WHEN LEADERS REDUCE FRICTION, AGENTS REGAIN BANDWIDTH. THAT BANDWIDTH BECOMES CONFIDENCE...
3. Recovery. Recovery isn’ t a break. It’ s the mental reset after intensity. Normalize brief resets by saying,“ If you need a moment after that call, take it. I’ m watching the queue.” Give agents permission to breathe without feeling like they’ re falling behind.
4. Voice and agency. Create simple loops where friction points are named and revisited. Ask,“ What slowed you down today?” Track what gets fixed and what’ s still in progress. Agents don’ t expect miracles: they expect movement.
When leaders act on what they notice- the pace, the clarity, the recovery, the friction- agents feel supported, not scrutinized. But when those signals go unanswered, the cost shows up quietly at first, then all at once.
THE COST OF DOING NOTHING
When the load goes unseen, agents don’ t usually announce they’ re overwhelmed. They adjust. They avoid certain calls. They stop raising small flags that used to help you catch problems early. They pull back their creativity because it feels safer to stay inside the lines.
Eventually, the people who care the most- the ones who hold the toughest calls together- begin to wear out first.
Burnout rarely announces itself. It shows up in silence, hesitation, and the loss of the qualities we hired for.
Noticing the load isn’ t a luxury. It’ s a retention strategy. It’ s a quality strategy. It’ s the foundation of every metric we measure.
When leaders reduce friction, agents regain bandwidth. That bandwidth becomes confidence, and confidence becomes better performance- not from pushing harder- but from having the space to work well.
START WITH ONE SMALL CHANGE
You can’ t remove every friction point in a day. But you can notice one: and act on it. That’ s where change begins. Here’ s an example. This week, notice one place where an agent’ s load feels heavier than it should. Check your read
AGENT PERFORMANCE
WHEN LEADERS REDUCE FRICTION, AGENTS REGAIN BANDWIDTH. THAT BANDWIDTH BECOMES CONFIDENCE...
with the agent and let them expand on what you saw. Take a few notes and share them back to make sure you got it right.
Then agree on one or two small steps that could ease the strain. Try them. Follow up. See if the change made their day even a little lighter.
Small shifts like these don’ t just lighten the day. They change the culture one moment at a time.
Kathryn( Kay) Jackson is an expert in the contact center industry. She is the co-founder of ResponseLearning and Ilearncc. com, which she launched to provide organizations with consulting, training solutions, and knowledge-based products. She is on the forefront of simulation learning and knowledge base management.
12 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE