Case Study - In it together

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This is a brilliant example of how a little bit of support can go a long, long way. Of how a team learned to help themselves and why supporting wellbeing at work makes a tangible difference to the work people do.  This story began as an in-house piece of work, with all parties working for the same company. It has now become a wonderful collaborative piece, representing three businesses at conference.

The Brief

A request for some training to support an in-house archive team with some of the more 'emotional' enquiries that they were getting over the phone.  Common challenges were: customer calls featuring tears, blaming, raised voices, and unreasonable requests or expectations.  These callers were having a pronounced impact on many of the team, resulting in concerns about answering the phone, anxiety about how to handle certain calls, and elevated levels of stress associated with the role. The team hoped that some training would help them better handle these situations when they arose.

The Approach

We designed a 90minute informal discussion-based workshop, with the facilitator focused on allowing the team to explore the dynamics of the callers and the impact that this was having on them, together. The content included a little bit of neuro-psychology and room to explore personal needs and expectations.

The Result

As the team listened to one another it became very clear that there were commonalities in experience and need. This in itself was powerful, but the team went one step further. Within the 90minutes they had identified process improvements and a series of agreements around escalation and permission to disconnect with unacceptable behaviours.

The Impact

The team left the session and worked up a new framework for handling these difficult calls together. They reported massive improvements in confidence and overall experience using their new process. They were so delighted with what was possible that an opportunity to share the experience and the team learnings with a wider audience at conference was pitched, and we are so proud to support two of the original team at an upcoming event in Belfast.