One by One

Collector, Apr 2008 by Kruppstadt, Diana

ACA member Eric Carlson keeps his company's mission in mind when hiring and developing employees

Eric Carlson, director of call center operations at Moneytree Inc. in Renton, Wash., takes great pride in hiring, developing and retaining the right employees for his organization. One of his departments received the Department of the Year Award in 2007, and he attributes the honor to the quality of the individuals who work in the department.

Carlson believes effective hiring, development and retention techniques are the keys to a successful organization.

Hiring the Right People

At the Moneytree call center, job applicants do not need collections experience, Carlson said. In fact, Moneytree actually prefers applicants without a collections background, though experience in the field would not necessarily disqualify an applicant.

Carlson looks for applicants who display professionalism, productivity and optimism when interviewing because these qualities are critical in fulfilling Moneytree's mission: "To be the best provider of retail financial services by exceeding our customers' expectations, creating a professional work environment and making a positive impact on the communities in which we live and work."

Using the mission statement as a guide, Carlson believes he can find the right people-even if they don't have experience in the position for which they are applying. After all, Carlson joined the Moneytree team without a collections or call center background, but he was able to learn about the industry fairly quickly through his participation with Creditors International, ACA conferences and resources on ACA's Web site.

"It's not difficult to teach someone the basics of collections, but it's impossible to teach someone to have a pleasant and inviting disposition," Carlson said. "We won't reject an applicant just because they have no collections experience, but they need to convince us in the interview that they are willing, able and eager to learn to the Moneytree approach to collections and customer service."

Selectively Developing Employees

It's critical to focus on developing the right employees. Carlson believes attitude, skill and ambition are important attributes, but he always keeps the core concepts of the company's mission in mind when choosing employees to develop.

"Sometimes the people clamoring to advance in your organization aren't necessarily the people you want in those leadership roles," Carlson noted, "though it's easy to focus and rely on them because they're making the most noise." If managers aren't careful, they may overlook "quiet superstars" who haven't realized their full potential, he said.

Carlson relies on feedback from his supervisor and management team to identify the individuals who are ready for more responsibility. Next, he meets with each person to talk about opportunities within the organization, and observes how the individual handles a new responsibility.

If all goes well, Carlson will continue to push the individuals out of their comfort zone, coaching and providing feedback along the way. Carlson said it's also important to step back and observe the employee's initiative, decision-making skills and judgment when more responsibility is added.

Retention

As it's not practical to give more responsibility to the wrong employees, it's also not practical to try and keep employees who aren't committed to your mission, especially if they have indicated there's someplace else they'd rather be.

"Some turnover is good and very necessary," Carlson said. "Apart from growth, it's the only way to add quality people to your organization."

Carlson focuses on retaining the employees who work hard to develop Moneytree's mission. He is pleased with his call center's 22 percent turnover rate.

Understanding that it's important to focus on retaining the right employees, Carlson added that benefits such as pay, health insurance, vacation and retirement only play a part in retaining employees. Most importantly, employees need to be involved as the company progresses and feel that their input is valued, including "big picture" decisions and day-to-day operations.

At Moneytree, management staff not only communicate to employees about what is happening in the organization, but they ask for feedback before making decisions that will affect employees. For example, Moneytree built a new call center recently that was planned based on feedback from employees.

"The feedback we got was outstanding," Carlson said. "I'm confident that without their input on that project, we would have continued to have the same issues here as we did in our previous space. Instead, one year later people still talk about how great they think our call center turned out, and they know that their feedback and ideas greatly impacted the final design!"

Diana Kruppstadt is a communications specialist for ACA's Programs Department.