4 Tips for building a more collaborative call center

Faith Ocampo Published on April 17, 2017

young creative office employees brainstorming ideas

If your call center rewards employees’ individual achievements more than team success, it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate your workplace engagement techniques.

As productivity-driven companies, most contact centers encourage agent productivity by rewarding individual employees’ exemplary performance. Agents are asked to end calls within a set time limit, handle an x number of transactions in a day, and so on. Those with the highest productivity as defined by these metrics are incentivized and hailed as “Agents of the Month.”

While this recognition-driven employee engagement approach can indeed drive up productivity, it comes with a cost. A highly competitive workplace leaves little room for collaboration. It breeds the mentality that customer support reps must outshine their colleagues for their hard work to be recognized. You may not think it matters at first, but this type of organizational culture can get in the way of teamwork.

diverse office employees cheering on teamwork

Team collaboration is essential in customer service companies. It’s the key to solving big issues that keep resurfacing and finding creative solutions to the most common customer problems.

Here are four tips to build a more collaborative call center.

1. Reward collaborative efforts.

proud office team holding one trophy

Instead of setting targets for individual employees, set team goals. Come up with tasks that will require your agents to work with one another. You can then incentivize your employees based on their collaborative efforts.

If your employees are used to working on their own, they might find it difficult to do this at first. So make sure to focus on team building tactics as well. Organize dinner parties, company outings, and other events to encourage your agents to get to know one another.

2. Promote transparency.

customer service reps serious business meeting call center team leader

Building a collaborative workplace all boils down to effective leadership. You need to create trust among employees by promoting transparency in the company. You can do this by welcoming constructive criticisms and widening agents’ access to work-related information.

3. Ask employees to identify the barriers to teamwork.

diverse business team in meeting writing on white board marker

Sometimes, managers have a narrow view of what it’s really like for call center agents to work on the production floor. So make sure to ask your employees about the practices, processes, or policies that are getting in the way of team collaboration. It could be your office’s layout, your no-chatting policy, or your overly hierarchical structure. Whatever the barriers may be, make sure to eliminate them in order to make it easy for agents to communicate with one another.

4. Brainstorm as a team.

creative diverse team in meeting

The bottom line is, you need to create an environment where your customer service reps feel comfortable sharing their insights, opinions, or suggestions. One way to do this is to brainstorm with them. Discuss an issue together, and solicit their ideas. Apart from making them feel at ease with their colleagues, this is also a great way to make them feel that the organization values their inputs.

 

Faith is a digital media enthusiast aiming to become an active part of the tech world by sharing her insights. She likes to blog about everything digimarketing, technology, and social media.
Join us on facebook
Open Access BPO Yesterday
Reposted from @tdcxgroup

We’ve made yet another bold move.

Just last month, TDCX Group launched Chemin to help the world’s most ambitious companies realize their AI goals — faster, safer, and smarter.

To accelerate our ambition, the Group has acquired SUPA, a cutting-edge data annotation platform known for its agile, gig-powered model and elite talent network.

SUPA will now be part of Chemin, as we make moves to deepen our ability to support everything from training foundational models to safeguarding mission-critical AI systems.

“The future of customer experience is AI-powered, and AI itself runs on increasingly complex, curated data. SUPA brings us the right capabilities and talent frameworks to fuel that future. By embedding SUPA into Chemin, we’re doubling down on our ability to support enterprise and frontier AI labs with world-class data operations,” says Laurent Junique, CEO and Founder, TDCX Group.

As the demand for precision, scalability, and human-in-the-loop intelligence grows, we look forward to delivering the kind of nuanced data interpretation and domain expertise today’s frontier AI requires.

Slide into our inbox — we speak AI.

Tap the 'Press Release' link in our bio for more details.

#CX #Outsourcing #AI #EnabletheFuture
Open Access BPO Yesterday
Exciting news from our parent company, TDCX Group!

Just a month after launching Chemin, its AI-enablement company, TDCX Group has made another bold move with the acquisition of SUPA!

A leading data labeling and annotation platform, SUPA’s deep expertise and tech capabilities will now be integrated into Chemin. This means that as a Group, we’re better equipped than ever to deliver end-to-end support — spanning customer experience excellence to advanced AI enablement.

As AI rapidly transforms industries, the Group’s acquisition reinforces our commitment to helping businesses harness its full potential — with the infrastructure, talent, and agility to deliver at scale.

Learn more about the acquisition: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7341673602808741888/

Have an AI use case in mind? Let’s talk. We’re ready to power what’s next.
Open Access BPO 8 days ago
Every page of Philippine history tells a story of determination, sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of liberty.

This Philippine Independence Day, let's take a moment to appreciate the heroes and everyday Filipinos who shaped this nation's journey.
Their legacy reminds us that true freedom is a continuous path of growth and unity.

From our operations across the Philippines, Open Access BPO stands in solidarity with the celebrations of this important day.

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#PHIndependenceDay2025 #ArawNgKalayaan
#Kalayaan2025 #OABPOholidays
Open Access BPO 10 days ago
#ICYMI: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗣𝗢 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀

Open Access BPO recently took significant steps towards a greener future.
We're proud to share that our team doubled down on environmental commitment through its 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝐼𝑡 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 tree-planting initiatives.

This effort reflects our dedication to sustainability and giving back to the planet.

See how we're making a difference here: https://buff.ly/eVvlVEr

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#OABPOPlantItForward
#OABPOcares #IdeaHubOABPO
Open Access BPO 10 days ago
Connecting with customers goes far beyond just speaking their language.

True understanding comes from a deep appreciation of their culture. That's what creates a genuinely authentic #CustomerExperience for everyone, no matter their background.

Find out more: https://buff.ly/1vvXwZK

----------
Create meaningful experiences for your customers with a trusted #CustomerSupport expert: https://buff.ly/QAdtZXK

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CX #CustomerService
Open Access BPO 11 days ago
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 boosts your brands' #SocialMedia presence by:
• Protecting your reputation & credibility
• Creating a safe & positive community for your users
• Encouraging user engagement
• Addressing customer concerns

Now, discover the untold stories of content moderators, their challenges, and the impact they have on our online experiences.

Read our blog now: https://buff.ly/13Fvy03

----------
Let's build a #ContentModeration program that'll address your operational needs, goals, and targeted growth: https://buff.ly/QAdtZXK

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#ContentModeration
#BackOfficeSupport