Emotional Agility Series – Part 1: Impact
The Value of Emotional Agility
My dad is great to travel with. We were two weeks in on our road trip when we pulled into the big-brand hotel – a special upgrade on this trip. Knowing we were staying two nights, this was our opportunity for hotel laundry. We had planned for this so we could have clean clothes for the remaining 10 days before heading homeward.
Theirs is my favorite hotel loyalty program. They have such a variety of brands, plus great earn & burn rates on loyalty points. Still, we would not have booked this upgraded stay for a road trip, if not for the need to wash our clothes. After all, being stuck in a laundromat on vacation was not our idea of fun.
When I opened the package the next day, our laundry looked great! Then I noticed the bill was inaccurate. My briefs were billed as Bermuda shorts (at twice the price), undershirts were now T-shirts, and there were numerous other reclassifications which resulted in doubling the laundry bill. Ouch! Hey, mistakes happen, and I was sure the front desk would resolve this.
What happened next surprised and disappointed me. Despite my photos of the laundry package on my phone and the obviously modified inventory in my hand, the front desk representative was not about to budge on the errant charges. I no longer recall her exact words, but she clearly demonstrated she did not trust I was telling the truth.
With no one from Housekeeping answering her calls, I asked to escalate to the front desk manager with the same result. “I’m sorry,” Enrico said, “but without someone from Housekeeping, I just don’t know who to believe.” Wow! Did the front desk manager just say that?
I received these messages as the two of them effectively calling me a liar. Being very aware of my own frustration, I was careful to regulate my own emotions so as not to respond in a way which would escalate the matter. I was floored but not deterred. And their behavior suggested they wished I would simply go away.
“People won’t remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.” ~Carl W. Buehner
Understanding Emotional Agility
Carl W. Buehner is commonly credited for saying “people won’t remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.” He was right; the emotional wake left by how we interact with others – whether in a service setting, raising children, in a committed relationship, or elsewhere – is immense.
We’ve all experienced service failures of one kind or another. Mistakes happen. In this example, not only were the representative and front desk manager not empowered to resolve problems for customers, but they were also not adequately trained to demonstrate empathy to customers.
Emotional agility would have completely transformed my customer experience on June 7. The hurt feelings and tarnished image need not have happened – even if the lack of empowerment had still required escalations. Emotional agility is truly key to unlocking the full potential of every customer experience.
Workplace Impact of Emotional Agility
In the contact center, emotional agility bridges the gap between representatives and customers, equipping agents with the skills to respond effectively to customer emotions while managing their own. These skills foster genuine customer connections and can bolster your brand like nothing else.
Consider the following:
- Research summarized in the Harvard Business Review involving hundreds of brands across dozens of categories indicates that brands which emotionally connect with their customers are 25% to 100% more valuable in revenue and profitability than those which merely satisfied customers.
- A 2022 Adobe survey found that 76% of the 14,000 respondents believe it’s crucial for brands to demonstrate empathy. This means understanding customer perspectives, recognizing their frustrations, and knowing what truly matters to them.
- Further, this 2024 original research article published in the Journal of Business Research suggests that businesses can significantly benefit from recognizing and responding to customers’ varying emotional states, ultimately improving service quality and fostering customer loyalty.
- According to this NICE Workforce Engagement global survey which polled 400 agents and managers at call centers across the U.S. and U.K., the average attrition rate for call centers in 2021 was 42%.
- Additional research by Harvard Business Review researcher Keith Ferrazzi and reported by Sharpen CX suggests that replacing a call center agent costs between $10,000 and $20,000, meaning the average attrition costs for contact center agents is significant.
What do these stats have in common? They all are impacted by the skillset of emotional agility.
Emotional Agility Defined
The notion of emotional agility may be growing in popularity, but what does it really mean? It may first be helpful to explore what emotional agility is not.
Emotional Intelligence. While related, emotional agility goes beyond emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence involves recognizing and understanding emotions, whereas emotional agility adds the dimension of navigating and responding to emotions dynamically and flexibly in various contexts.
Reacting Impulsively. It is not about reacting impulsively to emotional triggers. Emotional agility requires thoughtful responses rather than knee-jerk reactions. It emphasizes pausing, reflecting, and choosing the best action in emotionally charged situations.
Emotional Suppression. Emotional agility does not mean suppressing or ignoring emotions. Instead, it involves acknowledging and understanding emotions in order to manage them effectively. Suppression can increase stress and burnout, whereas emotional agility promotes healthy emotional processing.
Emotional Detachment. Being emotionally agile does not mean being detached or indifferent. On the contrary, it involves being deeply attuned to one’s own emotions and those of others. This awareness helps in building genuine connections and empathy.
Fixed. Emotional agility is not a fixed trait; it is a skill that can be developed and enhanced over time. It requires continuous practice and reflection to improve how one deals with emotions and adapts to changing circumstances.
Emotional agility is recognizing, understanding, and managing your own emotions to respond effectively in any situation. It’s staying professional and empathetic under pressure, adapting to change, and maintaining control.
This skill creates a resilient, productive, and high-performing team. Emotional agility elevates the customer experience, making customers feel valued, understood, and emotionally connected to your brand.
Core Components of Emotional Agility
Now, let’s take a look at the core components of emotional agility.
- Self-awareness: This is the foundation of emotional agility. It involves being conscious of your emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and triggers. Self-awareness enables customer service professionals to understand and manage their reactions appropriately during customer interactions.
- Emotional regulation involves controlling or redirecting disruptive emotions and impulses. For contact center employees, emotional regulation means staying calm and composed, even when dealing with difficult or angry customers. It helps prevent negative emotions from escalating and ensures that interactions remain professional and constructive.
- Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. In a contact center, this translates to agents being able to put themselves in the customer’s shoes, understanding their frustrations and concerns, and responding with genuine care and consideration. Empathy builds trust and rapport, making customers feel heard and valued. (Check out these great empathy statements you can use in customer service.)
- Adaptability: This is the capacity to adjust to new conditions and handle multiple tasks or changes efficiently. Contact center agents often face unpredictable situations and must be able to adapt their responses to meet the needs of each unique interaction. Adaptability ensures they can provide consistent, high-quality service regardless of the circumstances.
Conclusion
Going back to my hotel laundry experience, I then asked the front desk manager, Enrico, whether the hotel general manager was on site. I was in luck; she was. Surely, she would see the error in how this matter was being handled, I thought. And Enrico led me to her office. He then asked me to wait outside.
She never came out of her office but instead had Enrico running back and forth between us to communicate what had happened and the resolution I wanted – corrected laundry charges, which I eventually got only through my persistence. I was blown away she wouldn’t even speak to me directly. Moreover, there was never any apology for the mistake nor empathy for my experience.
My worst experience ever with this major brand.
I will never, ever, return to that specific hotel property. That’s the power of emotional agility or the lack thereof. Worse, I won’t view the entirety of the brand in the same way ever again, regardless of the actual ownership of any individual property.
Have you had a brand experience which was tone deaf to how they made you feel? Most people I speak with have. So, before we dismiss emotional agility as being too “touchy feely,” I challenge you to consider the potential impact to customer churn which a culture of emotional agility may have for your organization.
Cultivating emotional agility is the topic of the next installment in this series…stay tuned!