enough to dream. It’s not enough to try.

It’s not enough to set goals and climb ladders. It’s not enough to value. The effort has to be based on practical realities that produce the result. Only then can we dream, set goals, and work to achieve them with confidence.”

Stephen R. Covey, First Things First

Making the Most of Your Time It’s 9 AM and you’re walking to your desk. You can already see the light flashing for new voice-mails. You’re sure as soon as you power up your computer there will be dozens of new e-mails. A coworker waves you down by the coffee area and asks to stop by later in the day to talk about a new project. And this is all on top of the work you carefully scheduled for the day and the meetings already on your schedule.

How do you decide where to start? What work gets done and what gets postponed to another day?

If we let them, these questions of scheduling and priorities can take over our workdays. And if we’re not careful, we can spend more time trying to organize our workday than actually getting stuff done. Author Stephen R. Covey offers a solution to this potential problem with his four-quadrant model strategy.

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In this strategy, all work tasks are split into four categories (or quadrants): 1.

2.

3.

4.

Quadrant 1 — Urgent and important Quadrant 2 — Not urgent and important Quadrant 3 — Urgent and not important Quadrant 4 — Not urgent and not important

By categorizing work into these four categories, you have an instant to-do list for your day. As new tasks pop up and slide into quadrants you can easily see which tasks require a disruption to your scheduled workday and which tasks can wait—or be ignored completely.

QUADRANT 1 URGENT — IMPORTANT

QUADRANT 2 NOT URGENT — IMPORTANT

QUADRANT 3

QUADRANT 4

URGENT — NOT IMPORTANT

NOT URGENT — NOT IMPORTANT

Quadrant 1 Tasks that fall into the first quadrant are both time sensitive and important. These are tasks that warrant a little rescheduling to get done on time. Q1 tasks include: • An unexpected crisis • Pressing problems • Approaching deadlines

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While it may be tempting to push these problems off to work on smaller, quicker tasks, ignoring Q1 work often means getting buried alive in work when deadlines hit. Ideally, the bulk of your work will never make it to Q1 because it’s been completed on schedule before going urgent.

Quadrant 2 Q2 work is important, but it’s on schedule and planned ahead so deadlines aren’t yet urgent. However, if Q2 tasks are neglected, they will all eventually fall into Q1. This quadrant is where the bulk of time during the workday should go. Q2 tasks include: • Planning • Preparation • Prevention • Relationship Building If you aren’t sure whether or not a task is Q1 or Q2, ask yourself what the consequences would be if the task were not completed urgently.

Quadrant 3 Q3 tasks can be the most deceptive because they come urgently, but getting them done isn’t always important. When trying to determine if an urgent task belongs in Q1 or Q3, ask yourself why you’re doing it. If you don’t know why the task is important, it’s probably not. If you’re still not sure, ask whether or not this task corresponds to any important objectives. Q3 tasks include:

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• Interruptions • Some calls • Some meetings • Some emails • Drop-in visitors

Quadrant 4 Q4 work is work that is neither urgent nor important. Some examples of Q4 work include: • Trivial or busy work • Junk mail • Some calls • “Escape” activities.

Q4 work is, in most cases, work that doesn’t need to be done at all and takes time away from tasks in Q1 and Q2.

CASE STUDY “We tend to focus on the urgent tasks and lose focus of our goals.”

Stephen R. Covey

You’ve been working on the same project for the last couple of days. Your boss gave you three days to complete the project and emphasizes the importance of the project getting done on time.

You’ve been putting off other work to make sure this project is completed by the deadline even though you’re not sure what the

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project is for or why it’s urgent. You’ve gone to your boss several times over the past two days with questions about the project, but each time your boss says she’s too busy.

After your last attempt, you decide to take a break and run into Nicole in the break room. You share what’s been going on and your frustration with the situation. Nicole nods and says, “I totally understand. My boss does the same things.”

You spend a few more minutes talking with Nicole before heading back to your project. You feel understood but still have no direction for the project you’re expected to finish by the end of the day.

Think about the scenario and the four quadrants.

What quadrant would you assign the project to?

What quadrant would you assign the conversation with Nicole to?

Answers: Q3: The project is urgent because the boss told you it was, but because your boss doesn’t have time to talk about it or tell you why the work is urgent, it is not Q1. Q4: While the conversation with Nicole may have felt like it was helpful, it did not get you any closer to finishing your project.

Did you know? A typical organization spends most of its time working in Q3. High performing organizations give most of their time to Q2.

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Schedule Priorities, Improve Work Life When giving a lecture on productivity, author Stephen R. Covey asked participants, “What is an activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently, it would have a positive result in your professional or work life?”

How would you answer this question?

After compiling participant responses, the following categories were found most commonly: • Improving communications • Better preparation • Better organization • Taking better care of self • Seizing new opportunities • Personal development • Empowerment Consider your answer and these common answers. How will better scheduling of your workday enable you to improve your work life overall?

“Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.”

Abraham Lincoln

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Think About… …What quadrant you spend most of your workday in. …What “escape” activities you fall into at work. How could you better use that time? …The Q3 tasks that are the hardest for you to ignore. How can you change the way you work to keep focus on Q1 and Q2? …How you can change the way you work to help others focus on Q1 and Q2 tasks.

Use It Think about the tasks you must get done in the next five days.

Sort them into this graph or find another way to organize these tasks by quadrant.

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Q2

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As a Group With a group, look at the following mini case studies and determine which quadrant they would fall into and why.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Taking the call of an angry client or customer.

Repairing the copy machine at the front desk.

Meet a vendor in the lobby just to catch-up.

Work on a sales plan to sell XYZ big account.

Replace headphones making a scratchy noise.

Add_Value@Qualfon Qualfon is committed to finding better ways to serve our clients and colleagues A company is a company because it provides value in the form of a service or product. A company that is perceived to have little or no value won’t be a company for much longer. A company that’s perceived to add value to the businesses and lives of clients and customers will, on the other hand, thrive.

Qualfon is dedicated to adding value wherever possible by adhering to these standards: • Close gaps we are responsible for.

• Meet—or exceed—client KPIs. • Know the client’s business just as well—or better— than our client.

• Know not just WHAT is needed, but WHY. • Help others get better at what they do.

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• Add value to: clients, each other, employees, families, communities.

