Conflict Resolution’s Post

Award Winning Customer Service Conflict Resolution Lessons: Turn Problem Performers into Peak Producers Dealing with a problem performer can be unnerving. If you have already provided sufficient training, given corrective feedback, and the problem continues, you are probably dealing with a problem performer who is not motivated to perform the job correctly. Unless you turn this behavior around, the situation is not going to correct itself. Here is more bad news: Your other coworkers will lose respect for you as a leader if you do not handle the problem performer. To correct poor performance or change a poor attitude, deal with the situation right away and deal with it head on. Performance Prompts • Plan your meeting. Think of questions to uncover the reason for the behavior. • Picture how your coworker is going to respond. This is a touchy situation; you may be dealing with someone’s bad attitude. What is the worst case scenario? • Ask your coworker to explain why the problem has continued. Be direct and to the point when asking for an explanation. • Listen. Let your coworker do the talking. Resist guiding the conversation. • Ask questions to uncover the cause of the poor performance and bad attitude (don’t like my job, don’t like talking to customers, unhappy about something). • Gain agreement that the person knows the correct behavior. State that the incorrect behavior is unacceptable. Focus on the behavior only, not the cause. • Ask what your coworker is going to do to change. • Discuss and agree on the resolution. • Write an action plan and review the steps necessary to reach the objective. • Affirm your confidence in your coworker’s ability to change. Follow up. If at first you don't succeed, try this. Ian is a problem performer. After planning your meeting and thinking how Ian is going to respond, you meet with him. “Last week we talked about the tone you were using. You said it was because you didn’t know what to say when customers were upset. You agreed to change, yet this morning I heard the sarcastic tone when a customer asked for help. Please explain.” Agree that Ian knows the correct behavior. “You agree that you know how you should speak to customers.” Get Ian to take responsibility. “This is unacceptable. What will you do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” State your confidence. “I know you will turn this around. Our customers deserve to be treated well.” excerpt from Award Winning Customer Service, available on amazon.com

** 🇮🇱 Steering Customer Success in Conflict Times 🇮🇱 ** Just to be clear: I Stand with Israel and our brave soldiers – they're like the world's most determined tech support, always on call, even when the 'higher-ups' keep updating the software... 🤦♂️ For the last 3 months, Navigating customer relationships during the conflict requires a thoughtful and sensitive approach. it's crucial to guide our teams in handling discussions with customers who may have diverse and potentially conflicting opinions. Maintain Neutrality and Professionalism: o  Remind your team that the primary goal is to provide excellent customer service, irrespective of personal or customer opinions on the conflict. o  Encourage them to steer conversations away from political topics and focus on the customer's immediate needs and how your company can assist. The Empathy and Listening Power: o  Train your team in active listening skills. Understanding the customer's perspective, even if it differs from their own, is essential. o  Emphasize the importance of empathy. Acknowledge the customer's feelings and concerns without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with their views. Clear Communication and Boundaries: o  When the talk veers into personal or political territory, politely steer it back to business-related subjects. o  Instruct your team on setting clear boundaries in conversations. Politely but firmly redirect discussions back to business-related matters if they veer into personal or political territory. Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness: o  Encourage cultural sensitivity and awareness among your team members. Understanding the diverse cultural landscape in Israel can help in responding appropriately to different customers. o  Provide training or resources about cultural nuances and how they might impact customer interactions. Conflict Resolution Training: o  Get experience settling disputes inside the team to get ready for dealing with customers. o  Equip your team with conflict resolution skills to handle any difficult conversations or situations that may arise. o  Role-play scenarios can be an effective training tool, allowing team members to practice navigating challenging discussions. Creating a Supportive Environment: o  Monitor your team's mental health regularly and assist. o  Recognize that dealing with conflict-related customer discussions can be stressful. Offer support and resources for team members to manage their well-being.   Regular Updates and Communication: o  Keep the team informed about any company policies or statements regarding the situation to ensure consistent messaging.

