How Workforce Management Can Help Your Contact Centre Make Better Decisions
With Josh Walton, Workforce Planning Manager at Allianz
Show Notes
Josh Walton is the Workforce Planning Manager at Allianz Australia.
He was the Auscontact Association, National Workforce Management Champion for 2020. And he was part of the Workforce Optimisation team that won the National Operations Award in 2019.
Today, he shares how your workforce management team can help your contact centre make better decisions.
Josh’s Top 3 Tips For Creating A High-Performing Workforce Management Team:
Continue to invest in training and technology for your team. Which also means grabbing as much budget as you can for your team (14:59).
Develop a diversity of strengths within your team. Josh is also a big fan of using CliftonStrengths to understand team members’ innate strengths, so he can assign the right person to the right project (15:31).
Collaborate with your team to come up with what Josh calls ‘operating principles’ you expect each other to follow (16:14).
You'll Learn:
The value that your workforce management team adds to your business, which often goes unnoticed (02:13).
The 3 steps Josh took to turn his workforce management team into a major contributor to the business (05:18).
The principle he applied from professional sports, that he credits for helping win the National Operations Award in 2019 (09:12).
Exactly what he looks for when hiring great workforce planners and analysts (10:33).
The way he motivates his team to ensure new hires are successful in their roles (12:48).
The philosophy Josh has when it comes to hiring (13:50).
Connect with Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-walton-524120108/
Transcript
Blair Stevenson (00:00)
Welcome to the Secrets to Contact Center Success podcast, connecting you with the latest and greatest tips from the best and the brightest minds in the industry.
I am Blair Stevenson, founder of BravaTrak. Our Sales Break-Thru System enables contact centres to increase revenue and achieve their sales growth goals.
Today, I'm joined by Josh Walton, who's a Workforce Planning Manager with the financial services company Allianz in Brisbane. Josh was the Auscontact Association, National Workforce Management Champion for 2020. And he was part of the Workforce Optimisation team that won the National Operations Award in 2019.
So Josh, welcome along, great to have you.
Josh Walton (00:43)
Thanks, Blair. Good to be here. Thanks for inviting me along.
Blair Stevenson (00:45)
You're welcome. Just as a starting point for listeners, tell us a bit about your background and your expertise.
Josh Walton (00:52)
Yeah, definitely. It's creeping up there now, so 12 years now in contact centres. Very much a rounded experience, not just related to workforce management. Like many others in the contact centre environment when you get to those senior manager roles, I started on the phones, and with luck - as you need with any career - I had opportunities to progress and step into some quality and coaching roles, as a Team Manager.
And then linking with those roles the strengths that I had around data analysis, and productivity and performance, quickly led me into the workforce management space. I started off initially as a business analyst, started building out and influencing KPIs within the contact centre for frontline and senior management and business metrics, process simplification, and then went into a forecast analyst role within more dedicated specific workforce management roles.
And then in the last three years at Allianz, I've been leading my own team as the Workforce Planning Manager.
Blair Stevenson (01:49)
Very cool. I was thinking about workforce management and the value it adds. Imagine you were at a work function and you're chatting away to the CFO who doesn't know much about contact centre operations. How would you explain workforce management to that person, and particularly the value it adds to the business?
What Is The Concept Of Workforce Management?
Josh Walton (02:13)
Well, I think firstly, workforce management is a little bit hidden in the business. But if I had to explain it, it's always a funny one. When I do have to explain my role, I normally let my partner explain to see how she delivers it as well.
But for me, workforce management encompasses all the processes that a contact centre undertakes. We're the relationship managers for the internal-external stakeholders, we're your customer experience, we are the key to your culture and engagement. And we are your business knowledge to lead and influence key budget and performance outcomes to deliver that ongoing success.
It's really the cog to keep the business going. We've got the full insight on what's happening in the business.
Blair Stevenson (02:58)
You mentioned it's the key to culture. Tell us a bit more about that.
Josh Walton (03:01)
For the frontline and team leaders, we're the first support function for our contact centre. So that's where I think we really are the lead in the culture and the engagement piece. If we get that right, the business is happy and we get that performance.
And it's about generating that work-life flexibility now, even more so in regards to hybrid models and everything that's happening with the COVID situation, and making sure we can adapt to be really flexible. That's where we need workforce management to be really stepping up and providing those options.
Blair Stevenson (03:44)
Yeah. Cool. So what do you regard as the most significant contributions that workforce management can have to both contact centre strategy and operational efficiency?
Josh Walton (03:55)
I think it's very much linked to how we maximise workplace efficiency. We manage the legal obligations and we engage our employees, so very much extending on that culture engagement piece. That includes the basics of just rostering staff to the customer demand and budget, managing the award requirements for the business, and ensuring accurate payroll.
And then, as I mentioned there, just creating that amazing employee experience for everyone. Frontline to management. And then that huge key support for all management, for all decisions that come with that.
