It has been established time and again that reading is not just for the scholar. In case you without a doubt consider it, we are all students of life. Constantly learning and growing. Scientific research shows that your brain is a muscle. In order to exercise it, you need to continuously learn and you can achieve this through reading. To become more effective it is vital to examine and research information that allows you to enhance and improve not only your life but your career as well. The key to becoming an innovative contact center professional lies in your ability to absorb and apply information
Titans in any industry have credited their success to reading and constantly absorbing information. In order to be the best at what you do, you need to read books that make you better at what you do. There is a saying that goes ‘Leaders are readers’. You may not have a leadership role at your workplace so why bother? As an individual, you’re the leader accountable for your existence and profession, consequently, you should make a habit out of reading.
5 reasons why you should read to become an innovative contact center professional
There are so many benefits to reading. Reading a single book can be beneficial not only to your career but to other areas of your life. Even though some books may be specifically for a particular occupation, you can take away some lessons that you can apply in your day to day life or in your personal relationships. Some of the benefits include:
1. It boosts creativity
Often when you read, the writer gives you scenarios to relate to. Reading automatically drives you to draw mental pictures in your head. It is different from watching a movie or a documentary where the picture is already provided for you in motion. The process of creating mental pictures improves your creativity and the more you do it the more natural you become at creating and developing ideas.
Even though the study conducted was related to reading novels it can also apply to reading a self-help book or a non-fictional book. This is because writers often give scenarios through storytelling which is similar to reading a story in a novel. The only difference being that these stories are often a way of bringing out an important point that you need to take away from the book.
2. It Improves Focus and concentration
As we live in a fast-paced world, our attention span is decreasing due to constant exposure to information on the internet and TV. This can have a negative impact on your concentration and ability to focus. Taking time to read a book gives you a sense of grounding.
When you sit still and read a book, you train your body and your mind to slow down and relax. It then allows you to concentrate more and the more you do it the more you train your mind to focus on one thing. Practicing this will boost your productivity.
3. It improves your memory
When you read you take in facts, stories of people, places, and things. This all taken in by your memory muscle, which is in the Cerebrum part of your brain. Reading improves how you remember things.
4. It improves your communication skills
When you are writing an email to a collogue or responding to a message from your boss, do you ever struggle to find the right words to express yourself? We all do at times. Reading improves your communication skills. As you read you are exposed to new words that enrich your vocabulary. The more you read the more you learn to express yourself and the point you are trying to put across.
5. Reading makes you smarter
Have you ever had a conversation with a know it all? Don’t you just hate how they leave you feeling like you know nothing? You probably feel this way because you do not know enough. Obviously, you can never know it all. But having
a conversation with someone and having nothing of substance to bring to the table can affect your confidence. Reading can help you navigate through conversation which in turn makes you a more interesting and confident character.
Books that can help you become an innovative contact center professional
You are most probably already aware of the several reasons why you should constantly read books. If you are looking for a place to start as a contact center professional, this list contains 10 books that can help you and your team become more innovative and productive.
- Innovation is everybody’s business: how to ignite, scale, and sustain innovation for a competitive edge- Tamara Ghandour
- The innovation ultimatum: how six strategic technologies will reshape every business in the 2020’s- Steve Brown
- The innovator’s spirit: Discover the mindset to pursue the impossible- Chuck Swoboda
- Lead from the future: How to turn visionary thinking into breakthrough growth- Mark W Johnson
- Total Rethink: Why entrepreneurs should act like revolutionaries- David McCourt
- The creative thinking handbook: Your step by step guide to problem-solving in business- Chris Griffiths
- Superhuman innovation: Transforming business with artificial intelligence- Chris Duffey
- Driving Eureka!: Problem-solving with data-driven methods and the innovation engineering system- Doug Hall
- Transforming the clunky organization: Pragmatic leadership skills for breaking inertia (the pragmatic leadership series)- Samuel Bacharach
- Pivot, Disrupt, Transform: How leaders beat the odds and survive.- Marcia Daszko
The importance of being an innovative contact center professional
The contact center industry is one of the industries where AI is taking over. We fail as humans when a machine becomes better than us. As humans, we are still a step ahead of AI because of our ability to empathize as well as create ideas. This is why it is important for you to continue to be innovative. Exercise your creativity through reading and come up with ground-breaking ideas. As a contact center professional, your core business is dealing with people. It is, therefore, necessary for you to continue to develop your people skills so that your interaction with clients is mutually beneficial to your business and your clients.
Great thinkers live forever through their innovation. For more on these books, I have prepared a free Ebook that further explains what each book is about. Perhaps you are still skeptical about whether you should spend your money on any of them. This complimentary Ebook will help you decide which books suit you and your team’s needs on the topic of innovation. It’s a short read that will get you started on your journey as an innovative contact center professional.
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Jim Rembach is the Editor in Chief of the Customer Service Weekly and it’s Podcast host. He is President of CX Global Media and the creator of the Call Center Coach Virtual Leaders Academy. As the host of the Fast Leader Show Podcast, he has interviewed hundreds of experts, authors, academics, researchers, and practitioners on various angles, viewpoints, and perspectives for improving the customer experience. He has held positions in retail operations, contact centers, customer support, customer success, sales, and measured the customer experience. He is a certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner, Employee Retention Specialist, and recipient of numerous industry awards.