Award Winning Customer Service Conflict Resolution Lessons: Communication Is Key to Resolving Conflict Miscommunication is often at the root of conflict so it makes sense that good communication is the key to resolving it. You already learned the principles of good communication. In conflict resolution it is important to: listen, pay attention to nonverbal messages, ask good questions, think before responding, choose your words carefully, say something to show you value those involved, and add charger words to your vocabulary. Performance Prompts • Listen carefully before attempting to resolve conflict. Do not interrupt when someone is telling you about the conflict. Listen to all sides. • Pay attention to nonverbal messages you are receiving—and sending. Maintain a stance that displays you are listening. Show concern in your facial expressions, but do not frown, laugh, or send any other improper messages. • Ask questions to enhance your understanding of the conflict. Use non-judgmental words when asking. Remember, you are looking for additional information only. • When you are confident you have enough details to work towards resolution, take the time to think before you respond. Plan what you will say. • Choose your words wisely. Also choose your tone wisely. Make sure what you say matches the tone in which you say it. Remain nonjudgmental. Remember that if you are in the role of facilitator you want the parties involved to work towards an agreeable resolution. • Always include a message that shows you value those involved. Displaying empathy is a great way to communicate this. • When meeting to resolve conflict, incorporate some charger words. I’m glad you thought of that. Let’s try it. How can I help? How can I/you/we correct this? When this happens... You think over your two choices about Dave. If you ignore the comments they are not going to go away. You may cause the situation to worsen to the point the team loses its cohesiveness. You really have only one choice. You are aware of the conflict and you must deal with it. You heard your team members making snide comments about Dave. You also heard one of them make a comment to Dave. Do you have enough information to know how to resolve this issue? Try this. No way. You heard some comments but you do not know the root cause of the problem. Before you can plan how to resolve this conflict, you need to meet with each person individually to get a better understanding. Start by relating what you heard and ask what is going on. Listen carefully. Pay attention to body language. Ask questions until you are sure you understand the root cause. Let everyone know this issue is important to you and you are going to work to resolve the problem. excerpt from Award Winning Customer Service, available on amazon.com

Award Winning Customer Service Conflict Resolution Lessons: Find Win-Win Solutions How well are you resolving a conflict if one or more of the involved parties do not feel the outcome is acceptable? Not well at all! Unless all involved members feel satisfied with the solution, you are not going to resolve the conflict. Your main goal should be to resolve conflict by finding a win-win solution where everyone feels valued. Performance Prompts • Open your meeting by explaining that this is a solution seeking meeting. Leave complaining at the door! • Make sure all involved people are present at your meeting. • Your role is to facilitate the discussion and guide your coworkers to reach consensus. Describe the problem and ask for ideas to resolve it. • Allow everyone time to talk. Listen to each suggestion and note all ideas. • Stay focused on the issue at hand. No name calling, using always or never, or ganging up on someone. • Consider all ideas. An idea that sounds silly may be the right solution. • Analyze the consequences of each suggestion. • Work towards consensus and a solution that everyone can buy into. Complete agreement may not be possible; rather, find a solution that is acceptable to all. • If tempers flare, take a cooling off break. • The best solution for right now may be to rest the problem. Adjourn the meeting, give everyone time to think, and then meet again. • If you cannot reach consensus as a group, you may have to make the final decision as the group leader. Take your time before deciding and explain why you are making this decision. When this happens... You set the meeting time and state the reason for it. Before the meeting, you talk to everyone, individually, to explain the ground rules. Try this. By explaining the ground rules before your meeting, you accomplished one important goal: you set the tone for the meeting. You open the meeting by saying, “I value each of you and I appreciate how closely we all work together. When I noticed a problem I felt we needed to resolve this right away. Each of you has explained why you’re upset that Dave is acting team leader. I’ve talked to Dave to get his input. The main problem is that when Dave takes over as team leader the rest of you have to cover his workload and that puts a burden on you. Let’s come up with some ideas to solve this. Who wants to go first?” You facilitate the discussion and guide your coworkers to reach an acceptable solution. They support Dave as acting team leader. They decide that they can handle his work one day a week and if Dave is team leader more than that he will have to take responsibility for doing part of his workload. They will work as a team to distribute and take responsibility for his work. Everyone accepts this win-win solution and you feel that working together on this has strengthened the team. excerpt from Award Winning Customer Service, available on amazon.com

