Movin' On Up in 2014

I forgot to talk about the big development at work.

Something everyone knows up there:
They are redoing the system of picking floorwalkers, otherwise known as EE's (Engagement Expert). Finally, after month's of those of us who know what we are doing screaming about how 90% of the people floor walking DON'T, they are doing something about it. You have to have your stats nice and neat, pass the EE test AND have approval from the OM's. They will have one designated EE for each team and they will be called a team lead. To be a team lead, you also have to take two days of calls per week to show you can keep your stats good.

Thursday, after the email came out, I went to my supervisor, JM, and said, "You probably already know this, but I'm interested in being a team lead."

His response was, "I know, I already sent your name in."

What people don't know (and I didn't know until yesterday):
There is a new team being put together called The Learning Lab. The Learning Lab is a team that will be in constant rotation with its team members. Members of the team are going to consist of associates (both tech and customer service) who have high stats. High talk time, after call, hold or a combination of all three resulting in a high handle time could result in someone being temporarily moved to this team. The goal is to teach people how to better manage their time on calls so they can achieve low stats and be efficient on the calls to deliver the one call resolution. Once your stats are down, and stay down for a couple of days, you transition back to your normal team.

This is mainly for the outliers of the center that constantly have high stats and drag their respective teams down, but it is also for the associates who are starting to become outliers that way we can nip it in the butt.

This team will have a supervisor over it, as well as a team lead that will watch over the team and be there on the supervisor's day off to watch over the team.

Yesterday, I was asked to be the team lead for this team.

JG, the supervisor over the team, scared the crap out of me in the process. I had just come back from my last break, there were no hands up, stats for the day were good, so I was taking a moment to organize my emails. I'm very anal about my email and keeping it tidy. I have so many folders and rules, it's not even funny. I was in the process of trying to decide where one should go when JG comes up, stands by the wall of my cubicle and says, "Hey Vamp, are you busy?"

When I am concentrating on something, I have a habit of tuning everything else out and the rest of the world disappears. So, as soon as the "hey Vamp" came out of his mouth, I practically ended up on the ceiling Warner Brother's cartoon style.

That was when he asked me if I'd be interested in being team lead for the team and gave me the details once I'd said yes.

A little bit later, after JG had talked to JM, JM says, "Did JG talk to you yet?" I said yes and he goes, "I am so upset! I wanted you as team lead for our team!" He was half serious, he was happy for me, too.

Then later, JS, who used to be my supervisor and is now an OM, asked me if JG had talked to me yet. She was my supervisor when I finally made the decision to be a supe and has had my back ever since. I asked her how many other candidates there were for it. She said none. She said JG specially requested me, Rocky was all for it and she backed the decision.

While I do believe the reasons JG told me for why he wanted me, like my people skills, my stats, the fact I am known among everyone in tech and customer service, I also have to wonder if it is also partially a test to see how I do with more leadership responsibilities. I'm fully up to the test. I think it will be a great experience. Plus, I love helping people and teaching people how to do things. I can do any job they throw at me, but my real talent is interacting with people. Stick me in a room with just a computer and, while I will get the job done, I will die of boredom from lack of human contact. When they had me working errors with the new system and doing callbacks, I was by myself after a certain time of day. I eventually started sitting with my team. Even though I didn't always talk to my coworkers while working, it was nice just having people there.

But, yes, I'm very excited about this. New place, new responsibilities at work, what more can I ask for? :)