Why is resilience more important than talent in Customer Service?

 I have seen Customer Service Agents, better than me, get fired. Some had accent-free English or English that sounded native. Others only received compliments and positive comments from their Customers.

Photo by Alex Shute

Even so, they could not keep their jobs. Why? In my opinion, for lacking resilience.

What are the consequences of working in Customer Service without the necessary resilience?

• From the rush, only tiredness remains.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.  
• Unnecessary haste.  
• Excessive exhaustion.  
• Stress.  
• Psychosomatic illnesses.  
• Making basic mistakes, but with terrible, sometimes irreparable, consequences.  
• Saying words from which one cannot later retract.  
• Being scolded.  
• Losing a promotion.  
• Being fired.
• Being put on a blacklist and never being able to get a job in the Customer Service sector again.

You must increase your resilience to succeed; having talent is not enough.

What activities do I recommend to become more resilient?

• Learn to breathe. It is something so simple that we do it without thinking. However, whoever controls their breathing controls their emotions. Breathe deeply to calm yourself. Speed up your breathing to produce adrenaline. Breathe with pauses to change your behavior from reactive to proactive. Of course, every body is different, so you will have to go through a process of trial and error. "Know yourself", said Socrates. Consciously master your breathing, and you will unconsciously master your emotions. Ask anyone who has watched Kimetsu no Yaiba.
• When you are on work hours, focus on your job. Don’t be lazy and fulfill your responsibilities completely.  
• When you are outside of work hours, disconnect. It is important to relax, change your mindset to properly recover your energy. If you have a high position within your company (the so-called trusted roles or Stakeholders) and you have to be available even outside of work hours, you still need to find spaces for distraction and rest, even if they are short. I recommend using a lot of alarms on your phone; the most basic has worked for me. If you prefer a paid app or something like that, go ahead.  
• Rely on your loved ones. It is crucial to have someone you can vent to. Of course, without sharing private or confidential information. If you don’t release your emotions, you cannot recover your rational capacity.

Why is it so difficult to be resilient?  

Actually, being resilient is not that difficult. What happens is that what it means to be resilient is often confused.  

Resilience is not:

• Not to feel.
• Not to complain.
• Never give up.
• Never protest.
• Endless resistance.

Resilience is:

• Do not be reactive.
• Know how to process your own emotions at the right time, in the right place, and with the right people.
• Persevere as long as it is reasonable and profitable.
• Do not fall into the sunk cost fallacy. Be aware of the advantages of a strategic withdrawal. As Albert Einstein said: "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction".
• When you disagree with someone, it is better to express yourself clearly, without being hurtful or manipulative.

Resilience is not watching all the episodes of One Piece praying that the ending is worth it and you don't feel like you wasted years of your life: resilience is realizing that if you are going to break down emotionally over a disappointing ending, you would be better off watching another series.

See you next Saturday, at the same time, and on the same blog.

This article is also available in Spanish. Read the Spanish version here.

If you want to improve your skills as a Customer Service Agent, I recommend my article: The importance of pronunciation in Customer Service (and practical exercises to improve).