“Success is not about your resources. It’s about how resourceful you are with what you have.”

Tony Robbins

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Read the following quotes about adding value to work and jot down your thoughts in the space provided below. If you’re reading in a group setting, pause here and take some time to discuss each of these quotes as a group.

“By proposing ways to add-value and by consistently supporting our clients, we become true partners.”

John Choi, Qualfon University

REFLECTION “Adding value is our job description.” Álvaro Perezalonso, Qualfon University

REFLECTION “Knowledge of our task and contingency plan makes us able. Being willing to go beyond the call of duty makes us ready.”

Matt Carleton, Qualfon University

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REFLECTION “We add-value when we keep our eyes on the ball, persist until the end, and leave no stone unturned looking for revenue.”

Jeremy Lunnen, Qualfon University

ADDING VALUE IN PRACTICE When it comes to adding value, actions speak louder than words. The following are three cases where employees went above and beyond to add value for clients, coworkers, and the community.

This is a fundamental topic because it lays the foundation for how Qualfon is presented as a business to the rest of the world.

The value propositions that Qualfon works with and goes into the market with can be divided into two different groups: • Complying and surpassing the goals and objectives that have been committed to in Service Level Agreements.

• Helping clients become more efficient and therefore more profitable while participating better in their marketplace through improved processes.

The Qualfon framework for adding value helps answer the question, “How do we create a strategy and standard approach for adding value in client relationships?”

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Qualfon adds value when we proactively help our clients do any of these five things: 1. Improve revenue (up-selling, cross-selling, etc.)

2. Reduce the cost to serve (reduce handling time, firstcall resolution, reducing FTEs, head count, etc.)

3. Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty (increasing CSAT rates, looking at NPS, etc.)

4. Help clients learn more about their customers (use data to tell a story about customer behavior, preferences, profiles, trends, and patterns).

5. Help clients learn more about their industry (deliver on KPIs, leverage data to deliver insights that help the client make strategic business improvements).

The challenge Qualfon faces is how to evaluate successes that demonstrate these measurable results in five key areas.

Sales and marketing help the company evaluate the data to determine how these five goals are being met.

Example: Marketing at Qualfon, “Insurance Company More Than Doubles NPS With Help From Qualfon�

Problem: A major property and casualty insurance company had a net promoter score (NPS) of less than 10, putting them in last place when compared to their competitors. The score was a reflection of challenges surrounding policyholder service, satisfaction, and retention. To improve their NPS score, the company needed a partner that could help them make improvements in service experience, loyalty, competitive advantage, and as a result, increased revenue.

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The company chose to hire a team of Qualfon’s customer experience professionals in San Antonio, Texas, a team that was given the job of developing a service process that would focus on building customer relationships.

Solution: Qualfon revised the client’s 27-point call-handling and call-monitoring process in a way that fostered deeper brand relationships with policyholders. The new system’s goal was to make a personal connection with each caller as well as to meet— and exceed—quality-assurance metrics. Some of these changes included: improving the greeting and closing, addressing callers by name, adding pleasantries, using quiet time to make small talk and connect on a personal level, and including wrap-up questions to ensure caller satisfaction.

Weekly monitoring enhanced the Q and A process by allowing supervisors to review calls, recognize relationship-building behaviors, and further assist agents where needed.

Results: After two years, the company moved from the bottom of NPS rankings to among the NPS leaders in the industry. Since the launch of the program, the client has seen significant growth and has expanded its relationship with Qualfon into billing services and support for sales and field agents.

Example: Operations at Qualfon, “Adding Value for the Client Despite a Literal Fire.”

In this example, operations at the San Antonio, Texas, location were able to add value for a client even in the midst of a literal fire at their location. It’s also an example of how the four commitments are integrated with each other. By keeping the commitment to the client, employees moved fast, which led to

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adding value to their team and their client by avoiding a drop in numbers and refusing to fall under par.

Background: For this client, Qualfon supported direct service, agent billing, and personal lines. The direct service team was supported at the data point site and Haven for Hope site. The data point site is located in a multistory and multitenant building.

Problem: An hour before closing, the fire alarm was set off at the data point site. At the time, the service level was 81 percent, with a client expectation that every day end at 80 percent. The Haven for Hope site had closed several hours earlier. The fire alarm was legitimate, caused by equipment failure in another tenant’s space, and all tenants had to evacuate.

Qualfon emergency protocol was utilized and all families were notified. Calls were redirected to the client. Fortunately, two family members who worked near the Haven for Hope site were able to login at that location and begin servicing the remaining customers.

Results: Because of their fast thinking, the client was thrilled and impressed with the level of commitment demonstrated by the Qualfon family, and that the employees took this initiative on their own—not at the direction of their leadership. The goodwill and trust gained through this situation was real value-added!

The fire was contained, and no injuries resulted!

Example: Client Relations at Qualfon, “The system glitch that adds value to the client and Qualfon upon its discovery!”

On the outside, this is a very simple case of a reconciliation of gross activations which, through correction, Qualfon was able

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to make a huge increase in the revenue which affects our bottom line. It also helped the client’s vendor management group get their data right and credit 100 percent of activations.

Background: Qualfon had an over 10-year relationship with the client, and the client was billed based on the number of gross activations as part of sales incentive. Qualfon depended on the client to provide the gross activation data until Q3 of 2016.

However, there were reasons Qualfon felt it needed to trust but verify that information.

Problem: In Q4 of 2016, Qualfon took the initiative to invest a dedicated resource to analyze data on activations for this client.

After reviewing the numbers and matching sales one-to-one, the Qualfon team identified a potential gap in the difference between front end sales and gross activation numbers. As a result, Qualfon submitted this finding to the client and worked to analyze the data further. Because of this work, the client was able to immediately discover a program glitch that had been misreporting numbers.

Results: The client identified and resolved the programming bug in their ordering system and as a result saw an increase of 2.2 percent in monthly gross activations. This helped the client’s vendor management team achieve their goals, and added value to Qualfon by an additional $93,000 in revenue.

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Think About… …A time you had the opportunity to add value to your work.

What results did you see? …How someone added value to your work life. What were the results of their actions? …How knowing why you’re doing a job was also an important part of keeping commitments. Why do you think knowing why is so important? …How helping others get better and use their talents adds value to Qualfon?

