Case Study #2: Rules of Engagement

Wilson Reyes is a business management graduate who, by a series of events and changes in
priorities, realized he needed a more financially rewarding job. His interest in anything technical
eventually landed him a post as a technical support representative (TSR) for CTQ&A Ltd., an
IT-BPM post company with a 10-year market presence.

Fast forward to five (5) years later, most of his batch mates have moved on to different roles
within the company or left for greener pastures. He, however, is still a TSR.

He was also starting to feel the weight of expectation on him as less tenured agents were being
promoted or assigned more challenging roles. Wilson felt he was being passed over for
promotion and felt he had equal or more advanced skills, definitely a lot more experience, and
remains one of the top contributors to people-in-seat overtime support if and when the call
volume demanded it of his account.

He decided to consult with his team manager, Alice Tuason. Calmly, he said he felt that his
contributions were not being recognized; he wanted to know what it was that he was missing.

Scheduling a 1:1 for this, Alice listened as Wilson cited his contributions, concerns and
expressed his frustration and insecurity about being the “oldest” agent and being “passed over”
for meatier roles he was sure he could manage very well. Alic acknowledged his feelings,
thanked him for his very specific contributions to team maturity and their consistent
above-average metrics, for being proactive about his own performance, and how for taking the
initiative t approach her to discuss his performance development.

They talked about which in the company he was interested in and the knowledge, skills and
abilities that were required for each. At the end of the discussion, Wilson was more determined
than ever to seek a new role that would make full use of his talent and train him for a possible
leadership role sometime soon.

Before leaving the office, he scanned the notes he took from his discussion with Alice.
According to Alice, he needed to:

● Needed to practice empathy in dealing with people he comes into contact with at work-
not just his teammates
● Step out of his comfort zone and approach what he perceived as intimidating situations
or people.
● Draw upon his experiences- what he knows, what he’d learned, his new skills, and what
he was capable of doing, to build more confidence.
● Welcome the kind of exposure that the new activities present to employees no matter the
location or volume of attendance.
● Communicate a bit more and allow the people around him to ask more personal
questions as long as the questions were not offending in their standard form.
● Have a bit more faith in himself.
● Develop a more positive attitude.

More of an introvert, he recognized and acknowledged that he had some concerns about
meeting a lot of new people at the same time. In fact, he still finds comfort in the fact that he
could not see the faces of the customers he had to assist over the phone. But Alice told him to
apply what he knows and understood about empathy to the people he would need to have more
interaction with if he wanted to move on to bigger roles.

In the same manner, he needed to be just as proactive about creating situations or welcoming
situations that would expose him to more informal settings for him to practice his social skills.

Wilson resolved to brace himself for the ride; he knew that the rules of engagement would soon
set him on a course he’d never imagined for himself.
Case 2 Discussion Guides

I. Empathy

1. What is Empathy?

2. Can you state what the problem is in this scenario?

3. How many years has it been since Wilson joined VTQ&Q Ltd.?

4. Describe Wilson and his work attitude in your own words.

5. Can you tell how Wilson developed his present frame of mind?

6. Differentiate empathy from sympathy (provide an example).

7. Do you think similar experiences occur in real life? If yes, cite an example.

8. Do you think empathy is a critical aspect of social competence? Why or why not?

9. Is there a connection between a person’s social competence and his/her

leadership capacity? Explain your answer.

10. Can you think of a similar situation in the past that showed you your capacity for

empathy? What did you learn from that situation?

11. What can you see as other possible outcomes if Wilson learned to apply

empathy very early in his BPO career?

12. What other ways can you think of in order to help an acquaintance, friend,

teammate develop and apply empathy?

13. If you were Wilson’s manager, how would deal with similar agents?

14. Do you think that not learning or knowing about empathy is a bad thing?

15. How effective do you think you are in terms of empathy?

1. Do you agree with Alice’s recommendations about what Wilson needed to work

on? Why or why not?

2. What are Wilson’s strengths and weaknesses based on his current performance?

3. Why do you think Alice deferred discussing Wilson’s performance development?

4. Based on what you currently know about Wilson, what factors should his team

manager have changed within his first year of employment to make him more

socially competent earlier on?

5. In her shoes, how would you be able to make sure that all your direct reports

would have an equal opportunity to develop social skills?

6. Do you agree that it is a leader’s ultimate responsibility to seek their own

personal development? Why or why not?

7. Do you think that employees have equal responsibility to see their own personal

development? Why or why not?

8. Is social competence a talent or a skill? Explain your answer.

9. What aspect or component of social skills should future leaders focus on first?

10. How would you summarize the lesson you learned from this session?