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Leadership Development Fueled by a Winning Attitude Leads to Success
Chris Holt started working at iQor when he was in high school on the 6 pm shift. Twenty years later, Chris’ leadership development path has resulted in him being a Director of Operations in Charlotte, NC, managing a team of customer experience professionals on a client portfolio in Warranties and Utilities. Chris’ impressive career journey at iQor has significantly been influenced by training and mentors.
During his high school years, his first job at iQor was doing collection work for a credit card company client. The work shift was 6 pm to 10 pm, which Chris says was perfect for him during his late high school season. This call center role gave Chris a glimpse into the robustness of career opportunities at iQor. Little did he know he was launching a growth path in his career during that late shift while he was in high school.
Upon college graduation, he realized that iQor presented much more to his career potential than his then-immediate job. He opened his eyes to the fact that iQor is a global organization. He decided to apply himself to a long-term career. His first full-time job was as an inbound customer care agent for a utility client.
After starting as a front-line agent, he then moved into a quality assurance role. In this role, he was laser-focused on maximizing the efficacy of the customer experience for each client. He was responsible for giving agents, supervisors, and clients feedback on which customer experience processes were most effective. After about a year and a half in this role, he became a front-line supervisor where he could build and manage his own team.
Building His Team
Chris was motivated to build his first team with “rock star call center agents” who supported each other through all circumstances. He wanted to set the bar high with his team of agents because they consistently exceeded all expectations. The team he assembled was indeed recognized as star performers, which fueled Chris’s motivation to keep growing as a leader at iQor. He certainly had help along the way.
The Influence of Mentors
Chris’ list of mentors is very long. When he first wanted to become a front-line supervisor, his then-current supervisor Paige Davis took him under her wings. She coached him to think like a manager to get the best performance from the agents on his team in ways that align with iQor’s culture. The mentoring he received from Paige was invaluable, which Chris credits with helping his career growth at iQor.
Chris had ups and downs along the way, as we all do in our career journey. When he became a supervisor, another mentor had a significant impact on him. His new manager at the time, Jack Scioti, taught him the fundamentals of contact center management. These learnings had a big impact on Chris’ ability to lead and manage teams. He advanced from working on one application to managing several across the U.S.
Paying it Forward
When Chris was promoted to a Director, he had an open manager position that he needed to fill. He reached out to a former peer of his on the quality assurance team, Greta Mcilwain. Chris encouraged her to apply for the open manager role. She applied and was awarded the position of overseeing one of the utility programs, reporting to Chris.
Training and Development
Chris gives a lot of credit to the training he received through the iQor University sQholar program. Chris is very appreciative of the robustness of this training program and credits it with helping him tremendously to grow and develop in his leadership roles at iQor. The sQholar program is an accelerator for iQorians to grow into supervisors and other leadership roles.
A Winning Attitude
Before Chris became a director, he asked a senior leader for advice about getting promoted to director. The advice he was given is to always have a winning attitude. That advice had a significant impact on Chris. It’s what drives his attitude every single day. Likewise, he asks his supervisors and agents to have a winning attitude every day, so it trickles through to every individual on their team. This winning attitude carries into each conversation iQor agents have with end-user customers, whether by phone or through a digital channel.
Chris carries this winning attitude into the advice he offers others who are either considering joining iQor or those on their career journey at iQor. His advice is to “look for opportunities and go after them.” He says that opportunities are not going to fall into your lap but that they are available, and it’s up to each iQorian to seek them out and pursue those career opportunities. He encourages them to ask their leaders for advice on how to win those opportunities.
Chris credits iQor’s culture with great pride for everyone’s willingness to help others in their career aspirations through advice, coaching, and mentoring.
What Chris Does for Fun
Chris is a dad to two beautiful daughters, ages 13 and 8. He says being a dad is a full-time job. He spends as much time with them as possible. He is also a sports enthusiast. He enjoys playing golf and cheering for his hometown Carolina Panthers football team.
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