6 Essential Contact Center Leadership Traits

There are times you wish leading a team or organization came with a playbook. There are many good books on leadership, but when you are in the middle of a situation with a decision point on next steps, you can either manage your way through or lead the way.  

Managers and leaders are two distinct groups of people. Tom Peters, a leadership trainer and writer, said, “Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.” 

I’m going to focus on six leadership traits that I have found over my career that are essential for a leader to “nurture and enhance.” I believe that leadership traits can be learned. Leaders aren’t born: they are made. 

Influence

This trait is at the core of being a great leader. While some leaders can lead by position or worse, take control — it is rarely sustainable long-term and leads to burn out. If you want to take your leadership to a new level, it’s learning how to lead by influence. Influence is not manipulation. Influence is the ability to persuade and motivate others to accomplish things they did not think they could. Influence starts with trust. That means it takes time. Influence requires credibility and a time investment in nurturing your team.

Collaboration

If understand the impact of leading by influence, this trait is easily learned. Collaborating is the art of working with others to accomplish common outcomes. I do not see collaboration as compromise. Compromise to me is win/lose. Collaboration is similar to consensus. Collaboration is three parts: being a diplomat, empowering others and accepting others contributions. 

Communication

To be effective at communication, you must be effective at listening. Communication as a leadership trait is a dialogue —not a speech. Listening well opens up a leader’s ability to understand the needs of their group to formulate better decisions and promote clarity when sharing information.

Transparency

I refer to as the “burden of leadership.” The key to transparency is you should not share more than an individual or group can manage until you are able to communicate it in full. For example, if you just heard there is a special bonus eligible for team members, sharing before you have details can create excitement and anticipation. What if it gets pulled? Now, you’ve created disappointment and anxiety. 

Mindfulness

A Harvard Business Review article recently reported that “it’s common for leaders to react poorly in high-stress situations. Specifically, 53 percent become more closed-minded and controlling during times of crisis, instead of open and curious. A further 43 percent become more angry and heated.”

Being able to remain calm requires a leader to focus on facts, outcomes and on the strength of your team in a crisis or any situation when things don’t go as planned. Here are three ways to stay calm in a crisis:

• Understand the situation
• Remove emotion
• Think before you act

Embracing servant leadership

This is more like a philosophy, rather than a leadership trait. If you are thinking of your needs over others, the ability to collaborate will always be a challenge. Communicating with openness and transparency is most effective when you see from another’s perspective. Servant leadership exudes calm. There’s no room for control or power grabs in any situation as a servant leader, because it’s not about “me” — it’s about others.