Describe a typical “day in the life” of an Audience Development Team Lead:
“For me, no two days are ever the same as there are certain routine tasks I have to carry out on a daily basis, such as doing a team huddle before my agents can start taking calls, reviewing my KPIs and agents score cards, updating them with any pending Quality Assurance faults and issues and lastly monitoring them while they’re taking live calls and coaching them when needed. There are also tasks that are routine but not daily such as attending meetings (pressing concerns, WIG session, etc.) but what’s most important to me is the ability to respond to immediate issues that needs tending.
In a call center, you never know what will happen the next day. In fact, working as a team lead is sometimes tedious, risky and scary but overall an enjoyable experience.”
What are the skills, education, and training needed for this career?
“For others, they may require a special skillset to become an effective team lead, but for me you must be flexible all the time because the task involves a lot of multitasking. A team lead must be able to develop a good plan, create effective strategies, lead the team to grind to an ever-changing clients demand and lastly, one must have lots and lots of patience.”
What were you doing prior to becoming an Audience Development Team Lead?
“I was part of the Quality Assurance Team as a QA Specialist.”
Did you have to make sacrifices at the start of your career? If so, what were they, and why was it worth it for you to make those sacrifices?
“Yes, I sacrificed a career opportunity abroad, but I chose to stay because I love what I’m doing and I always envisioned myself to lead a team of people so that I can share to them my learnings and best practices I’ve acquired throughout my stay in the company. “
Why did you choose this line of work?
“My decision to choose this line of work didn’t happen overnight. There were times that I have to constantly ask myself whether I chose the correct career path or not, but what truly matters is that when you come to work each day and you’ll feel that your work is helpful to someone is the best reward there can be.”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your career?
“The most rewarding aspect of this job is when you get a tap on the back and compliments from your immediate head because my team is doing well or if I receive a compliment from agents, letting me know that I was a great help to them and that they’ve learned something important from me while they are under my leadership.”
What’s the most challenging part?
“There are many challenges that a team lead will face. One is managing a group of people with different personalities, different learning curves and sometimes a disconnection between team members can be challenging as well or when a certain KPI wasn’t met by the team.”
What does it really take to make it and succeed in this career?
“First you need to set your goals and take possession of everything you do and if you get stuck, keep a positive attitude and don’t give up. You should always be ready to commit and accept mistakes and learn from it.”
Describe one of the best moments you’ve had on the job:
“There are a lot of best moments to share, but one thing that will always stuck in my mind is when I see my agents reach past their previous limits, watch them go on to success and that they have grown from the learning experiences they had with me.”
What’s the hardest part of the day?
“I believe the hardest part of the day of being a leader is getting a bad feedback that my team didn’t produce the results that we set for ourselves or when I have to discipline an agent because of a bad behavior or worse having to break the news to them that they’re being laid off or fired. Sometimes creating an NTE for one of my agents is heart-wrenching too, but this is for them to correct their behavior and actions in order to help them understand how these inhibit performance and productivity.”
Are there misconceptions about this type of work? If so, what are they?
“For others, they might say that being a team lead is an easy job and that we don’t have to take phone calls all the time, but little did they know that those are not the only integral aspect of the job.
As a leader, you have to put yourself in second, and operate in a way that allows others to feel at ease, to feel understood, and to work in a way that’s best for them–even if it’s not the way you operate.”
What’s one aspect that’s integral to your job that most people wouldn’t know?
“Most people aren’t aware that the team lead role is often a hybrid position between manager and agent. Thus, it is important that I discuss to my agents what their expectations are for balancing my role. Sometimes a team lead might be 80% manager, 20% agent and sometimes these numbers can be interchangeable.
As a team lead, I’m empowered to make management-level decisions as long as I can explain the rationale behind my decisions. If I make the wrong decision, it is OK as long as I learned from it and grow. But even in my role, the amount of responsibility I have has increased substantially from when I started as team lead.”
What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
“My advice to those who want to pursue this career is to build and hone their interpersonal skills before jumping into the position because after all, being a team lead is all about how you influence your team to achieve goals and objectives. It’s something you’ll struggle along the way if you don’t get to know your team members well and what drives them to perform.
Strong interpersonal skills, a drive to succeed, a desire to learn and staying organized are key traits of good team leaders too and they will have to hone this before considering this role.”
ABOUT THE RESPONDENT: Kurt John Paulo B. Cabaguing is one of the Audience Development team leads of Open Look Business Solutions. Kurt has been in the company for almost 4 years now. He has held various roles in the company before, starting as Audience Development Specialist, promoted as Quality Assurance Specialist and now, he is taking a leadership role as one of the company’s top team leaders. Kurt always aims for excellence, one proof is the distinction he earned as one of the Employee of the Month awardees in the company.
ABOUT THIS SERIES: This is an ongoing series of the Open Look Content Team that takes a snapshot look inside the lives of those who work in the company. Want to share a Day in your Life? E-mail us at jintervencion@open-look.com.
