Turn Negatives Into Positives

With their constant customer communication and emphasis on booking calls, calls centers can sometimes be stressful places. Have you ever heard any of these questions from call center employees before?

“What if the tech I’m dispatching gets upset with me for giving him another call?”

“What if I don’t book the call?”

“What if a customer yells at me?”

Your call center employees worry about questions like these. They don’t want to do a bad job in front of their manager, feel nervous during work, or say the wrong thing on the phone and hurt the company.

These call center employee questions are also useless questions. How much time do you, your employees, and your coworkers spend on the “what ifs” in your business? How much wasted emotional energy do people spend every day wondering if something will happen, and what to do about it?

Everyone’s been there. We’ve all had questions that weigh on our minds and keep us from operating at our best. “What ifs” can occupy our thoughts and cause us anxiety and stress.

Did you notice that all the call center “what if” questions were negative? That’s the mind trying to prepare itself for a stressful situation. You can help your employees handle their worrying questions differently. Why not help them spin the negative scenarios into positives, and look at their “what ifs” in a new light? For example:

• Instead of: “What if the tech I’m dispatching gets upset at me for giving him another call?”
  Why not: “What if the tech realizes that I’m giving him this call for a reason? What if he see it as a compliment?”

• Instead of: “What if I don’t book the call?”
  Why not: “What if I don’t book the call, but our inside sales rep books it, and teaches me something new in the process?”

• Instead of: “What if a customer yells at me?”
  Why not: “What if the customer yells at me, and I’m able to get them to calm down?”

You may think this is all just looking at challenging situations with rose-colored glasses. And sure — maybe it is. But what if you were looking at things optimistically, rather than in a negative light? What if you learned to recognize the value in making mistakes, instead of letting them weigh on you? What if changing your perspective could change your whole life?

Challenging situations will always exist. Can you do anything about your worry? If yes, then go do something about it. If no, then why are you worrying about it?

When it comes time to consider the “what ifs” that are taking hold of your life, your business, and your employees, consider spinning the negatives into positives. Your employees will relax, your business will do better, and your life will be one filled with learning.