7 Time Management Tips For Call Center Managers

In a call center, there are a lot of tasks going on at the same time. This makes it easy for the employees and managers to get distracted and lose track of time completely.

This is why it is important to manage time, especially for a call center manager.

Time management skill is highly desired in the call center industry, and for managers, they must be able to effectively use their time in productive activities.

The working hours are limited for every employee, but a successful call center manager can utilize his time in a way that gets them the most productive tasks done.

We have put together a few tips for time management that will help the managers work more effectively with the time in their hands.

1. Setting Priorities

The best way to ensure right utilisation of your time is to prioritise your tasks and then completing the most important tasks first.

At the beginning of the day, we are fresh and we have a lot of energy, thus it’s a good habit to handle the priority tasks at that time as they require more mental and physical effort.

During the late hours of the day, we have less energy, we can take care of the less important things.

You can even design a Time Management Matrix for determining which tasks you should finish first and which are to be done last.

Take a look at the matrix below –

2. Plan Ahead

Planning your schedule ahead of time will always be beneficial.

Make a to-do list before you start your day, preferably, the night before. A daily planner app can be beneficial for making to-do lists and planning your schedule more effectively, allowing you to easily manage your tasks and keep track of your progress.

Using the matrix above, schedule your tasks accordingly and keep checking them off your list once they are done. Moreover, they also help to boost your confidence.

As you see yourself completing tasks one by one, you will feel more motivated and energetic to do the next task just so you can strike it off the list.

And this is scientifically proven too, as you complete tasks, your brain releases dopamine or the “feel good” chemical which will induce the feeling of satisfaction and make you want to do more tasks.

3. Learn to Say NO

Your colleagues might come to you for help at the time, and that is when you need to so NO.

It can be hard to say no to a friend if he asks for help, but in order to keep everything going according to your schedule, you need to avoid adding extra tasks to your list.

Also, if you keep doing extra tasks, you will get more stressed and you will be pressured to complete your task with a deficit in your time.

4. Do Not Multi-task

Trying to do several tasks at once will often lead to none of the tasks being complete with precision.

A lot of people believe that they can easily manage time by multi-tasking a few things together to save time for other things to be done.

This is not true. When you multi-task, you cannot keep all your concentration at one particular task which results in mistakes regularly.

Also, it is more tiring as you have to keep your focus on multiple things leaving you tired to do the remaining things.

It is preferable to do one task at a time with efficiency. Your quality of work is also an essential factor that makes you a successful call center manager that others can look up to.

5. Don’t Hesitate To Ask

If you are having a hard time dealing with something, it is a good practice to ask a colleague or a senior for help.

However, if you hesitate, or don’t want to ask for help from others, it is possible that you will be stuck on the same thing for a longer period than it should take resulting in you losing a lot of valuable time.

Communicating with people for advice will be much quicker and efficient. They might know ways to complete the tasks quicker.

Also, they will develop more respect for you, as you didn’t hesitate to ask for advice when it was needed.

Teamwork is always the desired quality by organisations. If you reach out to your colleagues, they will also reach out to you in the future when they are stuck at something.

This will not only reduce the work stress but also promote collaboration in your call center team.

6. Take Short, But Regular Breaks

Taking breaks is crucial for you to be productive in the best possible way. Working too long can have an adverse effect on you.

No one is capable to stay focused and concentrated continuously for 8hours or more that they spend in our office. Generally, a person is productive for about 3 hours out of those 8 hours only.

If you work non-stop for hours and hours, your brain will get stressed out and it might affect your decision making capabilities.

If you think by not taking breaks you can improve your productivity, it’s actually the opposite. By not taking breaks, you decrease your productivity as you don’t provide your brain enough time to rest.

Moreover, if you work in front of a computer screen, even your eyes need rest. As your eyes and brain get tired with continuous work, a short break can help reset that and you can resume working again.

Breaks also help you retain more information in your memory and help generate more creative ideas. It also improves your decision making ability and lets you improve your concentration.

7. Make Use Of Productive Tools

Call Center Solutions are made to ease the work of managers and agents while also providing the customers with an optimum experience.

Using such a solution in your call center will not make your tasks easy but will also save you a lot of valuable time.

With a call center software, you can keep track of all your agents and the calls from one place. It is also capable of completing a few tasks on its own, which might take a lot of your time.

These tasks, such as filling out forms with customer information, or backing up data, etc. are might not be as urgent compared to what other things you have on your list.

In case any disputes occur, you do not have to ask your agents for the whole interaction and then ask the customer about theirs.

You can simply listen to the call recording and make a decision. For managers, tools like these are of great help and should be incorporated at a workplace.

Conclusion

Honestly speaking, time management for a call center manager is not an easy task at all.

One can easily miss prioritising tasks, or planning beforehand, or any of the above-mentioned things and time will slowly slip away.

Some people think that they don’t even need to manage time as long as their work is complete. While it might be true for a few people, it is surely not only for a call center manager.

And as one progresses further in their career, there will be more and more work coming to them.

To handle and efficiently complete all the hectic work, while maintaining the quality of work, it is essential to be skilled in managing time.