Five principles for creating and maintaining thriving CX teams in government

New insights into customer contact services staff happiness and productivity 

For government agencies of all sizes and missions, creating meaningful and productive touchpoints for constituents is vital to making positive impressions, establishing relationships and advancing the public’s trust both in your agency and its service. People are at the center of these interactions; these customer service associates bring warmth, authenticity and productivity to agency operations while enhancing both the agency’s reputation and citizen satisfaction. 

New solutions, however, are often complicated to deploy and integrate with legacy solutions, leading to disconnected journeys, overrun budgets and missed engagement opportunities. 

In this dynamic environment, an organization’s ability to mitigate these challenges and elevate its contact center using new models of oversight, leadership, processes, and technology will propel it to new heights. 

The path to addressing these common challenges is marked by five guiding principles, which when implemented, can relieve organizational pressure on contact center teams, help agents flourish, and ultimately, drive heightened performance of the organization. 

1. Build and maintain a supportive culture: Encourage open communication in the organization by inviting collaboration and teamwork. Create an environment where staff feel comfortable sharing their ideas and feedback. 
2. Use the right channel for the right reasons. Leverage simpler channels for simpler interactions. Bots, for example, are great at answering FAQs and leaving more complex issues to your agents. As the demographics of your constituents change, expectations around channel mix will continue to evolve as well. Employing a cloud-based, modular approach can ensure that constituents receive consistent information regardless of channel. Employing a cloud-based, modular approach can ensure that constituents receive consistent information regardless of channel. Organizations should also know when to use human versus automated interactions. While some constituents require a human touch, others may seek fast self-service.
3. Focus on training. Invest in training opportunities for contact center staff. Training prepares associates for future opportunities, increases engagement, boosts job performance, and increases confidence levels. For added measure, emphasize Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training and programs to help ensure associates are better able to relate to others while feeling valued for who they are within your walls as well. 
4. Empower and trust. Provide your CX staff and front-line managers the autonomy to make decisions and resolve customer issues and other challenges as appropriate. Doing so allows them to provide personalized solutions and go beyond constituent expectations. Trusting associates’ decision-making instincts is one of the most overlooked and vital ingredients to creating an extraordinary team. 
5. Recognize and reward: Publicly acknowledge the achievements of call center associates. Design recognition programs that highlight exceptional effort and performance. Similarly, providing opportunities for career growth built upon this recognition can help to incentivize and retain any organization’s top talent.

By living these guiding principles, organizations can build a positive and nurturing environment for their CX staff, often leading to higher employee satisfaction, improved constituent experiences, and ultimately, organizational success. Caring for and recognizing the CX staff who interact directly with those you serve is essential to building lasting relationships and establishing a reputation that goes far beyond expectations.

Conduent specializes in delivering omni-channel customer contact services and customer communications, including customer and constituent care, technical support and loyalty management. 

Conduent CXNow for Government offers a complete, cloud-based solution for fast, seamless, reliable, and personalized contact center services and deployment while also driving call- and cost-efficiency. Learn more now by visiting Conduent CXNow.