It’s easy and idealistic to say that the culture of a company should reflect the culture of its leadership. It’s much harder in practice.
Patrick O’Shea, the senior vice president of Comerica Bank, can list off examples of how the C-suite culture at Comerica has rubbed off on the rest of the Dallas-based company, which spreads across seven states. He shared some of these examples with CMIQ after his presentation, "Creating a Culture that Produces Not Only Motivation, But ROI!" at the recent Call Center Exchange, held in conjunction with the 12th Annual Call Center Week.
O’Shea – whose affable nature suited his self-description as a "goofy guy" – discussed the emphasis the CEO and CFO of Comerica put on visiting banking centers in all seven states. The company’s Texas president makes sure to visit all the state’s contact center reps, an unusual practice in the contact center world.
Comerica’s leadership is "determined an direct about letting people know that these are the people doing the tactical work every day that makes us successful," said O’Shea, who started out as a rep himself.
If this is the example set by leadership, O’Shea said, it challenges every middle manager to make sure they are spending the appropriate amount of time with frontline staff. O’Shea meets with all new hires casually in the cafeteria – no longer his office after a frontline employee suggested the change. He regularly holds sessions with a rotating council of agents, which suggests ideas.
Many of these ideas go into practice – with a caveat. Agents must collectively meet certain performance benchmarks, fostering team spirit and inspiring better performance.
Some recent council suggestions? Shorts for the brutal Dallas summers. They reached that goal, O’Shea said with a laugh.
Listen to the entire interview to hear O'Shea describe his agent training process and suggestions for knowing the right culture for your company.