Build the best version of your support team in three steps

What’s it like to be in a department that is completely reshuffled? To have a huge organizational change when everyone is working towards achieving team and individual goals?

This all happened in Kayako.

We realized that there was a need to bring some changes to go from: Support team to kickass support team.

Why did we need to build a kickass support team?

When customers are actively interacting with you, they aren’t just looking at your products, but speaking and working with someone who is supposed to represent your company.

If you represent your company in a good way, your customers will remember your company fondly. These interactions create the customer journey and make your customers loyal.

Everyone wants to have loyal customers, and your support team is responsible for creating those loyal customers.

When your Support team is happy and enjoy their way of working, their approach creates a great way to deliver outstanding support.

Remember “Happy Support = Happy Interactions and Experiences = Happy Customers!”

An old saying “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers”. We at Kayako followed and did the same for our Support team. Today we will be talking about three major changes, to be focused on, which helped Kayako to create a kick ass support team.

Step 1. Empower your team

An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success. To make people succeed, you need to empower them. The very first thing involved in empowering is Trust. Once you trust your team and let them do the things on their own way, you will see wonders happening. How Kayako empowered the Support members and trust them?

We set the team goals considering the end result we want to achieve as a Team and let our members decide to take their own decisions. We developed the Career Growth path for entire team, including the skills needed to work on the different levels. It’s entirely the choice of our support team members to decide where exactly they want to move on i.e. People wrangler role or Individual Contributor.

Secondly talking about trust, you also need to ensure that you don’t micro manage your teams, like Kayako! We just make them fly of their own. Because we know and trust that we have hired passionate helpful people who are crazy to provide outstanding support.

The another factor that plays a vital role in empowerment is “Treat your Support team like a valued partner”. Allow them to be the part of all the majority decisions related to the product or shaping the business. Be them — the voice of the customer. As I stated, it is your support team who manages your customers, talk to them and collect feedback. Let them act as your customer’s voice and have your Product team closely work with your Support team. Your support members shall be the part of the table where you discuss roadmap for your upcoming releases. Along with it, you shall also involve them in shaping business decisions — to make them valued.

What did we do in Kayako?

We offered different projects to our different team members depending upon their interest. A few of them are posting blogs, writing self-help content, giving product webinars, organizing support meetups, doing support pairing with other departments, etc.

Step 2. Explore the team’s strengths

Every team member has unique skills but we need to delve into, to nurture them and engage them in the right direction.

Remember no one-size fits for all, so you need to provide a platform to your Support team wherein they can figure out which area attracts them for enhancing company’s values.

Yes, I am talking about different skills mentioned over here:

You need to engage your support team members to engage them into different sections wherein they can utilize their skills. You can create opportunities for them and an atmosphere where they can grow and help you.

“Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.” Vince Lombardi, American Football Coach

Another aspect towards it is — nurture happiness using creative culture. As we know, stress and fear are the enemies of creativity.

If you have strict policies like login hours, strict leave policy, no path for growth, your Support team won’t be able to raise high. They won’t be able to come up with their ideas.

I am sure no one wants a static support strategies because it kills the enthusiasm of the staff. You need to be flexible and open boundaries for your staff, to let them flourish. You need to focus on the environment which gives them the opportunity to Read (training) — Absorb (learn) — Grow (bring changes).

Step 3. Appreciate your team

Do you celebrate small wins of your team, the ones that often make the backbone of a company’s success?

If you aren’t celebrating small wins, you might be missing some great opportunities to become an even better leader and motivate your team. In fact, the most successful and popular bosses tend to celebrate every victory, no matter the size.

You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins. Appreciating and rewarding your support team is the most crucial part to empower and trust them. It always boost up your team confidence and privilege them to do more!

To reward your team, you should celebrate every small win. Let it be a good survey comment or a new automation rule suggested by them or bringing back one seat license customer. Rewarding a team really overwhelm your team and who doesn’t feel good after it?

To celebrate these small wins (or even the bigger ones), we use Bonusly.ly Using Bonusly, every team member can appreciate other members and then upon collecting bonusly points, they can actually pick a reward. Amazing!

However, appreciating a team doesn’t just mean to reward them but also counsel them whenever they need your opinion and coach/instruct them. The help given to them at various steps is also a part of showing appreciation and gaining their trust.

Also, be them the part of social events like Elevate Summit, Support Conf, etc. When you’re surrounded by alike minded people, you actually know your potential. These events help your Support members to know what is happening around the globe and how Support professionals are creating exceptions to deliver outstanding support.

Take Aways:

• Empower your team
• Explore their strengths
• Appreciate your team

Goes without saying — “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.”