Blair Stevenson (04:30)
Kind of sounds like the engine room. Always involved. Other people might be seen, but you're there doing the business and making sure it's running well.
Josh Walton (04:43)
It just doesn't stop, that workflow in workforce management. Not that it stops anywhere else, but it's up to that very last minute. There's always going to be that change or someone needing something. Because you're dealing with people's lives. The scheduling and the on the day stuff is around how people function in their day-to-day life. So I think that's why it very much is that engine.
Blair Stevenson (05:06)
Yeah, totally. So you've managed to ensure that your team's become a major contributor to your business, talk us through how you've managed to get to that point.
Josh Walton (05:18)
It's been a good reflection piece for me, especially coming into Allianz. When I first came to Allianz, I was able to step back and observe. That was a really good piece for me, coming into a new business to really analyze, not just data, but analyze how I was going to operate and who were the key decision makers. Really understand who the right people were to influence, to get that change required for the business.
I led clear foundations within my team and operations overall, to have the right reporting set-up, not only to deliver key insights, but to simplify and provide self-service where required. And with that, the key to the reporting was to deliver consistency across all teams, and above all, accuracy, to drive that confidence within senior management and external stakeholders which was previously missing.
Once we established that confidence in our output, it was easier for me to pick those right opportunities to challenge and influence change to drive that right performance in the business. I think the key part was around the confidence, providing that, the observation on who to bring in, when to bring in.
And it's that accuracy of delivery as well. You need to be making sure you're getting those decisions right, and building that confidence, so that when you are providing that insight, which may not be what everyone wants to hear, they have that confidence that, "Yeah, we need to take this on here because if we don't, we could be in a world of pain."
Blair Stevenson (06:46)
Yup. And so what have been the benefits to the business and your team for taking this approach?
Josh Walton (06:53)
It's not always a benefit for me and my team, because we are involved in everything now, but it's a nice thing to have. I'd rather be involved than not be involved. I think that's the biggest part of it.
I think now that we're brought in at an early stage to do that needed analysis, this means for the company we have strong early project capacity planning to have the right resourcing in place. And success means delivering a service more effectively than the competitors. So if we get that right, we're always going to be one step ahead of our competitors.
We have engaged team members bringing high productivity and lower turnover, and we stay on top of those risk and compliance award requirements, making sure the business delivers to enterprise award obligations. And we now are the voice of the operations team.
And it's even more so now, with that compliance and risk culture that that's coming through. Having us in there at that early stage really makes sure that we're having that risk assessment as well, and what we're delivering for our people.
Blair Stevenson (07:47)
Yeah. Nice. Just as you talk, I'm just thinking that workforce planning is pretty much a niche. I honestly don't come across a lot of people dying to get into it, but you've managed to develop a team that won the Auscontact Association, National Operations Award in 2019. How did you do that?
What Is Workforce Management In A Call Center?
Josh Walton (08:11):
Yeah. And just going back to your statement, yeah, it's true. Not too many people love workforce management or even understand what the role delivers. I think that's the first thing that I've really tried to do, is educate what we do within the business. So people really understand what we're delivering.
It's a common theme. People think Workforce Managers as wedding planners, or even just being highly organised people. To joke about that, I've been engaged six years now. I'm more spontaneous than organised, so clearly I'm an exception to that.
And normally when I look for people I say, "What do you think it is?" And they say, "Oh, people have said I should go into workforce management because I'm really organised." Or, "I should plan events." That's not what workforce planning is all about.
But back to the question, upon review of the team, when I stepped in, it was clear the skillset just wasn't here in the company. So I had to go and find that, on top of investing in the training and development of the current team. The contact centres, it's a key theme, again, they really drive that internal recruitment, but it's not always the answer.
I have a sporting background, so professional sports teams, they go out and they get the best people. They go and find it, they understand what they want and they go and buy the best people out there. So for me, I went out and poached great people. And it just so happened that I was lucky enough that I was recruiting some of the best people in the industry who fit in really well.
And when your team starts to be recognised and have this success, like we have had over the last few years, like great sporting teams, people want to join that team and that winning culture. And that's what we've been able to build on now.
And when I do go through interviews when an opportunity does come up in my team, it is very much the key theme in that people are seeing what we've achieved, and they're wanting to work with us to see what we're doing differently in the industry.
So that's very much how we've been able to now create that stability on recruitment as well, moving forward.
Blair Stevenson (10:11)
That's a really cool analogy, thinking about it from a professional sports team approach, and thinking about what they do, because it works for them.
So let's talk further about recruitment, and crack that workforce management code. You talked about poaching good people. What do you look for in a great workforce planner or workforce analyst?
Josh Walton (10:33)
The first thing I look for, and it's not just something I say, it's just looking for genuine people. People that want to come in and really want to develop, not just themselves, but develop the business and the processes around us.
I want them to be able to challenge and influence change. You need to always be thinking, "There is a better way of delivering what we do." And that's what we need to keep doing, especially in workforce planning. We need to be an example of effective flexibility, and driving efficiency and simplification. That's really what I want to drive in everything I see.
