Joy, Laughter, Intuition and...Quantum Physics - Can These Training Techniques End Turnover?
1 Jul, 2007
By: Cheryl Joy O'DonoghueBrad’s been a contact center manager for 15 years. As he’s driving home one Friday, he’s overcome with a sense of disbelief at how much his job has changed for the better, especially regarding the tools he now uses to make business decisions and develop and manage his team. On Monday, he had started his week laughing for 20 minutes with all of his direct reports. This was part of a weekly Laughter Club schedule in which all 600-plus agents and managers participated.
Later in the week, he attended an attitudinal training session around the topic of “joy” – focusing on practical tips to bring more joy on the job and improve customer and employee interactions. And barely a day goes by when he doesn’t use applied Quantum Physics through the use of a “T-Tool” as well as his “intuition” to handle daily problems and maximize business opportunities. Brad’s work experience certainly has changed...and for the better!
For most contact centers, training consists of the usual suspects – product knowledge, policy and systems training taking center stage, and customer service, sales and management training filling the gaps. If anything, various training methods have stolen the spotlight in recent years with online training. So what’s next?
Many organizations are taking a hard look at what’s missing and looking outside the box to address issues such as employee recruiting and retention, satisfaction and productivity. Among the more compelling training interventions are those that bring joy, laughter, intuition and Quantum Physics into the workplace.
Joy on the Job
Like many contact centers today, VNA of Fox Valley’s staff of health center professionals is diverse, representing different cultural and educational backgrounds. The working environment can be stressful, with thousands of patient and peer interactions each day.
VNA implemented a program customized to its environment, the goal of which was to improve employee retention and productivity by creating a more joyful, supportive and energizing work environment. Participants received dozens of practical tools and techniques to enrich their work experience and improve interpersonal communications while minimizing on-the-job stress.
“We wanted to create a more harmonious environment,” said David Koch, VNA of Fox Valley VP of Support Services. “If people are happy with their job and the relationships they have with the people they work with and for, we believe they’ll stay with us longer, enjoy their work more and be more productive. For us, a harmonious work environment is a long-term employee satisfier, outlasting more short-term satisfiers such as compensation and bonuses.”
According to Koch, attitudinal training programs are also preventive. “It’s easy to fall into the mindset that this type of training is not as important as others because it’s not addressing immediate “fires.” To the contrary, it’s helping us prevent fires from creeping up. I don’t want to review our last fiscal year performance and find out we’ve lost 30 percent of our workforce because people are ill-equipped to work effectively and “joyfully” in our environment.”
Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ha
Another organizational development tool worthy of consideration is called a laughter club. A laughter club typically includes 20 to30 minutes of systematized, therapeutic laughter exercise accompanied by ideas to help people make positive “shifts” in their attitudes.
Since the 1960s, laughter “therapy” has been known for its value in helping patients heal and cope with the stress of having an illness such as cancer or Alzheimer’s. Based on the same concept, laughter clubs are beginning to pop up in business circles as a viable method for creating healthier, more “stress resistant” workers.
“This is a strategy for organizations that recognize the attitudes and emotions of employees affect the bottom line, productivity, customer service and absenteeism,” said Steve Wilson, a prominent psychologist, speaker and author who founded the World Laughter Tour and USA Laughter Clubs. “If people are sick from stress and other stress-related illness they’re not at work, contributing to the health of the organization.”
Wilson believes that five years from now, laughter clubs or some form of organizational laughter therapy will be an accepted and standard part of the human resources program mix. He believes, “The most successful companies will be the ones that help employees have balanced lives, resolving conflicts between the demands of work and home. A laughter club can help; it’s a low-cost method that’s easy to standardize and implement with a high return on investment.”
One example is a software development company in Ohio that added a laughter club as part of its “Healthy Quest” program, featuring smoking cessation, weight loss, exercise and other health-related programs. When the company’s HR executive described the program to its health insurance provider, the provider reduced the company’s premiums for a real bottom-line benefit.
Balance Intellect and Intuition
When asked in an interview, “What’s the secret of your success?” Masaru Ibuka, founder and chairman of Sony Corporation, said he had a ritual. Preceding a business decision, he would drink herbal tea. Before he drank, he asked himself, “Should I make this deal or not?” If the tea gave him indigestion, he wouldn’t make the deal. “I trust my gut, and I know how it works,” he said. “My mind is not that smart, but my body is.”
Making intuition “work” in contact centers is another organizational development idea worth exploring. By the very nature of the contact center “animal” – a technology-driven, systems-oriented operation – managers and staff alike are quite proficient in using their intellect to make decisions. But the time to develop and use their sixth sense is now.
According to Tom Peters, management consultant and best-selling author “The crazier the times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and trust their intuition. For some reason, intuition has become a ‘soft’ notion. Garbage! Intuition is the new Physics. It’s an Einsteinian way to make tough decisions.”
Turn Everyone into an “Einstein”
Apparently, other experts agree with Mr. Peters. Another “new” organizational method for contact center executives to consider is based on what Einstein became famous for – his work in Quantum Physics and more specifically “The Law of Attraction” (LOA).
Popularized recently by the movie and book The Secret and public endorsements by Oprah Winfrey, Jack Campbell and Larry King, among others, Quantum Physics – the study of energy, at the atomic level – is making its way into the mainstream. There is even a group of master teachers and coaches certified through The Law of Attraction Training Center – which is sanctioned by the International Coach Federation – to help businesses and individuals apply LOA.
According to Rebecca Hanson, founder of The Law of Attraction Training Center, LOA can be explained as “We attract whatever we choose to give our attention to – whether wanted or unwanted. Our thoughts, feelings and moods emit vibrations (similar to sound waves) that draw to us people, places, things and events that match our own vibrations."
Contact center executives can use this knowledge in any number of ways. Pamela Hollister, certified law of attraction practitioner, author and president of The People Process, suggests the use of a LOA “T-Tool”TM to help gain clarity around business issues, problems and desired outcomes; raise your vibration to match your desire and allow what you asked for to arrive.
Hollister’s had success helping companies through the implementation of the T-Tool and other LOA tools. “Earlier this year I started working with the principal of a large civil engineering firm in Las Vegas. He’d recently taken over the company and was frustrated with the operational “mess” he had inherited. His negative thoughts were literally attracting more negative issues, people and problems. I started applying LOA principles in my work with his company and helped him apply them as well.”
Six months later the company has brought on several new significant projects, recovered more than $350,000 in past-due money and attracted new employees, including a new CFO. “By applying LOA and practicing it on a daily basis, this company’s atmosphere has been transformed,” said Hollister. “I’ve been in the training business for over 30 years. I believe more and more trainers will be teaching these tools in the workplace as the benefits are far reaching and long lasting.”
Words of Wisdom
When it comes to attitudinal training and other more “non-traditional” interventions such as those highlighted in this article, David Koch shares this practical advice. “If you plan to use HR staff to develop and facilitate this type of training, make sure they are qualified. Our program content was developed by an organizational development specialist with a strong background in psychology who also happens to be an engaging facilitator. It made a big difference.”
Will joy, laughter, intuition and Quantum Physics factor into the mix of contact center training programs anytime soon? It’s too early to tell. But for those with open minds, training programs such as these, which seek to help employees on a deep and personal level, just might turn out to be the missing piece of the organizational development puzzle.
