To better my self for employer

[Poorandlostme]

I am currently a supervisor for our company, and currently supervise 16 people, and was kinda thrown into this situation. I have a great boss, though he is trying to start the company.(1 yr in business). But I have been looking for course or seminars to better my self (I have no clue of this job). I can't afford some of these seminars and the pay I receive just pays my bills, so any other suggestions or materials. Call center or management or resources. I feel like I am failing or just getting by. I love my job and my Boss is great and he really has no complaints yet, and he does some training but is currently in lots of meetings and building the business. So I have both feet in the door ,now if I can keep my tail in the seat.... Thanks.

[mikael]

Dear Poor,

Many years ago, I was once as you -- hired on as a new manager without a clue in the world as to how one runs a contact center operation. Somehow, I survived, and became an "expert" in the traditional way -- by making every possible mistake and learning from them all.

In a nutshell, here's what I'd advise you to do.

1) Get as much info as you can about the costs of your operation and the revenues. Take your company bean-counter out to lunch, and get them to help you to identify all of the costs associated with your operation, and all of the revenues & profits of it as well. You need to be able to explain and defend your budget instantly and fluently at any moment and to any audience.

2) Read everything you can about contact center operations. Surf the net -- let google be your closest buddy. Every time you hear a buzzword, search on that buzzword to see what articles may be out there that you can read for free.

3) Quietly start talking to your boss about professional development. If he/she is "in meetings" for much of the day and doesn't have time for training you, you'll need to gently make the case that you need to get that training from somewhere else so that *you can help grow the company properly.* Check into local chapters of the Association for Support Professionals (www.asponline.com) and the Help Desk Institute (www.thinkhdi.com).

If you're going to win at this job, you need to consider it as your profession. You may not have a big budget for your continuing education, but that must not become a stopper to your development.

I've got a couple of my articles and columns on my web site [www.mblaisdell.com] for free downloading, and I'm sure that my colleagues have similar things on their sites as well. When you have questions, post them here so that other members of the community can learn as well.

Good luck!

[ghorrocks]

To better understand Management and operations I would do everything mentioned in the first reply and for a small budget you can purchase self study books that will prepare you for CIAC accreditation. CIAC is Call center industry advisory council. This will give you the knowledge, tools and certificate to be successful in your business. The self study books are only $199.00 there are four titles:
People Management
Operations Management
Customer Relationship Management
Leadership and Business Management

This is a strong investment on your part to make yourself more marketable and build your knowledge to be successful. You can find out more on CIAC at www.ciac-cert.org and if you are interested in books or training of any kind please email me at ghorrocks@dakotaperformance.com

Good luck!

Gary