Senior Manager Customer Care at MultiChoice

Key Performance Objectives

Operations Management

• Contribute to the development of Customer Care’s Operational strategy.
• Translate the Customer Care operational strategy into a quarterly Operational plan.
• Execute Customer Care’s Operational strategy based on the Operational Plan.
• Partner with the Customer Care Managers to deliver on the requirements of the Operational Plan.
• Drive operational performance in accordance with Customer Care objectives.
• Ensure that workforce planning is done weekly, monthly and quarterly to meet operational & customer demand.
• Deploy a recruitment plan to align with the Operational Plan.
• Implement operational practices as defined by the Customer Care Operational strategy.
• Assume total accountability for successful ongoing operational performance.
• Resolve operational challenges that could impede on successful delivery of Customer Care objectives.
• Work with Workforce Planning to adjust agreed plans as and when business requirements change.
• Review operational performance on a weekly basis and implement actions to address gaps.
• Work with agility to overcome recurring operational problems.
• Ensure that Managers are fully equipped to manage the day-to-day operation.
• Ensure that relevant MI, Monitoring Systems, and reports are in place and that Managers are utilizing these to manage operational performance.
• Support the Managers to drive efficient and effective operational performance.
• Ensure that investment time is planned by Workforce Planning for all teams.
• Manage and contain costs associated with running the Customer Care operation.
• Identify operational risks & implement / maintain relevant controls via a Risk Controls Assessment document – which is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
• Conduct regular audits on fraud & adherence to risk control mechanisms & processes.
• Ensure that facilities are well maintained, and meet health & safety standards.
• Conduct monthly reviews with staffing partners against set SLAs.

Customer Management

• Contribute to the development of the Customer Care Customer Strategy.
• Translate the Customer Care Customer strategy into a quarterly Customer plan.
• Execute Customer Care’s Customer strategy based on the quarterly Customer Plan.
• Partner with the Customer Care Managers to deliver on the requirements of the Customer Plan.
• Set up performance standards across the Customer Care operation that would ensure the success of the Customer Care strategy.
• Drive performance in accordance with the Customer objectives.
• Operationalize the Customer Care strategic plan against set targets & objectives.
• Ensure that all staff are clear about what is expected of them regarding customer service, leads generation, and contact prevention.
• Ensure that coaching on customer contacts is done on a weekly basis and that Managers are tracking & addressing performance in this regard.
• Ensure that Managers conduct Team Leader service calibration sessions.
• Ensure that Managers regularly sit in on Team Leader customer service coaching sessions to CSRs & that they are coaching Team Leaders according to observations made during the session.
• Put in place a Training Plan in partnership with the Training Department to support the Customer Plan.
• Enable training at regular intervals to improve customer experience.
• Ensure that corrective action is taken where people have failed to meet service standards.
• Ensure that relevant escalation processes are in place for escalated contacts.
• Ensure that leaders are owning & resolving escalated customer complaints.
• Own & resolve escalated customer complaints from Managers.
• Ensure that issues of most concern to customers are escalated to appropriate executive forums to create awareness.
• Work with stakeholders and other departments within the organization to resolve customer issues that are not caused by Customer Care staff e.g. Technology, Processes, Marketing, etc
• Respond with agility to resolve any situation that arises that could compromise customer experience.
• Resolve and/or escalate issues impacting customers or service delivery.
• Ensure the proper planning & execution of any changes that affect customer service.
• Drive a culture of effortless customer experience and sales-through-service.
• Implement measures to drive down repeat contacts and drive up first contact resolution.
• Ensure that frontline staff are made aware timeously of any changes that may affect customer service delivery.
• Ensure that relevant processes are implemented to retain customers.
• Drive customer usage of self service and digital service platforms.
• Use reports from Service Recovery Teams (Office of CEO, CSAT Service Recovery) to identify key issues causing customer frustration, and put in place plans to address accordingly.
• Regularly review and update customer service processes to improve on service.
• Ensure that customer service processes are published and available to all service staff.
• Participate in project meetings at business level and provide input into product, system, process changes.
• Use CSAT & Customer Effort Audit reports to identify service gaps & address accordingly.
• Use outcomes of Customer Satisfaction regression analysis to identify and implement specific plans to address issues leading to lower Customer Satisfaction.
• People Management