Use It Choose one of the five things Qualfon does to add value that can be applied to your work. (1) Improve revenue. (2) Reduce the cost to serve. (3) Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. (4) Help clients learn more about customers. (5) Help clients learn more about their industry. Think about how you can actively work toward adding value in that area in 30 days, six months, one year, and five years. Jot down these ideas in the space provided below.

30 Days 6 Months 1 Year 5 Years

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As a Group With a group, determine one issue you’ve been struggling with or, if you can’t think of anything, make up a common scenario.

Then, do a cause-effect analysis to discover the most important cause(s) for the undesired outcome. Then wearing your “Yellow” and “Green” hats and using a white board or separate sheets of paper to keep track of ideas, come up with possible solutions that fit the following criteria: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Require no additional resources, results in < 6 months Require no additional resources, results in > 6 months Require additional resources, results in < 6 months Require additional resources, results in > 6 months

Move_Fast@Qualfon Qualfon is committed to taking action in order to accomplish our goals.

You’re working on a project and run into an issue. You need a coworker to answer a question for you, and that answer determines how you move forward. You send off an e-mail and work on some less important tasks while you wait for a response.

These tasks get you through the rest of the day, but there’s still no response.

The same thing happens the next day, so you give your coworker a call and leave a message.

Now it’s been three days without a response and you can’t track down your coworker. Your deadline is approaching quickly and

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you’re not sure you’ll be able to have the work done for the client in time….

Now imagine the same situation, but instead of waiting over three days for a response, your coworker responded to you within a few hours of the initial e-mail.

How does your coworker’s quick response help you respond quickly to the client report?

How does your coworker’s slow reply hinder you from responding to the client?

“Everyone should have a sense of urgency—it is getting a lot done in a short period of time in a calm, confident manner.”

Bob Proctor

While there can always be complications with even the easiest tasks, when it comes to making clients, customers, and coworkers happy, speed counts. What may have been fast a long time ago isn’t fast now. With advances in technology, clients, and customers accustomed to having instant responses to questions and instant access to information. And the faster clients and customers expect results, the faster Qualfon must become to keep up with the competition.

In some cases, the problem isn’t as simple as responding faster to e-mails. The problem might be outdated processes or infrastructures. These problems can be harder to solve, but often once “the old way” of doing things is updated it leads to faster work in multiple departments and faster results when it matters.

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Qualfon is committed to action and accomplishing goals on— or ahead—of schedule. When thinking about speed at Qualfon, there are five points to keep in mind: 1. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) aren’t just for operations.

2. Respond to client needs faster than any competitor.

3. Respond to colleague needs just as quickly as you’d reply to a client.

4. Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.

5. If a vendor can’t move as quickly as needed, find a vendor that can “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.

Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Being willing is not enough. We must do.”

Leonardo da Vinci

When it comes to speed in the workplace, there are six factors that keep things moving quickly and accurately. It’s important to remember that moving quickly doesn’t happen at the expense of quality work or accurate data. Speed happens when the right people and processes are in place.

Following these six functions ensures work happens both quickly and accurately.

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Setup: Be ready to take action.

Quality: Do it right the first time.

Competence: Ability to do the task.

Process: Shortest/smartest way to get it done.

Task Scheduling: Pick the rule that best fits the circumstances: (a) Quickest task first or (b) Most impactful task first or (c) Most pressing task first.

6. Pace: Stay steady and consistent.

What Do You Think?

Read the following quotes about working quickly and jot down your thoughts in the space provided below. If you’re reading in a group setting, pause here and take some time to discuss each of these quotes as a group. “[Bring] a company closer to its goal. Every action that brings a company closer to its goal is productive.”

Eliyahu Goldratt

REFLECTION “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”

Peter Drucker

REFLECTION “We should be trying to optimize the whole system.

Some resources have to have more capacity than

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others. The ones at the end of the line should have more than the ones at the beginning—sometimes a lot more. Am I right?”

Eliyahu Goldratt

REFLECTION “A method is only as good as its measurable results.”

Mark Hurst

Optimize Yourself for Efficiency It’s a well-documented anecdotal phenomenon that when it comes to getting things done, people will always assume they can get more done in a set period of time than they actually can. We all want to move faster than we can, and we want to see things we have no control over move faster, too. When it comes to moving quickly, accurately, and making timelines you and your team will be able to meet, it’s important to optimize not only your company’s processes, but how you work, too.

“If you commit to giving more time than you have to spend, you will constantly be running from time debt collectors.”

Elizabeth Grace Saunders

The problem with assuming you can take on more than your workload allows is that you’re stuck with a “full plate” or work that can require just as much time to sort through and manage as the actual work you have stacking up. Having a schedule that’s packed

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with more than you could ever hope to complete by the deadlines means you can’t see underneath the pile to determine exactly what you have to do.

It also means you can’t prioritize your work. The taller your pile of work to-dos, the easier it is to fall into panic mode and complete smaller tasks coming in while leaving larger, long term tasks to linger forgotten at the bottom of the pile. And if you don’t fall prey to urgent task frenzy, you’ll likely spend more time shuffling and reorganizing your tasks deciding what work to start on than actually working to get tasks completed.

And all these result in work that takes longer to complete.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”

John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach

In his book Bit Literacy, Mark Hurst offers strategies for making the best of an overwhelming workload that are coherent to the “5S” strategy much used in operations, which may be helpful in getting out from under a full plate of work.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Sort: Separate what’s needed from what isn’t.

Straighten: Keep what is needed close to you.

Shine: Keep away clutter.

Standardize: Make habits of 1, 2, and 3.

Sustain: Train and encourage others to do the same.

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Here’s an example of the 5S strategy applied to your inbox.

1. Sort: a. Move all your action items out of your inbox and onto a to-do list. Depending on what e-mail provider you use, there may be a feature to do this automatically.

2. Straighten: a. Archive or delete everything else from your inbox. If you don’t need to do something about it, you don’t need to keep it around. b. Work from your to-do list, not from your inbox. This allows you to prioritize work and not just work from the most recent inbox requests. c. Create folders such as “To-do,” “Follow-up,” “Boss,” “Team,” and anything else that might be useful to you.

3. Shine: a. Make some of these folders favorites on your PC so they’re easy to access. b. Color-code your e-mails to separate urgent from routine e-mails.

