It was another night to remember for the Contact Centre profession at the 2008 TUANZ Awards on Thursday. Around 630 filled the banqueting room to hear MC Dominic Bowden announce this year’s top professionals.
All the winners were enthusiastic in their acceptance speeches, all the crowd gracious in their support. Dominic mingled with some show biz pals in the room – Comedian’s Irene Pink (winner of Contact Centre Manager of the Year under 25 seats) and Mike King. The small army of SkyCity staff raised waiting to the level of theatre as they circled each table en masse when presenting to diners each course, and the band The Nerds had everyone up and dancing to the old favourites.
The Mouthpiece Award for the best line of the night goes to Rowena Fulham from New Zealand Post, who just prior to accepting the Contact Centre Manager of the Year 26-75 seats had been on stage to collect an award on behalf of colleague Irene Pink (unfortunately she missed her own award presentation due to performing at the Comedy Club). As Rowena stepped onto the stage for the second time, she wiped a tear, broke into a smile and said “This is different.”
Congratulations to all the winners. You can check out the photographs here.
The judges comments for each award - in the order in which they were presented - are as follows:
TUANZ Contact Centre Manager of the Year 2008 for under 25 seats, sponsored by TelstraClear - Irene Pink – New Zealand Post
"In a highly competitive category Irene’s innovative approach to contact centre operations engages, empowers and excites her staff and stood her out. Her focus, energy, and time are balanced between daily operations, strategic vision, staff succession planning and process development which ultimately results in a positive and successful team culture."
TUANZ Contact Centre Manager of the Year, 26-75 seats, sponsored by Zintel - Rowena Fulham – New Zealand Post
"This was a very difficult decision for us as both candidates were deserving.
Rowena managed and coached her team through a very challenging period with significant changes to great success. She has a very high level of self awareness and has developed extremely high team unity with a strong focus on developing her people.
Her “WOW” factor was the effort and support she put into her team through a time of great change to ensure performance was maintained."
TUANZ Contact Centre Manager of the Year 76+ seats, sponsored by Kelly Services - Raychel Comerford - TelstraClear
"The Manager of the Year 75+ seats category was extremely competitive with three outstanding finalists. Sadly there was only one winner - Raychel:
Raychel demonstrated outstanding leadership during 2007. It’s clear there were some significant issues facing her when she was appointed to manage the Contact Centre.
Raychel clearly evaluated the situation before making the hard decisions and changes that needed to be made. These decisions resulted in improvements in every key metric. She leads from the front, is a great listener and understands the big picture. She is a fantastic communicator at all levels, and has a simple and clearly understood plan that her people have bought into. She is an inspirational leader."
TUANZ Contact Centre Trainer, sponsored by Rapid Results - Shona Raemaki - Kiwibank
"This year the judges asked the finalists to actually run a training session as part of their presentation. Every Trainer had the same topic and the Judges were the CSR's in the class -and they certainly enjoyed their role plays!
The Trainer of the year displayed knowledge and application of Learning styles. Training is linked to the business mission and values. Continuous improvement within the Contact centre is also a major focus. This person also develops, supports and leads other Trainers and provides support for Contact Centre staff and management."
It was a brilliant blend of operational leadership, training delivery, training design, and coaching!"
TUANZ Contact Centre Team Leader of the Year, sponsored by People Power - Sara Wisse - Sovereign
"There were a number of fabulous finalists for this category. The judges were looking for; Strategic vision, performance management, staff engagement, understanding and use of technology, innovation and living / breathing the company’s values are some of the skills required to successfully lead people.
The winner of this category displayed outstanding skills in all of these areas.
The great positive culture and result based environment is a direct by-product of the winner's commitment to her people, to her company, and to herself! Congratulations on being best of the best! (BOB!)"
TUANZ Workforce Manager of the Year, sponsored by Great Outcomes - Mark Williams – TelstraClear
"Mark has introduced creative business solutions for his contact centre, earned a high level of respect from his colleagues as a people focussed leader, and shown great commitment to deliver the best results possible under challenging circumstances. His knowledge of all systems that comprise his centre and extensive experience have made him a winner in 2008."
TUANZ Outsourced Contact Centre of the Year sponsored by Genesys Labs - Telnet Services
"Telnet wowed the judges with their customer focus, partnership orientation and professional approach. They clearly demonstrated how their business has been refined and engineered to fit each clients individual needs. Their systems, transparency with clients, and reporting are first class. Telnet have taken yet another step forward in the last 12 months, and the judges concur that this centre is close to or at world class."
TUANZ Contact Centre of the Year under 25 seats, sponsored by Telecommunications Review - New Zealand AA
"A hotly contested category this year with an outstanding number of quality entries and superbly run finalists which left the Judges with a very difficult task
The New Zealand AA is about doing the right things, a strategic profile which sees its value recognised in this a fast paced and member owned organisation. Technology, people and training show that this is a well run, efficient Contact Centre which keeps a balance of service, fun, and attitude that drives a culture of quality interactions and a smooth run membership service."
TUANZ Contact Centre of the Year 26 to 75 seats Award, sponsored by Drake - Sovereign
"Both finalists were of a very high standard and should be commended.
Sovereign stood out as the passion of the business ran right through the whole team.
The judges were very impressed with the engagement of the team in the company’s vision and values. Staff could quote these when asked and knew what they meant to them.
The environment was one of fun but with a focus on getting the job done well. Providing exceptional customer service and recognising it was their “WOW” factor."
TUANZ Contact Centre of the Year 76+ seats Award, sponsored by Madison Recruitment - Child, Youth and Family
"The Child Youth and Family team did a fantastic job of communicating to the judges what their centre is all about. The culture, passion, dedication and professionalism this centre exhibited was outstanding in an environment that is a highly political, high risk and sometimes difficult place to be.
The achievements of 2007 and strategic plans for the future mean this team will continue to make a difference to all of our communities. Well done Child Youth and Family."