Cover Letter Contact Centre Coordinator

During my time at Stellar/Probe who were Centrelink call centre contractors for Services
Australia, I was initially taking calls as a customer service officer, however due to my
experience and performance I became a mentor to various teams in an effort to educate
them in customer focused service.
Probe had a workforce consisting of multiple nationalities, age groups and education
standards. One of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that Probe was required to meet
was customer satisfaction. Each team also had KPI’s which one was customer satisfaction.
As time went by and Probe took on more work for Centrelink and expanded the workforce
accordingly. Due to various reason, including volume of calls, particularly during Covid 19
customer service significantly declined. Probe had won many awards for their customer
centric focus; however West Perth was not achieving expectations of the Probe executive
nor Services Australia.
Centrelink customers are varied from those that require simple information or are reporting
to those that have complex issues, are angry, frustrated or frightened, Each and every
customer should be treated the same with respect, empathy and understanding. I installed
this in the people I mentored, taught them to actively listen, to demonstrate to the customer
that they are listening, to reassure the customer that they are important and you are going to
do your best to resolve their issue and if you can’t then seek assistance from technical peer
support. I taught them to never promise or commit to anything that they could not do and if
the customer was not entitled to additional money or a benefit then explain the reasons
calmly and rationally to the customer. We also with every call promoted the use of the
Centrelink app which would allow a customer to go on line and do what they needed to do
without waiting in the que for a call centre operator. If the customer requested assistance, we
would help them set it up. The aim which those I mentored was to provide the best possible
customer service thru working in a customer centric team. Every team I mentored achieved
this and received good customer feedback.
When I started at Chippers the owner said there were two key issues, he wanted me to
resolve, staff performance and the decline in funerals numbers. I started with discussions
with the branch managers and then the operations manager and I spoke with every staff
member. The outcome was the majority of staff just viewed it as a job and had lost the belief
in customer service. I brought in a consultant who specialised in marketing, branding and
customer service. We organised a survey after a suitable period of time to the families who
got a quote from Chippers but then used one of the other funeral homes. There was very
little difference in price between the 3 major funeral companies. The difference was
customer service, the majority of responses to our survey felt the person providing the quote
was just doing a job and in a heightened state of grief a family wants and needs to feel
special and be treated as such. The consultant and I developed a series of training sessions
and over a period of 3 months every staff member under went training. I also had myself put
on the roster so I attended and assisted at funerals and transfers and also sat in on
arrangements. This allowed me to monitor first hand how staff were progressing with
customer service and where we were at in developing a customer centric culture. It took 12
months of training, coaching and reinforcement but Chippers once again had a customer
centric culture and the numbers of funerals increased making Chippers the leader in the
market once more.
At the Department of Communities (DoC) I manage 3 staff being 2 level 5’s and a level 2. I
manage a very effective and efficient team, attested by our successes with DoC’s
commissioning of services. We have been in the commissioning process for the past 12
months as we procure services in the community development sector. We are all doing
multiple jobs and work to very tight time frames to ensure we meet our contractual
obligations with current service providers and the timelines set by the Department of
Finance. We work closely with other teams with in DoC who play a part in the commissioning
of services. I ensure there is open communication between us all and we provide support to
each other when needed. As a manager I understand that staff need to maintain a work life
balance as I have one who cares for a grandchild and another who cares for elderly parents
so we are very flexible and understanding realizing family comes first and if need be, I will
step in and perform some of their tasks to ensure we comply with our deadlines. We are also
inundated with ministerial briefing notes, which is part of working in the community
development sector, so I allocate to the most appropriate person but at the same time we all
work together to get it completed, often with very short turn around required.
I recently seconded for 4 months to the Early Intervention Youth team where I was
responsible for the Youth Counselling contracts and Cadets WA. I managed the Cadets team
which consisted of 2 staff who had very strong but different personalities. We faced many
challenges as Cadets is based on program management and not contract management as
with the other programs DoC funds. One of the outcomes management wanted me to
achieve was to stop the 2 staff from operating as a separate unit and bypassing the team
structure and talking directly with the director and executive director. I constantly reaffirmed
that we are a team, explaining the issues created by what they were doing, ensuring all
information including briefing notes went through the appropriate levels of management. I
held weekly catch-up sessions with the Cadets team, but also, I was always available for a
chat if they felt they needed it. I held one-on-one meetings with them which gave me the
opportunity to discuss what was working and what wasn’t. This is where we discussed
openly how we would resolve things that were not working. I always explained requests and
instructions from management rather than just telling them to do it, which is what had been
past practise, so by explaining everthing and allowing open discussion they became more
receptive and cooperative and provided information and completed tasks when requested. In
the 4 months I was managing the Cadets team we had many achievements but one of the
most satisfying was gaining the respect and understanding of management into what the
Cadets team actually do, the differences in the program and the nuances that make it
complex to manage.
At Probe I became a Team Leader managing a team off 25 individuals. The team’s role was
to take calls from customers of Centrelink, providing a knowledgeable answer and giving the
customer a satisfying experience. On average we were expected to take 35 calls a day,
using the Services Australia software including the numerous operational blueprints to find
the correct procedures to follow and relative sections of the Acts that dictated what a person
was entitled to. This was challenging as some individuals were having an off day, or had
attitude issues or became upset during the call, all of which I needed to deal with in the
moment. I would constantly monitor the team, looking out for anyone that was showing signs
of struggling, in need of assistance. If they were struggling with the customer or content, I
would often plug my headset in and listen, providing advice or guidance where needed. If it
was a problem with attitude or an emotional melt down, I would get the person to go into
training mode after the call and then take them to a quiet room and have a discussion. Every
discussion was meant as a chance to help the person improve themselves. However,
rudeness to a customer was never tolerated and it was always reinforced that the customer
was the most important person and must be treated with respect. The focus must always be
on providing the best customer service no matter who they are or their circumstances. I had
one of the best performing teams which was qn good achievement considering there was
1,000 people taking calls on a daily basis at Probe West Perth.
At Chippers I was responsible for 36 staff, including funeral assistances, funeral arrangers,
mortuary staff and managers. When I commenced there was low staff morale, high staff
absences and a lack of customer service. I developed a harmonious working environment
and reduced absenteeism by coaching, educating and making people feel valued and part of
a team. Staff were educated and mentored in customer service thus developing a customer
centric culture resulting in an increase in volume of funerals and sales.