Isn’t it the worst thing in the world when someone you might like, if you knew them, or were related to them (but aren’t), when you are busy or doing something very important, or expensive (!) starts rambling on? In my hometown there is a guy in the supermarket who does this. I admire him greatly and think he must have boundless reserves of energy because he has endless debates with every single customer as he is scanning and packing their shopping. I admire him, but secretly I think he looks bored and desperate. In the end I think I would find it hugely irritating, I would feel that I am there to entertain him and not the other way around. The same thing happens with teachers by the way. They are there to impart something useful to you not take your attention for their own enjoyment!!!
How does procrastination express itself in a Call Centre, during calls? Should call centre operators procrastinate? Should customers be let to procrastinate?
What are the results of your decisions?
What do we agree on?
There is a way in language to help you with this. The strongest sentences are sentences which mention the subject of the conversation first. These sentences then mangle the rest of the sentence around making it make sense. So, for example… if you are receiving an order for a package to go to Tibet and you don’t know the postcode, you say…
“POSTCODES in Tibet are written in the same format I believe..(note: use of passive)”
You’ve brought notice of the most important thing to the attention of the listener. They know exactly what your question is about. Compare this with the former….
“You know the biggest problem that I have is that I don’t really understand how I should be writing the postcode. And, of course, it’s going to Tibet!’’
Here, the listener may have some idea that you need to know the Tibetan postcode (note here I didn’t write the postcode from Tibet! I changed Tibet to an adjective to be more direct…!). However, his brain is so full of other words that you said that if he does get around to answering your question properly it might just ‘crash’ and give you a confused answer which would lead to more problems…
Let’s listen to a call example
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The brain has a limited amount of memory available to it (at present) - from research it is between 5 and 9 things. Historically this has been known as 7. And this number is called ‘Miller’s Magic Number’.
There is a nice explanation of Short term memory here (link):
STM is characterized by:
| A limited capacity of up to seven pieces of independent information. | |
| The brief duration of these items last from 3 to 20 seconds. | |
| Decay appears to be the primary mechanism of memory loss. |
After entering sensory memory, a limited amount of information is transferred into short-term memory. Within STM, there are three basic operations:
| Iconic memory- The ability to hold visual images. | |
| Acoustic memory- The ability to hold sounds. Acoustic memory can be held longer than iconic memory. | |
| Working memory- An active process to keep it until it is put to use (think of a phone number you'll repeat to yourself until you can dial it on the phone). Note that the goal is not really to move the information from STM to LTM, but merely put the information to immediate use. |
Mechanism of short-term memory loss revealed
The process of transferring information from STM to LTM involves the encoding or consolidation of information. This is not a function of time, that is, the longer a memory stayed in STM, the more likely it was to be placed into LTM; but on organizing complex information in STM before it can be encoded into LTM. In this process of organization, the meaningfulness or emotional content of an item may play a greater role in its retention into LTM. As instructional designers, we must find ways to make learning relevant and meaningful enough for the learner to make the important transfer of information to long-term memory.
George Miller's classic 1956 study found that the amount of information which can be remembered on one exposure is between five and nine items, depending on the information.
Applying a range of +2 or -2, the number 7 became known as Miller's Magic Number, the number of items which can be held in Short-Term Memory at any one time.
Miller himself stated that his magic number was for items with one aspect. His work is based on subjects listening to a number of auditory tones that varied only in pitch. Each tone was presented separately, and the subject was asked to identify each tone relative to the others she had already heard, by assigning it a number. After about five or six tones, subjects began to get confused, and their capacity for making further tone judgments broke down.
He found this to be true of a number of other tasks. But if more aspects are included, then we can remember more, depending upon our familiarity and the complexity of the subject (in Miller's research, there was only one aspect -- the tone). For example, we can remember way more human faces as there are a number of aspects, such as hair color, hair style, shape of face, facial hair, etc.
We remember phone numbers by their aspects of 2 or more groupings. We don't really remember "seven" numbers. We remember the first group of three and then the other grouping of four numbers. If it is long distance, then we add an area code. So we actually remember 10 numbers by breaking it into groups of three. Social Security numbers work on the same principle -- xxx-xx-xxxx (3 groups of numbers). Also, I'm not sure why we have seven numbers in the phone system. The author states it is not based upon Miller's work, but never states why.
[taking the interesting bit]
STM is characterized by:
| A limited capacity of up to seven pieces of independent information. | |
| The brief duration of these items last from 3 to 20 seconds. | |
| Decay appears to be the primary mechanism of memory loss. |
After entering sensory memory, a limited amount of information is transferred into short-term memory. Within STM, there are three basic operations:
| Iconic memory- The ability to hold visual images. | |
| Acoustic memory- The ability to hold sounds. Acoustic memory can be held longer than iconic memory. | |
| Working memory- An active process to keep it until it is put to use (think of a phone number you’ll repeat to yourself until you can dial it on the phone). Note that the goal is not really to move the information from STM to LTM, but merely put the information to immediate use. |
The Customer calls up and starts talking about his personal life.
You start talking about your last trip to Australia
The Customer starts telling about the problems they have had with the package
You feel like you would like to make a better friendship with the caller as they sound sad and forget what it is that they were sending.
The Customer starts complaining about the cost of the package and the service in the world generally ‘these days’ and you need to ask them a clarifying question about the address?
Think about the first workshop. There are clearly things here which can help you get the conversation back on track. The important thing in this session to understand is that having the principle of not wanting to procrastinate before the call begins will ultimately influence the whole call and neither the caller or the Agent will begin.
Let’s listen to the call again
How would you have changed this conversation? Re-enact this conversation
What are the 3 most important words in the last segment???????
VISUAL ACOUSTIC USE
Do you agree? How does this affect our speech during incoming calls at FedEx then? You tell me…
PRACTICE THE FOLLOWING:
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But at work?