Award Winning Customer Service Conflict Resolution Lessons: Anticipate Problems and Deal with Them Immediately Conflict is not going to go away on its own. Someone must take ownership of each conflict and work to resolve it positively. There is another element of conflict resolution: the time factor. Once you become aware of a conflict, you do not have the luxury of time to wait and see what will happen. It is imperative that when you see a problem developing you deal with it immediately. Become an active observer and communicator in order to anticipate problems as they are arising. When you do this you will be able to resolve conflict when it is still in the forming stages. Performance Prompts • Always be on the lookout for things that are amiss. Examples: people have different points of view, do not agree with a decision, or feel unfairly treated. • Ask team members, coworkers, and friends to tell you when problems are arising. • Before initiating any project or program, develop a contingency plan. Watch for any problems that may develop and be ready to move to your contingency plan. • Before initiating anything new, review past projects and programs, analyze what conflicts occurred, and how they were resolved. • Confront conflict as soon as you notice it. Never let conflict grow into an unmanageable situation. • Before plunging in to resolve the conflict, first take time to think about it. • Plan the best way to handle the situation. If the conflict is between two people, you most likely do not need to involve your entire team to resolve the issue. • Think about how the involved people are going to respond when you meet. Who will be confrontational? Who will be passive and give in? • If you do not know how to resolve the conflict, ask for help. • Ask your peers how they effectively resolved conflict on similar problems. When this happens... You noticed the conflict and you must deal with it. You now have enough information from your individual discussions to plan your group meeting. The problem is that you like everyone on your team; this puts you in an uncomfortable place. Try this. Get past feeling uncomfortable. You have a problem so deal with it. This does not mean you need to jump right in. First, take the time to carefully plan how you will work to resolve the conflict. This involves four members of your team so plan to meet with the four. Think about how you are going to open the meeting and facilitate the discussion. Very important: also think about how each team member is going to respond. Who will be outspoken? Who will try to dominate the conversation? How is Dave going to handle a meeting where others may criticize him? By carefully planning you will find the best way to resolve the situation. excerpt from Award Winning Customer Service, available on amazon.com

Transforming Tension into Trust: Conflict Resolution in Customer Service Conflict resolution strategies in your contact center are defined as an array of techniques and methodologies that help address customer grievances and internal discord #cx #cxnews #ccaas #customerservice

Award Winning Customer Service Conflict Resolution Lessons: Remain Calm and in Control at All Times There will be times when you will be so upset about something you feel ready to blow. There will also be times when an angry or upset person who is ready to blow approaches you. When either of these situations happens, use all of your self-control and inner strength to make the situation better, not worse. Put your positive attitude to good use; do not turn negative when you—or someone else—are upset. When you are ready to blow: • Breathe slowly and deeply. Consciously focusing on your breathing can help slow your racing heart and your racing thoughts. • Count to ten. Get away from the situation. Take a short break or go for a walk. • Never lash out at anybody when you are angry. No one will come away with positive feelings when you are unable to control your emotions. • Always think before you speak. Do not say something you are going to regret. • Never, ever threaten anyone. Walk away from a situation if you feel you are losing control of your emotions. • Learn not to take anything personally. Always try to understand why someone has acted inappropriately before talking to the person about the situation. When someone else is ready to blow: • If an angry person approaches you, let the person vent. Do not make an angry person angrier by not taking the time to listen. • Always remain patient, calm, and in control when listening and responding to someone who is angry or upset. • If the person appears to be losing control, stay composed and speak in a calm voice. You are really angry now. Let’s take a walk so you can compose yourself. When you can talk about this calmly, I’ll do everything I can to help you. • If someone is speaking or acting inappropriately, focus on the behavior and say why it is inappropriate. Assure you will help. Please stop yelling. Customers might hear you and that is unacceptable. I’m going to help you. • If someone threatens or intimidates you ask for help or get away from the situation. Go immediately to your manager and explain what happened. When this happens... Your customer, Taylor Davis, comes tearing into your store. He looks ready to blow and is heading your way. As he reaches your desk, he pounds on it and screams, “You told me you would reverse this charge and you didn’t. You must be a moron!” Your heart races, you are taking shallow breaths, and you are unnerved. Try this. Calm down and control yourself. He yells, “You said you’d take care of it!” Take a deep breath. Speak slowly, quietly, and calmly. “Taylor, I’m really sorry. It should have been processed before your bill date. Please have a seat and let me find out what happened. I will make sure this is taken care of right away for you.” excerpt from Award Winning Customer Service, available on amazon.com