When I go into interviews, I'm really seeing people who willing to challenge and not afraid to be a voice on what could be done differently. You don't have to change everything. It's not always, "Everything is broken", but when there is opportunity, we really want to see that people feel empowered to drive that. So that's what I look for.
I think the other factor is, and I think this has been key to ongoing recruitment and cracking that workforce management code, I bring my team into the recruitment process. So with that, I've found that when your team is involved within that process, there's an increased support from them to make sure that newly recruited person is succeeding afterwards. They're aligned to it. They want people to come in and be successful also.
And within that, if you have your team in there and potential hires ask, "Why should I work for you?" or, "What's good about working for you?", coming from the manager it doesn't always come across as authentic or honest. And having a peer in there to talk to, it really comes across genuine.
And you just see the change in someone's face when you see that person that's in the team actually talk really highly and positively about what they're doing. That's the code that I try and bring.
Blair Stevenson (12:24)
Nice. That's a really smart move. It's positive from two perspectives. One is, as you say, the person being recruited hears it from the people in the same or similar role, for which they're applying. But the other side of it is, if your team have an active role in recruiting someone, there's a level of commitment to wanting that to be successful.
Josh Walton (12:48)
Yeah. It's not just all on me then. And when you do have those tough conversations, you always do, if there is a challenge then - and you're not going to have all the right assumptions in regards to picking someone. It's all about trying to bring in balance of personality. And sometimes you do get it wrong, and there will be a conflict.
But then you can bring it back saying, "Look, you were also part of that decision. What can you do to support me now to make sure that we've got the right balance in the team?" It puts some ownership back into that.
Blair Stevenson (13:23)
Yeah. Beautiful. The other thing that stood out for me was just in terms of talking about what a great workforce planner or workforce analyst looks like, is you were talking about personal attributes.
It sounds like you have this philosophy of actually recruiting people with potential, as opposed necessarily to an entire skillset that you need from them. Would that be right?
Josh Walton (13:50)
100%. There might be someone that might be the least experienced in a candidate group that I'd have, but if I get that sense of just real genuine want to develop, be the best and see some sort of passion in workforce management. It is niche, you don't normally see it.
It's not always about getting the best, it's about developing and investing in those academies and that type of thing as well. I'm very open to do that. I'm a big believer in that and it's about paying it forward. For myself, I'm in this role because someone invested in me. They saw something in me that they wanted to develop.
So I'm very big on that and paying that forward as well.
Blair Stevenson (14:32)
Very cool. Okay. So let's wrap up. For other Workforce Managers out there, who want to put together a high-performing team, what are your top three tips for them?
Josh Walton (14:48)
I did have a think about this one and you never really just write it down as the top three. You sort of have it as your mantra, and you normally ask people what they think it is.
Tip #1 (14:59)
But a big thing for me is what we just let on then, is that continued investment into your team. You need to make sure you have the right training, and not just the training, the right technology in place, for your team to be able to grow, and have the right tools in place to deliver best in practice. So if you don't have that, you can't develop that team.
Normally in workforce management, you are really key in budget conversations. So be selfish, and grab as much of that budget as you can for your own team. That's what I try and drive as well.
Tip #2 (15:31)
Secondly, developing higher skills and strength diversity within the team. A healthy dynamic is crucial to high performance. It allows you to make effective use of their time to be truly engaged, to innovate and therefore find optimal solutions in those problems. It really helps them to feel empowered.
Strengths testing is a huge one for me, the CliftonStrengths and everything around that, it's really understanding and making sure you understand the diversity within your team and where the strengths are. So you know who to assign to certain projects, who to bring into certain conversations, so you can flex the right people in the right areas when you're driving that change. And that's been a massive one for me in trying to develop in the team.
Tip #3 (16:14)
And I think lastly is to just engage with your team to collaborate on a set of operating principles, as well as calling out specific mindset, behaviours and actions in alignment with those principles.
I think it's key to have your team call out where they see things incorrect as well, not just in regards to processes, but also those behaviours in the team that we're holding ourselves in that high regard on in what we want to be, what we want to be perceived as, what we're delivering.
And there's always challenging moments in a business environment. We need to be positive in that approach but still be able to say "No", be able to raise those concerns, by still having that proactive mindset to be able to say, "This is why, but this is a solution that I've thought of."
Always coming with an option, not just being a roadblock. And I think that's something I really drive in the team. In operations, you need to be having that mindset of "What's the solution." Otherwise, you will slowly be brought out of those conversations.
Blair Stevenson (17:18):
Well, that's it from us today. For listeners, you'll find the link to the show notes in the episode description below.
And if you'd like to connect with Josh on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-walton-524120108/), you'll also find the link to his LinkedIn profile in that description too.
And if you'd like to follow me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensonblair/) or connect with me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/blair.stevenson.980), you'll find links to my profile there as well.
Well, that's it from us today. Have a productive week.