4. Standardize: a. If you don’t use your e-mail system’s ability to flag items for future follow-up, blank- copy yourself on e-mails you need to follow-up on and move them to the appropriate folder. b. Create some automatic rules to help sort folders automatically.

5. Sustain: a. Once you find a system that works, share it!

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Roadblocks to Speedy Work 1. We feel we can’t do it.

It’s difficult enough to admit we can’t finish all the tasks on our plate without help, but admitting we don’t feel capable of accomplishing a task at all can be a daunting confession.

Unsurprisingly, this fear can slow down work—or keep work from getting done completely. When faced with an assignment you’re not sure you’re ready to tackle, work through these steps before you let fear paralyze you completely.

• Ask yourself why you were given this task in the first place. Do you have the skills to complete it, but just aren’t used to this kind of work? Have you been asking for a chance to take on more responsibility, but now you’re afraid to mess up?

Make sure it’s really the task, and not another subconscious fear that’s holding you back.

• Ask yourself if having access to a new tool would solve this problem. Are you capable of completing the task but just don’t have all the information or access to the tools you need? See if you can get what you need to get the job done?

• Let your boss know. If your ability worries you, be candid with your boss about your fears. Ask for additional training or to work under a more experienced mentor for this first attempt.

2. The same-old processes no longer work.

We know all these checks and balances had a purpose when the process was first started, but years and dozens of new

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technologies later, we’re not sure these old processes work as efficiently as they could. Not every process is a straight line from A to B. There’s a reason processes have stops for quality checks or supervisor approval. But sometimes a process is simply broken or outdated. The next time you find yourself running into a process like this, speak up. Bring it up with your team and see if there’s a way to make it more efficient.

3. Your schedule doesn’t work for you.

It’s possible to be organized and still manage to be inefficient.

If your schedule prioritizes tasks that aren’t a priority, or if you’re spending too much time with irrelevant work, it’s time to look at the scheduling system you’re using. There are four basic scheduling structures you can try to see what works best for you.

• Traditional task schedule. This is the LIFO (last in, first out) and FIFO (first in, first out) method of scheduling. Depending on the kind of work you have coming across your desk and the deadlines you need to adhere to, either one of these strategies might work for you. Think of where in Covey’s Four Quadrants these tasks may fall in and adjust accordingly. Perhaps the next task, following the FIFO rule, makes you work on something that is no longer a priority.

• Quickest task first. When you’re struggling with a full plate, it can help to keep from adding to your workload. With this strategy, you take care of quick tasks before they can even make it to your already-overloaded to-do list.

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• Most pressing first. If your work lives or dies on deadlines, this strategy might work best for you. This strategy puts your most urgent and important work ahead of everything else.

• Largest impact task first. If you’re trying to use your schedule to maximize KPI results, this strategy helps you get done those tasks that will make the biggest impact.

• Mix and match. The strategy you use might be a combination of all of these depending on what you’re working on or what you’re trying to clear off your plate. All these strategies can, potentially, work together, so experimenting with combinations until you find the perfect fit is another option for your schedule.

4. You’re always waiting on someone else.

Eliyauh Goldratt, author of the book Theory of Constraints, uses the example of a line of soldiers marching to describe work in the workplace. The first two soldiers move fast, the second two move slowly, and the last two walk fast. Unfortunately, the last two soldiers can’t pass the soldiers in the middle, and their pace is slowed because of the middle soldiers.

This example shows the importance of pace. We need to avoid becoming the middle two soldiers by consistently holding up others. Make sure you factor in time for the people behind you to work, especially when you’re on a project that has multiple pieces and one deadline. Getting your piece in one day late might not seem like a big deal, but it means everyone after you has to make up your time.

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“You don’t actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it ‘done.’”

David Allen

5. Your heart’s not in it.

It doesn’t matter how productive you are or how well you schedule, if your heart’s not in your work, you’ll find yourself working slower and slower as the days go by. In fact, it’s both your ability to work and your willingness to work that make up your performance. While every day at work can’t be inspiring, it’s still important to leave everything “on the field” as you do your work.

Think About… …How often you make replying to coworkers’ e-mails or voice mails a priority. Why? …How you respond when a process you work with consistently seems to slow your work. …Which of the five roadblocks to speedy work you struggle with most often. How can you overcome it?

Use It Think of something in your normal workflow that you struggle to get done as quickly as you’d like. Then apply the 5S strategy to it and record the progress you make so you can share it with others.

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SORT: STRAIGHTEN: SHINE: STANDARDIZE: SUSTAIN:

As a Group With a group, think of a common process issue you’ve all come across at some point in your work. Together, brainstorm ways you could work to solve that process issue using the strategies from this section and any additional strategies you can think of.

Spend_Wisely@Qualfon Qualfon is committed to remaining financially healthy for the sake of growing our business and improving the lives of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we work.

It’s time for you to buy a new car and you’ve spent months trying to decide between makes, models, years, and prices. You’ve finally narrowed your choices to two cars. The first car is older and well under your budget, but in an inspection a mechanic noticed many things that will need to be fixed in the first year

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you own the car. The second car is more expensive, but it has no problems. Which car would be the wisest choice? Why? When it comes to spending money in the workplace, you need to put the same amount of thought behind your decisions as you would if you were spending your own money. Is your choice of vendor wise in the long run? Is it time to upgrade a new system to save time and money currently being used to keep up an old system? Are you investing your limited time in the right projects?

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Sam Walton

For a business to remain financially healthy, it’s important to pay attention to more than just the profit. Qualfon has developed five important rules so employees can strive for fiscal health in their own work and help promote fiscal health in the rest of the company.

1. Make your numbers.

2. Don’t waste time, especially other people’s time. Time is money.

3. Before making a purchase, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”

4. Avoid waste in all you do.

5. Force vendors and suppliers to compete for your business just as Qualfon competes for its clients’ business.

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“The person who doesn’t know where his next dollar is coming from usually doesn’t know where his last dollar went.”

Unknown

What Do You Think?

Read the following quotes about spending wisely and jot your thoughts in the space below. If you’re reading in a group setting, pause here and take some time to discuss each of these quotes as a group.

“Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

REFLECTION “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

Ayn Rand

REFLECTION “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”

Joe Biden

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REFLECTION “Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.”