Support pros are great at breaking down complex problems, reading between the lines of an ambiguously worded customer email, and gracefully delivering both happy and disappointing news. Well, most of the time. There are lots of reasons communication breakdowns can happen in support. Maybe there’s a language barrier. Maybe things are getting personal. Maybe you just don’t know how to help. In these situations, the best solution is often to bring in a fresh set of eyes. Mathew Patterson has great tips for smoothly handing off a conversation, but his best advice is to make this tactic safe for your team. Asking for help isn’t a sign of failure. It’s a sign that your team feels safe, trusts each other, and is focused on the right priority — your customers.

As a virtual assistant how do you navigate through difficult customers or how do you solve problems emanating from unsatisfied customers without violating the company's policy? Maybe these techniques will be of help, you can also add yours in the comments… You're a customer service representative at a telecommunications company. A customer, let's call her Sarah, calls in angrily, complaining about frequent internet outages and poor service reliability. Sarah is frustrated because these issues have been ongoing for weeks, impacting her work and personal life. Active Listening: You start by actively listening to Sarah's concerns without interrupting her. You reassure her that you understand the frustration caused by the internet outages and acknowledge the inconvenience it has caused her. Empathy and Problem-Solving: You empathize with Sarah's situation, expressing genuine concern for her experience. You reassure her that resolving the issue is a top priority for the company. You ask probing questions to better understand the nature and frequency of the outages. De-Escalation Strategies: To de-escalate the situation, you maintain a calm and composed demeanour throughout the conversation. You avoid becoming defensive or dismissive of Sarah's complaints. Instead, you focus on addressing her concerns with empathy and understanding. Conflict Resolution Skills: You reassure Sarah that you're committed to finding a solution that meets her needs. You offer to direct her case to a specialized technical team for further investigation. You also propose temporary solutions, such as providing alternative internet options or compensation for the inconvenience. Before concluding the call, you summarize the key points of your conversation with Sarah to ensure mutual understanding. You thank her for bringing the issue to your attention and assure her that the company values her as a customer. By employing active listening, empathy, de-escalation strategies, and conflict resolution skills, you successfully address Sarah's concerns and work towards a resolution that satisfies her needs while maintaining a positive customer experience.

Effective communication for Problem Solving We often say as customer service officials or virtual assistant that one or our skills is Communication and handling Customer complaints and concerns. Handling customer complaints requires you to first “ Identify the problem “ Let me share my most recent experience, So a customer came and made a complaint to one of my subordinates.. she assumed she understood the problem so she did what she thought was the best solution for the problem. But this customer came again with the same complaint to her, she was confused as to why the problem is still persisting so once again she repeated the same resolution. And then again the customer returned back this time more agitated and irate. So I stepped in and LISTENED to the customer and understood what the problem was. I explained it properly to her and the issue was resolved and she apologized to the customer. Here is what she did wrong She didn’t listen attentively to what the customer was saying, she familiarized the situation to a similar situation, which wasn’t entirely the same. She wasn’t able to define the exact problem (root cause) as to why the customer was experiencing what he was experiencing. She mistook the symptoms of the problem to be the problem itself. So communication isn’t all about speaking but also about listening. The first step to solving a problem is identifying the problem