Originally posted 8/15/2023 on LinkedIn]
We’ve all worked on and with a team that just “clicks”- teammates know what’s needed almost before it’s verbalized, they are quick to help and support each other, always hungry to learn new things and see around corners. When you have that, it seems like magic, right? Yet high performance teams, whether in customer support (where I’ve worked) or anywhere else don’t just happen magically. They’re the outcome of an intentional culture in an organization that’s invested in recruiting, empowering, engaging and growing teams.
Take the support space as a specific example. How a team hires, trains, develops, and facilitates career pathing curates the skills, competencies, and collaboration that are essential for problem solving, creative solutioning, and communication- all critical ingredients for enabling great customer experiences.
As one way to make this part of our team DNA, my team at Athenahealth customer support created career development blueprints for every role and every development stage, pulling in business oriented and skill based competencies, development resources and career development templates for managers and employees. Once we rolled them out, employee engagement rose substantially- analysts, agents and managers felt like they had a tangible framework to help them grow and develop forward.
Another big benefit is that as customer and business needs change through new solutions, channels, tools and technologies, a well developed, highly effective team built on these foundations is more proactive at seeing needs and acting with agility.
All of this really just highlights that employee career development has to be more than a buzzword – it’s a strategy that pays off for both employees and businesses. When teams are provided with opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge, they become more engaged, motivated, and productive. This leads to increased job satisfaction and a sense of loyalty to the organization. The business, in turn, benefits from a more skilled and adaptable workforce that can tackle new challenges head-on.