P. T. Barnum

Rules for Wise Spending 1. Make your numbers.

It’s important to remember this straightforward statement day to day. This sentence is often heard among salespeople, who also say, “Meet the sales quota.” We all have numbers to make. We all affect in one way or another the company’s budget. Thus, it’s our responsibility to keep our costs and expenses below our budget.

2. Don’t waste your time.

Have you ever promised yourself to have a productive weekend only to find yourself several seasons into your favorite TV show?

Or to have yourself caught up on the phone with a friend who wants to gossip for hours?

While workplace distractions are different from the distractions faced at home, they can still steal time and productivity from your day. That break-room conversation you couldn’t get away from? Mindlessly checking the news or refreshing your e-mails because you can’t quite find the motivation to start on your next big task? These things can lead to wasted time and unwisely spent money.

It’s impossible to work in a totally distraction-free environment, but it is possible to limit the number of distractions

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you come in contact with. When you find someone causing distractions, feel free to walk away from the conversation or steer it toward work-related topics you need to discuss. If your computer is a distraction, block sites you don’t need for work or find ways to only use your computer when necessary.

If meetings are the biggest distraction in your day, look at what they’re supposed to be accomplishing. Could you do just as much in 30 minutes as in an hour? Is a meeting necessary or would a group e-mail do? Are people unsure of what to prepare because a formal agenda hasn’t been shared? Analyze your calendar and see where you can use your meeting time better and where you could go without a meeting at all.

3. Before making a purchase, ask, “Do I really need this?”

Think about workplace expenses with the same attitude you think about purchases in your personal life. Some expenses are necessary, some are an investment in future returns, but some are impulse buys. Before buying, think through the following points: • Is it necessary for doing my work?

• Does it replace something I already have? If yes, is it an improvement or could I do the same with what I already have?

• Will it save money in the long run?

• Have I compared prices and researched to make sure I’m getting the best price?

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4. Avoid waste in all you do.

This rule touches on each of the four commitments. By keeping commitments, adding value, and moving fast, Qualfon employees can reduce waste. By cutting down on inefficiencies in workloads to move faster, employees spend time wisely. By striving to add value to every client and customer interaction, employees spend their resources wisely. By keeping commitments to clients and coworkers, employees spend their time and resources with care.

5. Force vendors to compete for business.

Just like we compete for our clients’ business, our vendors should compete for ours. Rule three requires every purchase to be carefully considered, rule five requires that every purchase is made at the best price. Before making a major purchase for Qualfon, work through the following steps: • Get multiple quotes. Don’t settle for the first deal you see.

• See if you can get a package or bundle that serves multiple needs and cuts overall costs.

• Make sure the purchase will serve you in the future and isn’t something that can’t be updated or only works for a single project.

• Avoid purchases that only serve a niche need.

Try to find a purchase that serves multiple needs across your department or across multiple departments.

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• Get a second opinion. When in doubt, ask another team member to review your purchase. Another point of view often means savings.

Think About… …Where you’re guilty of wasting time or resources at work.

Make an action plan to reduce waste in the next five days. …Where you consistently making wise decisions. Think about your process and how you can share it with team members. …At least three ways you can spend wisely or improve spending in your own work or as a department.

Use It Imagine you were put in control of your department’s budget. In the blank space below, create a mock budget for your department, keeping “spend-wisely” in mind. Add reasoning to your choices.

As a Group If multiple people in your department do this activity, compare your budgets and see if there are any areas you all agree could use some “spend-wisely” work. If you’re working in a crossdepartmental group, try to pick a process you all touch and make a budget for that process together.

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In summary, managers must: • Know their team • Know their tools and resources • Communicate clearly and often • Listen to their team members • Serve as leaders • Celebrate wins as a team

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4 Messengers at Qualfon AMBASSADORS WITH A MESSAGE “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”

Unknown

The word messenger comes from an old French word that means “ambassador.” And what’s an ambassador? An ambassador is a representative of something greater than himself. He bears a message and has news to share.

Qualfon Mission Leaders are messengers and ambassadors.

They are ambassadors both inside and outside the company. The Mission Leader is called to communicate Qualfon’s products and services in many ways. Of course, as a messenger, the Mission Leader communicates technical details about Qualfon’s work, but the fundamental job of the messenger is to frame conversations about Qualfon’s business in a way that showcases Qualfon’s strong company values. The messenger is a Qualfon champion, communicating the story of Qualfon with enthusiasm to potential clients, current customers, other employees, potential employees,

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and members of the community. In fact, the messenger spreads the mission of Qualfon to everyone he or she comes into contact with simply by how he or she speaks about his or her work.

In addition to the championing of Qualfon’s mission, it is also the job of the Mission Leader as messenger to share updates and deliver news. This news might involve discussing performance with a team member or sharing project updates with a client. In both cases, most of the time the news is good—but sometimes it isn’t. Delivering bad news or having difficult conversations is another part of the messenger’s work at Qualfon. Having difficult conversations is not the same thing as the negativity of gossip, which is sharing bad news just for its own sake or worse reasons.

What sets the messenger apart from gossip and the “grapevine” is the messenger’s commitment to finding a way to deliver positive opportunities alongside the bad news. The bad news isn’t the focus. The opportunities for growth and improvement are.

For example, when sharing an update with the client that the outcome of a project isn’t going as well as expected, the Qualfon messenger immediately presents a plan for improving the outcome in the upcoming quarter. While the news itself may not be good, by presenting the client with a plan that leads to improvement and positive results in a set time frame, the messenger has given the client something positive to focus on.

“People don’t mind being challenged to do better if they know the request is coming from a caring heart.”

Ken Blanchard

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Focusing on the positive doesn’t mean that messengers are always sunny and smiling. In fact, an artificial or fake cheerfulness defeats the purpose of being a true Qualfon messenger. It’s the responsibility of a messenger to communicate clearly, honestly, and sincerely. While messengers’ communication should focus on a positive opportunity, the bad news shouldn’t be sugarcoated or covered up. When a Mission Leader has habitually communicated with integrity, treating team members and clients with dignity, trust has been built and honesty is not only expected, it’s welcomed.

