instance where you had to be a leader in your community
Last summer, I worked in a call center, as a team manager, our mission was to call French citizens, and promote our product, after low results we went through some company-wide lay-offs. We were five left to absorb the duties of the ones left. As a result, we were overworked and stressed out, at the same time, more mistakes were being made because our attention was scattered, and a team leader, it was my job to get performance back on track. I asked for a meeting of the full team to discuss strategies, I showed appreciation for all of their hard work during that challenging time, and asked for their assistance in identifying ways for us all to be more efficient in a more comfortable way, I Insisted that this was a brainstorming meeting to come up with solutions, and no suggestion was silly, for us it was a safe environment for ideas, we wrote down our ideas on a white board, then had a vote on the ones with most potential, I then assigned each person to do more research on how we might implement one of the ideas, including myself .
First of all, the team really like the approach, they loved the idea of being empowered to help find a solution. And instead of complaining, they channeled their energy in a more productive way once they knew that they would be heard.
Right off the bat, we came up with two ideas that could be implemented quickly and save us a lot of time. One was to download a timer for each call, so as when we start the call, we get 2mins to convince the client, if not, we politely hang up and go for the next one. This freed up 4 hours each week. Another was to write down the impertinent clients, and call them at the end of the day so that we don't get discouraged in the middle of our mission. We also decided to organize brainstorming and idea evaluation into our staff meetings each month. I have left the company for that was only a summer job, and I am so pleased to say that my ex- colleagues are more efficient and morale is way up. My boss even asked me to stay, and offered me a three-year contract!
I have started to understand my values, and where I want to be in future. My participation in this experience has brought me to this point in my life where I would like to do, learn, and grow more as a leader. I've learned that the art of communication is the language of leadership, and that in this experience I got to be the artist, and the painting was just so splendid
