Tonight sees the return of The Call Centre – a brilliantly funny programme about Nev – a politically very incorrect leader of a Swansea Financial Services cold calling call centre. When I first saw it I thought it was a spoof – but it is real. If you missed the first series – shame – not sure if you can get it on DVD yet? I’m looking forward to tuning into BBC3 at 9pm. In my humble opinion – the Christmas Special is the best.
If you watch it think about Nev’s leadership style. Is it really that bad!? If you break it down he is doing some really good stuff just in a different way
1. Giving clear and direct feedback – everyone knows where they stand – may be a bit too directly!
2. Running a fast effective selection process, his methods may be “interesting” but if you can’t take the banter etc then you probably won’t survive long making cold calls daily
3. Playing to people’s strengths. Hayley (the tea lady) used to be on calls. Nev realised she was the social glue that held the centre together so re invented the traditional tea lady role and put her in it – inspired!
4. Setting clear objectives – Organise a piss up in a brewery – I have found you a brewery – get on and sort it and make the event fun! (You will need to watch Series One to appreciate that)
Who knows what we will learn in Series 2….Here is a trailer – enjoy
Mark Jacot 