Sometimes it’s not the messenger’s job to talk at all. Listening with empathy and compassion is just as important to being a messenger as the ability to communicate openly. While valuing the dignity of each team member and every client, the messenger should also value the diversity each client and team member brings to the Qualfon family. By listening closely to team members and clients, the messenger makes it possible for all voices to be heard.

As a Mission Leader, it’s impossible to do the job of the mentor or the manager without being a messenger both first and last as well. As a mentor-messenger, a Mission Leader is able to listen to the needs of team members and pick up on their strengths and weaknesses and better understand any obstacles in the way of them performing their best work. Once a mentor has this information, the mentor is better able to help a mentee and see that the mentee is given roles and responsibilities that allow him or her to utilize skills. As a manager-messenger, the Mission Leader is able to clearly communicate goals and results to team members and clients. When the unexpected happens, the

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manager-messenger is able to reframe bad news in the light of positive opportunities.

“The art of communication is the language of leadership.”

James Hume

Traits of a Messenger Qualfon messengers must… …Inspire and encourage …Recognize and celebrate wins …Be a Qualfon brand ambassador On paper, these traits may seem simple, but when it comes to living them in the day-to-day reality of the work world, they can be challenging. Mission Leaders are regular people who have been called to help further the mission of a consecrated company. They don’t get supernatural skills. Mission Leaders can still have bad days. They can feel stressed, overwhelmed, or frustrated with their work. For this reason, Qualfon messengers will do more than simply learn what these traits are. When they’re deeply rooted and become a way of life in the workplace, it’s easier to live out these traits of a messenger even on difficult days. They’ve become habits.

Inspire and Encourage.

When a messenger inspires and encourages his or her team members, it’s more than a one-time thing. The messenger seeks

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to create effective and long-lasting change. This means creating a work environment that builds team members up and teaches them to truly work as a team, inspiring and encouraging each other as part of the day’s work. It also means the messenger offers positive reinforcement. Instead of singling out a team member who’s made a mistake, the messenger should point out instances when the team member has done something well. Corrections can be made, but those conversations are better left for one-on-one meetings.

It’s also the messenger’s job to inspire and encourage by being an example, even (perhaps especially) when being an example doesn’t come easily. This means the messenger should act like the kind of team member he or she wants to work with. A Qualfon messenger should treat each team member in the way he or she expects team members to treat him or her, each other, and the client or customers they work with. It also means taking responsibility for actions, mistakes, and work, as well as putting in the extra time and energy to think creatively about problems.

When we encourage others, we’re letting them know they are on the right track. It’s especially important in challenging moments or times of disappointment. A few simple words of encouragement in tough times is worth more than one hour of praise or compliment after success.

When Mission Leaders decide to address demotivation, they quickly see that, unlike with motivation, it’s essentially the same for every employee. You can be certain, for example, that everyone on your team wants the following from you and always will: (1) clear direction, (2) the resources to perform as required, and (3) never to be treated disrespectfully. Deliver them, and you will be

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on your way to Mission Leader greatness. Fail to do so and you may be an adequate boss, but you’ll never be a Mission Leader.

There are, in sum, two key steps to staying on top of motivation and demotivation.

First, hire and keep on your team only people who are motivated to do their jobs well. As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says, “Get the right people on the bus.”

Second, understand that if people become demotivated, it’s because of the environment in which they work. Strong and courageous Mission Leaders recognize that such an environment is their own failure. Understanding that can prevent you from misdirecting resources into unnecessary efforts to motivate staff.

“To communicate is not just a matter of pushing information at another person. It’s creating an experience, to engage their gut – and that’s an emotional skill.”

John Seely Brown, quoted in Working with Emotional Intelligence

Understanding Real Encouragement What are the best ways to offer encouragement to others and address demotivation? Real, effective inspiration and encouragement involves more than putting up posters or screensavers or cheerleading in a general kind of way. The Qualfon mission of making people’s lives better and the commitment to go beyond the “what” we are doing and digging deep into the “why” impacts everything, including how we will

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give encouragement to our team members. At Qualfon, our mission serves the whole person. We try to understand others fully: What do people need to move forward energetically?

One useful tool in understanding how to effectively encourage is the “Hierarchy of Needs” developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow.

Selfactualization: achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities

Esteem needs: prestige and feeling of accomplishment

Self-fulfillment needs

Psychological needs

Belongingness and love needs: intimate relationships, friends

Safety needs: security, safety

Basic needs Physiological needs: food, water, warmth, rest

According to this theory, people have needs that must be satisfied. Maslow used a pyramid to describe and categorize these needs. Needs from each level, starting on the bottom of the pyramid, must be met before needs on the next level can be addressed. The basic needs are the foundation of everything else.

Here are the needs and how they apply to our employees: Psychological: To survive, people need air, food, water, sleep, and so on. How does this relate to employee engagement?

Employees need a comfortable work environment. If our employees work in conditions of extreme hot or cold, they

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probably won’t advance to the next level in the pyramid—they simply won’t have the motivation. Similarly, employees need access to such things as restroom breaks, food, drinks, and so on.

Safety: People must feel that they, their family, their property, and other resources are safe. When it comes to the workplace, if employees have to worry about their personal safety (for example, getting hurt or sick at work) or their professional security (losing their jobs), morale will suffer.

Love/belonging: Not surprisingly, creating a sense of belonging is a key aspect of building an engaged culture.

In its highly regarded Q12, which is a measure of employee engagement, Gallup includes the following question: “Do you have a best friend at work?” Why does this question matter?

Because based on Gallup’s research, employees who answer yes are more likely to be engaged than those who don’t. This is directly attributed to Maslow’s third level of love and belonging.

Companies with a history of social and other camaraderiebuilding activities have higher degrees of employee engagement than companies that are all business, all the time.

Esteem: Esteem is a person’s belief that she or he is doing a good job and that her or his contributions are recognized. People want to feel they’re achieving and that their contributions matter and are recognized.

Confidence is key. Any educator or coach will tell you that if a student or player has confidence, that person will shine. The same principle holds true in the workplace. If employees believe in themselves—and believe (thanks to recognition) that others believe in them—they’ll be more engaged and productive.

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Employee recognition is a key part of engagement. At its core, recognition builds esteem. Unfortunately, even though recognition has so much impact—and is often free—it remains low on most companies’ list of priorities.

