We’ve found at Crystal that we thrive if we have a great team leader. They’re so important to helping our company run smoothly. In this article I will address why we believe the Team Leader role is so important.
Recent business thinking turns the traditional organisation hierarchy upside down, putting customers at the very top of the pyramid. Directly underneath customers, you’ll find the front line teams who deliver the company’s product or service. They’re client facing, so we want to make sure they’re always positive and deliver services as Best as They Can Be.
Social proof has become one of the key aspects of determining how customers decide where to place their business. At the time of writing Crystal is receiving a 4.6/5 Star Feefo rating from its customers and an NPS score of +63. Results we’re pretty proud about.
At Crystal there are only two types of colleague; those that work directly on customer cases, and those that help those teams Do Great Stuff. Everybody at Crystal exists to support the front line team to deliver brilliant customer experiences. At least that’s the idea even if sometimes the muck-and-bullets of daily working life get in the way.
We believe it’s crucial that we make sure our front line teams are as motivated to deliver great experiences as they can be. The best way to make sure your customer facing employees are happy, motivated and engaged is to give them the proper support – which is why we have Team Leaders.
Crystal Team Leaders have a direct impact on the happiness and motivation of our workforce and champion their team. We believe great team leaders motivate and inspire their people to ‘deliver with a smile’ and make customer interactions with us ‘work’ and maintain their Trust in Crystal.
It’s their job to encourage their team to take responsibility to deliver great things and to achieve goals and targets. Without them managing a team, there’s a risk that employees could get lost or demotivated, but a well-motivated team understands what’s expected of them and will work together to reach their targets every day.
It’s important to me as the CEO, that employees feel valued, and a great Team Leader will recognise success and celebrate it. We like to give our employees a sense of pride and achievement, recognising those who deliver value-enhancing behaviours that contribute to our overall Company Mission.
Unhappy team members are less likely to deliver excellent services or quality to customers with obvious effects. If one of our client facing employees isn’t happy it’s probably impacting our business – sending the wrong message to clients through their attitude and tone of voice or by not applying the required attention to detail. Not good.
Poorly run teams can lead to low morale, politics and disruptive behaviour which can have a knock-on effect on the whole workforce. This needs nipping in the bud as early as possible and a good Team Leader should recognise this behaviour and address it in an appropriate manner.
Our Team Leaders are great. We ask and expect a lot from them and we’re really proud of the results they achieve in demanding work. But they aren’t just a friendly ‘soft touch’. They set and communicate standards making sure everyone is clear about what’s needed from them.
Does that mean just being ‘nice’ gets good results? Well, no. But being nice is certainly important, too.
The person that you choose as the Team Leader might not be the top sales person, fastest processor, most technically competent or highest skilled team member in their department. But they should set a standard which everyone should aspire to. And team members who don’t live up to the values or achieve the expectations of their role are unlikely to be great role models.
Being a Team Leader isn’t an easy task. They have to give it their best and have a great attitude and they should be someone that the team feels comfortable enough to talk to. This person wouldn’t be afraid to hold each team member to those standards. They understand that failure to address underperformance lets the entire team down and would, in turn, lead to them losing the respect of the team.
We have some great Team Leaders here at Crystal but we’re always on the lookout for exciting new future colleagues that match our Core Values of Trust, Being The Best We Can Be, Teamwork and Doing Great Stuff. If you think you have what it takes, I’d love to hear from you.
