Operations Manager

Overview of Job Responsibilities

The Customer Care Manager will lead a team of Call Center Supervisors by providing them with direction, support, and career development. Demonstrate innovation by enhancing or creating processes that will improve customer satisfaction, increase productivity, and improve the performance of Customer Service Representatives.

Essential Responsibilities and Deliverables

Function Specific: 

• Develop staffing plans, motivational programs, and inventive plans to ensure key department metrics are met
• Conduct monthly reviews of department budget to ensure goals are being met
• Research information beyond existing procedures as required to meet customer needs
• Actively promotes teamwork and information sharing across boundaries
• Generates and utilizes formal and informal network contacts to improve collaboration among teams
• Builds and maintains strong, collaborative partnerships with others (e.g., other team leaders, external partners)
• Clarifies and shares best methods for performing teamwork across organizational boundaries (e.g., promote a 'one-team' approach for sharing common processes and practices)
• Generates and leverages 'win-win' strategies to gain support from others outside the team for key goals (e.g., influences across boundaries to get things done).
• Discusses performance problems in a supportive, objective, straightforward manner
• Develops a team culture in which timely rewards and recognition are consistently provided to team members. Develops a team culture in which timely, objective feedback is provided to team members about strengths and development needs
• Clarifies performance expectations collaboratively with direct reports (e.g., roles, responsibilities, standards, and goals)
• Accurately assesses the organizations strengths and vulnerabilities, and external opportunities and threats
• Anticipates potential problems and takes action to address problems in advance
• Applies lessons and knowledge learned from previous experiences to new challenges
• Develops alternative courses of action to resolve problem and outlines the risks/benefits associated with each action
• Appropriately prioritizes business problems that need to be resolved
• Builds credibility and trust with key customer stakeholders through open and direct communications (e.g., uses effective listening skills, provides timely feedback, ensures their needs are given priority, etc.)
• Takes personal responsibility for customer satisfaction by identifying and mobilizing the appropriate resources to respond to their needs

Leadership and Management:

• Adopt and develop a management style of engagement, professionalism, and openness.
• Develop and communicate a clear vision of the business goals to drive results.
• Build relationships with employees; establish rapport, trust, and credibility
• Evaluate and develop team members to align capabilities with roles business needs and career development.
• Maintain clarity of and communicate the company’s vision and values
• Facilitate communication and collaboration within the function and across Harte Hanks
• Actively monitor and improve employee commitment, using the Harte Hanks employee survey tools and insights.
• Appropriately prioritizes business problems that need to be resolved
• Develops specific strategies (e.g., contingency plans) to address the potential impact from change
• Ensures appropriate level of stakeholder buy-in and support for change
• Involves end-users in designing an approach to change and diagnosing vulnerabilities
• Makes change plans public; communicates them throughout the organization
• Develops and implements change that has clear business payoffs and benefits to end-users
• Publicizes and celebrates successes in the change process (e.g., 'process advertisements')
• Matches leadership style to the needs of individuals and teams (e.g., directs, coaches, collaborates, delegates appropriately)
• Understands the critical financial levers in the business and how to appropriately apply them

Supervision:

• Supervises work of others, including planning, assigning, scheduling, and reviewing work, ensuring quality standards.
• Is responsible for hiring, terminating, training, and developing, reviewing performance and administering corrective action for staff.
• Plans organizational structure and job content.
• Perform monthly and annual reviews and make appropriate wage and rate recommendations within budgetary limitations
• Make training recommendations to ensure team member succeed
• Monitor Tele sales team telephone calls and provide feedback, counseling and coaching as required to ensure customer satisfaction and service remains high
• Develop motivational and team building activities to maintain morale
• Acknowledges and addresses problems and issues in an honest, up-front, non-judgmental manner
• Identifies others' concerns and objections and frames desired outcomes in terms of their interests
• Takes action to help ensure that all team members understand key strategies, goals and plans
• Actively solicits input from others to clarify key issues and potential actions before acting
• Provides important information quickly and accurately to internal and external customers
• Plans and delivers oral and written communications that have clarity and impact
• Creates an environment in which employees feel respected and empowered to make meaningful contributions
• Provides development opportunities for each individual and the team to reach their full potential
• Ensures that individual performance plans are integrated with the organization's business plans
• Leads the team to prioritize project selection and process interventions based upon business impact (e.g., reduce risk/cost, improve productivity/profitability, financial impact of implementation)
• Leads the team in generating and testing multiple hypotheses regarding the root causes of problems
• Selects the most appropriate solutions from a range of competing priorities (e.g., balances strategic and operational efforts)
• Creates a team environment of accountability and commitment for reaching goals

Critical Working Relationships 

• Effectively works with all cross functions.
• Reports Operations update to the immediate manager and Account/Operations Director

Qualifications, Knowledge, and Skills

Education:

• Minimum College degree

Experience:

• 5-8 years call center experience required
• 1-3 years at the manager level

 Knowledge/Skills:

• Proven and demonstrable leadership, management and motivational skills
• Exercise good judgment and utilizes creative problem-solving skills
• Appropriately prioritize team goals and individual goals to effectively achieve business objectives
• Demonstrated excellence in communication (written and verbal) with internal and external customers
• Detail oriented and exhibits an urgency to achieve results.
• Should be proficient in time management and problem-solving skills
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks
• Proficiency using MS office
• Having Sigma and/or Project Management certificate is desirable but not necessary

Measures of Performance 

• Demonstrate ability to hire, retain and lead a high-performance team
• Customer and Employee satisfaction
• Accounts growth in terms of KPIs and revenue

Personal Attributes 

• Demonstrates an uncompromising level of honesty, trustworthiness, and ethical behavior
• Exudes the ability to inspire, motivate and influence others to achieve
• Demonstrates an intense personal commitment to their job
• Results-driven, action-oriented, and self-motivated mindset
• Must be experienced and comfortable working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment and able to deal well with change and ambiguity