Self-actualization: In the workplace, self-actualization translates to maximizing one’s potential. Employees want to be the very best at what they do, and the supervisor’s job is to help them realize that. With self-actualization, employees feel trusted and empowered—in control of their jobs and their futures.

A key aspect of self-actualization is ensuring that employees are only put in positions for which they are capable. Employees should feel challenged, don’t put them over their heads.

Ultimately, this erodes engagement, as employees begin to doubt themselves.

Effective inspiration and encouragement is tied to understanding employees’ needs. You can’t fully engage employees if their needs aren’t being satisfied. A healthy, fully engaged work force is one that has collectively reached level five, or selfactualization. This occurs in organizations that have built a line of sight between where the company is going and each employee’s job or role. Level five is where you win over employees’ heads and hearts. Fortune magazine’s annual Top 100 Best Companies to Work For is full of companies that have reached level five.

At Qualfon, we believe: “Treat people the way they want to be treated.” That means knowing what motivates them.

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Recognize and Celebrate Wins.

“When teams operate at their best, the results can be more than simply additive— they can be multiplicative, with the best talents of one person catalyzing the best of another and another, to produce results far beyond what any one person might have done.”

Daniel Goleman

This means the messenger sees each member of the team as an individual. Whether that team member is an employee who’s been struggling and finally getting up to speed, one who’s consistently meeting goals, or one who constantly exceeds expectations. It’s the job of the messenger to celebrate all successes—and to always remember that not everyone’s win looks alike.

The messenger should also create a winning environment where team members feel good at winning in a daily basis, no matter how “small” the win at stake may be. Messengers celebrate their wins together with their teams. By creating a work environment where team members feel they’re in it together, rather than out for themselves, messengers build a team that’s willing to work together and help each other, making sure each member stays on track. One member’s success means a celebration for the whole team.

This is all a part of the bigger picture of team building.

Here, we see how the roles of manager-messenger and mentormessenger merge. The Mission Leader is called to share the message of Qualfon’s purpose through building strong teams based on respect for others and most of all, mutual trust.

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Helping New Employees Feel Welcome Mission Leaders build and maintain strong teams as they welcome new members: • Have a welcome plan in place: Brainstorm with current employees, asking them what their first day at Qualfon was like and how it could have been improved. Use that information to come up with a plan.

• Have a personal collage of all the team: Instead of an organizational chart, try a collage with photos, so that new employees can connect names with faces and feel more comfortable.

• Have a buddy system: Whenever a new person is brought on board, assign someone to spend time with him and show him how things work.

• Express a genuine interest in the new employee as a person.

• Immerse the new hire in the Qualfon culture as soon as possible. Involve him in activities, ask for his input, and actively listen to what he has to say.

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Building Trust Inside Your Team A strong, cohesive team can achieve anything.

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.

Frank Crane, American minister and author

Have you ever managed people who didn’t trust one another?

If you have, then you’ll know how challenging and draining this can be.

A team without trust isn’t really a team: it’s just a group of individuals, working together, often making disappointing progress. They may not share information, they might battle over rights and responsibilities, and they may not cooperate with one another. It doesn’t matter how capable or talented your people are, they may never reach their full potential if they don’t trust each other

The Importance of Trust One definition says trust is a “reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.”

Think about that definition for a moment. Trust means that you rely on someone else to do the right thing. You believe in the person’s integrity and strength, to the extent that you’re able to put yourself on the line, at some risk to yourself.

Trust is essential to an effective team because it provides a sense of safety and security. When your team members feel safe with each other, they feel comfortable opening up, exposing

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vulnerabilities, and taking appropriate risks—the kinds of risks that can lead to real growth.

Without trust, there’s less innovation, collaboration, creative thinking, and productivity, and people spend their time protecting themselves and their interests—time that should be spent helping the group attain its goals.

Strategies for Building Trust: • • • • • •

Lead by example Communicate openly Know each other personally Don’t place blame Discourage Cliques Build Trust Virtually

Be a Brand Ambassador.

Being a brand ambassador can be as simple as enjoying what you do. While many people outside the industry may think BPO and call-center work isn’t glamorous, those in the industry know it can be work to get excited about. With the right attitude, the messenger can emphasize the parts of the job that make people’s lives better, whether those people are employees, clients, or members of the communities Qualfon serves.

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“And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all manners of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it.”

Steve Jobs

CASE A Manager A is reviewing numbers for the first quarter and realizes that her team has fallen behind the target numbers she promised the client. Before bringing the report to the client, Manager A spends time looking over reports of her team members’ performance. She notices a few of the newer agents seem to be struggling on customer calls, but her veteran agents are handling calls with ease and most are exceeding their target numbers.

Manager A schedules a lunch-and-learn where highperforming agents share some of their tips and tricks for handling these calls, offering add-on services, and explaining product details quickly and accurately. Manager A plans to watch agent performance after this and then partner agents who are still struggling with a high-performing mentor agent for additional training if necessary.

Manager A writes up these measures in addition to her usual quarterly report to the client. When she calls the client to present the report, she makes sure to emphasize how she and her team are planning to improve numbers and the timeline for getting the client’s numbers back on track.

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CASE B Manager B finds herself with the same concern as Manager A. However, Manager B takes a different approach to this obstacle.

Rather than investigate prior to her report to the client, Manager B brings only the numbers to the client. When asked why the team has missed target goals, Manager B blames her team members’ inability to do the work—which doesn’t do much to reassure the client that they’ve put their trust in the right person.

Back in the office, Manager B simply dismisses all agents performing below the target goals with minimal feedback about why they’re being let go. The high-performing agents stay but aren’t given any information about the sudden changes.

Which of these managers has acted as a true messenger?

Which traits of a messenger do you see in action in this example?

TELLING QUALFON’S STORY “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”

Seth Godin

As shown in this book, Qualfon is a unique company.

Consecrated to God by its founder, Qualfon’s central focus is on people, and making people’s lives better is a central part of that mission. This corporate culture, focusing on human flourishing and dignity, is one that truly sets Qualfon apart. The Mission

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Leader as messenger holds the task of sharing this story with all of Qualfon’s employees and clients.

The messenger’s story starts with the core and beginning of Qualfon’s story. As a consecrated company, Qualfon has been dedicated to God, and this spirituality plays a central role in the company’s mission. However, Qualfon’s spirituality is not limited to those who believe in God. Qualfon values diversity, and all forms of spirituality are respected and recognized within the Qualfon family.