Leadership

• Serve through inspirational & motivational leadership of people.
• Operationalize the Customer Care strategy for all staff.
• Drive a culture of inspirational & motivational leadership through all Leaders and Managers.
• Create Customer Care Leadership standards based on the MultiChoice Leadership Charter and organisational values.
• Provide clarity to Leaders and Managers on leadership standards, requirements & expectations.
• Coach Managers to enable them to effectively manage their teams.
• Ensure that coaching targets are being met by all levels of leadership.
• Ensure that Reward & Recognition programs are well known and driven in the operation.
• Host monthly engagements with Team Leaders to provide business updates and get their input on how to improve the Customer Care operation.
• Ensure that Quarterly Manager engagement sessions are appropriately planned for, positioned correctly, and staff feedback from the sessions is tracked and actioned.
• Provide regular feedback to frontline staff and leaders on progress related to feedback from the Engagement Sessions.
• Work with the Workplace Forum to cultivate a culture of owning & resolving people issues.
• Regularly measure, coach & train leaders on their leadership effectiveness.
• Ensure that gaps in People Engagement Survey outcomes are addressed & tracked.
• Own & Resolve escalated people issues from staff within own department.
• Manage misconduct, performance & all ER-related matters of all staff.
• Ensure that all ER cases are well documented, tracked and progressed timeously.
• Ensure that leaders and managers are skilled to manage discipline, performance & misconduct.
• Regularly clarify established ER management practices/requirements for leaders.
• Partner with HR & ER to regularly review the performance and operational standards for the Customer Care operation, and implement accordingly.
• Create an environment that fosters teamwork and co-operation.
• Communicate effectively, building and maintaining relationships across all levels.
• Ensure consistent compliance to company policies and procedures.
• Manage and completely own Change as required by the change management standards & processes.
• Communicate expectations and business updates to people on a regular basis.
• Ensure that all levels of leadership and management communicate effectively & regularly to people.
• Work with the Communications teams to enable regular communication to people.
• Ensure that staffing model requirements (temp, perm) is adhered to and well understood.
• Participate in the development of the Customer Care People Plan.
• Participate in relevant HR processes & programs around people enablement.
• Participate in the development of Reward & Recognition programs for people.
• Regularly attend & support Reward & Recognition activities.
• Regularly meet with HR, ER, Training, Wellness to ensure consistency of people practices, the alignment to policies, and the prioritization of resolution of people issues.
• Regularly meet with staffing partners to align people practices & expectations.
• Measure the effectiveness of key communication to test for understanding.

Recruitment & Retention

• Ensure that appropriate staffing levels are maintained to meet customer demand.
• Create and maintain a quarterly staffing plan in accordance with the Customer Care staffing strategy.
• Plan recruitment in advance to ensure timeous arrival & training of new people.
• Recruit talented & skilled people to support the Customer Care deliverables.
• Put in place appropriate recruitment & selection processes to enable the recruitment of talented individuals at all job levels.
• Select and place candidates in terms of agreed recruitment and selection processes.
• Foster an environment where talented & high performing people are retained.
• Maintain voluntary staff attrition levels to within required standards.
• Identify, manage, and develop talent.

Training and Development

• Ensure that skill & knowledge gaps are addressed through training & coaching.
• Partner with Training Department to enable delivery of targeted & appropriate training.
• Ensure that training on new products, services & processes is planned & executed.
• Ensure that training is planned with WFM to prevent service interruption.
• Implement & maintain coaching standards & requirements.
• Create and implement individual personal development plans at all levels of staff.
• Monitor the implementation of training needs as per individual development plans.
• Equip all staff to be able to support all technical requirements of MultiChoice products.
• Equip all staff to have competent customer conversations around DStv content.
• Regularly enable training for the operational team on customer service standards.
• Ensure that Managers are trained and equipped to perform effectively.
• Coach Managers at regular intervals to enable their development as leaders.
• Create & maintain a documented succession plan in all teams and for own role.
• Ensure that people identified in the succession pipeline are trained for future roles.
• Manage the Customer Care Career Progression program as outlined in the Customer Care people strategy.
• Ensure that people are equipped to move through the Career Progression path.

Performance Management

• Ensure that all HR procedures governing performance management are adhered to.
• Create awareness of how Customer Care strategic objectives link to individual KPIs.
• Ensure that a full understanding of performance requirements is created for all people.
• Ensure that people in the division meet set performance standards & KPIs.
• Conduct formal monthly reviews with Managers on their KPIs.
• Ensure that monthly performance reviews are conducted with all people in the division.
• Ensure that Customer Care’s performance management process is effectively implemented at all levels, and that consequence management is applied to address consistently poor performance.
• Ensure that all poor performance management activities are logged as per the official HR Performance Improvement Process.
• Enable leaders to effectively manage poor performance and misconduct.
• Review daily, weekly & monthly operational performance reports and ensure that performance gaps are addressed immediately.
• Create awareness and drive the usage of Reward & Recognition dashboards at all levels.
• Provide a portfolio of evidence at regular intervals of own and team performance.
• Take responsibility to remove obstacles that impede staff delivery and performance.

Operational Project Management

• Manage & execute operational projects against the Customer Care 90-Day Plan.
• Ensure Managers’ participation in operational projects.
• Deliver against standards & deadlines required of the Customer Care 90-Day Plan.

Qualifications Essential

• Bachelor’s Degree or NQF Qualification in business/operations management

Qualification Preferred

• Post Graduate qualification

Experience

• A minimum of 8 – 10 years’ experience in an Operations Manager or equivalent role
• At least 5 years’ People Management experience
• At least 5 years’ Customer Management experience
• Budget & Cost Management Experience
• Project Management experience
• Excellent Communication Skills (both verbal and written)
• Language proficiency (English; Afrikaans; Zulu; Sotho)
• Ability to multitask in a busy environment
• Flexibility
• Human Resources knowledge

Technical Competencies (List the key technical competencies)

• Negotiation Skills
• Stakeholder Management
• Driving Change
• Conflict Management
• Management Information knowledge
• Analytical Thinking
• Customer Service Management
• Planning & Organizing
• Project Management