Rather than focus on a particular set of religious beliefs, Qualfon’s spirituality focuses on an obligation of service through leadership and work. This means Qualfon has an obligation to serve clients, employees, and the community in a way that enriches the lives of everyone involved. It also means that Qualfon is dedicated to performing its work with value (see the section on STRIDES earlier in this book). This is the story that’s most important to Qualfon and the work it does.

To Other Employees “Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned.”

Unknown

As messengers, Mission Leaders are examples to the members of their team and all coworkers. A messenger can relay a message even unintentionally. If a Mission Leader treats a coworker disrespectfully, complains about the company, or bad-mouths a client, those messages start to speak louder than the messages a Mission Leader thinks he or she is trying to share.

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When a Mission Leader comes to work in a good mood, treats coworkers with respect even when they’re busy, and looks for ways to turn a difficult client into an opportunity, the Mission Leader is spreading the values of Qualfon without using words at all.

To Current and Potential Clients “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.”

Seth Godin

No potential client wants to do business with people who don’t believe in their own company. No current client wants to hear that the people they’re doing business with don’t believe in their company. When Mission Leaders act in a way that’s opposite to their message, it dulls the message’s impact. But when Mission Leaders live out their message in every client meeting, call, and e-mail, it shows just how strong Qualfon’s values are in the lives of those leaders.

To the Community “Some entrepreneurs think ‘how can I make a lot of money?’ But the better way is to think how can I make people’s lives a lot better?”

Richard Branson

Some community members may never interact with Qualfon.

They may not need to apply for a job, and they may not have any reason to contact Qualfon for services. But this doesn’t

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mean the way a Mission Leader interacts with members of the community doesn’t matter. Whether it’s at a community service event sponsored by the company or in everyday living, a Mission Leader is still an example and still spreads the message of Qualfon through his or her actions. Treating people with dignity and respect and focusing on positive opportunities when talking about work aren’t rules that only apply during a 9-to-5 workday. In an effort to truly make people’s lives better, the messenger has to live the values of that message every day.

Positive Opportunities; Making Things Right Improving a Client’s NPS and Profitability Through First Contact Resolution Analysis “Adding value doesn’t just mean performing the task you’ve been given. It means finding better ways to perform that task, improving the way the client does work, and helping the client find ways to improve their processes.”

Emily Hornung, Qualfon Analyst Specialist

Qualfon was hired by a client to perform quality assurance with a goal to raise their Net Promoter Score (NPS) after reviewing the client’s current processes and agent-customer interaction. With help from the Quality team, Qualfon provided the client with a study to look at first contact resolution. The client had provided eight to 10 areas that were challenging their internal departments and asked Qualfon to look for ways they could improve their performance.

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This example will focus specifically on how the client’s first contact resolution statistics, which was just one of the ten areas given to help improve the client’s NPS. A member of the client’s team provided Qualfon with 1,000 customer calls to study, and Qualfon assembled a small team to help with sample collection on those calls.

Communication was key to the quality-assurance process, and the Qualfon team had to be sure all collected data and results were shared with utmost accuracy. One way this was done was through client meetings to ensure the collection template the Qualfon team created matched the client’s needs. It’s important to pinpoint what the client is looking to discover, to formulate questions that will get the right answers, and to be sure the right data is being collected.

But communication in-house was just as important. With a tight client deadline of one month to review all 1,000 customer calls, it was important every member of the Qualfon team stayed in constant communication. Not only does this ensure work is being done on schedule, but it helps the team adapt there are technical setbacks or personal delays (like illness and holiday schedules).

“It was crucial that we had good, open communication so we could ensure our daily goals were met and that we could reach our deadline.”

Emily Hornung

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Once data collection was finished and analysis began, Qualfon looked at the following elements: • Repeat contacts from customers, • Customer tenure, • Reason for contact, • Agent behavior, • Agent soft skills.

From there, the Qualfon team determined the data from customers whose accounts were less than 90 days old required a deeper analysis because these customers made up over 46 percent of calls. In this analysis, the Qualfon team determined that calls related to customer billing were the most common and had the highest number of repeat contacts. Seventy-four percent of contacts observed contained repeat contacts related to the customer’s original reason for calling. And all those repeat calls were costing the client $35,000.

Rather than simply presenting this data to the client and letting the client determine what to do with it, the Qualfon team engaged fully in the role of messenger. Now that problem areas were identified, it was time to identify opportunities for the client.

These opportunities included: • New training techniques to ensure customer service representatives (CSRs) mastered one call type before moving on to more difficult call types.

• Creating a team of CSRs who were specially trained to handle second or more calls from customers.

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• Leveraging technology to route those customers to the specialized team.

• Additional training and coaching of CSRs for technical skills like recapping customers, asking questions to identify and resolve issues, and properly use the tools at their disposal.

By providing the client with these positive opportunities alongside the corresponding challenges, the Qualfon team was able to communicate the obstacles the client was facing in a positive way. As a result, the client was able to begin utilizing some of these recommendations right away. This has led to a decrease in repeat contacts, over $16,000 in savings, and an 11-point increase to their NPS.

In summary, messengers must: • Communicate clearly and with precision.

• Offer positive opportunities for improvement whenever able.

• Share news sincerely and with integrity.

• Be a champion for the Qualfon mission.

• Promote teamwork and celebrate wins.

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Conclusion Be the best BPO. Make people’s lives better.

That’s what Qualfon is all about. Mission Leaders are stewards of that responsibility. We hope that the material in this book has helped you come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a mentor, manager, and messenger at Qualfon.

Use the material you’ve read here; the ideas, the questions, the quotations. Make notes about what strikes you as helpful and important, and keep them close, where you’ll be able to refer to them through the day, especially during challenging times.

STRIDES: Service, Teamwork, Results, Integrity, Dignity, Encouragement and Spirituality. These are Qualfon’s core values, and they’re the core values that our Mission Leaders strive to live out every day. As mentors, managers, and messengers, we’re working together as a team to bring those values into everyday, productive practices, so we can meet the most important goal of any organization, and especially ours: Make people’s lives better.

Roberto Sánchez Mejorada Chief Mission Officer

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Notes

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Notes

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