Get Out of Wrap - Contact Centre Chat

Martin Teasdale
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  • Management
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There are 6,000 contact centres in the UK - this is the 1st podcast dedicated to the world of the contact centre. Perhaps still an industry with a negative perception externally, the reality is very different & very positive. This is a podcast all about best practice in Contact Centres &what vibrant, vital, diverse, exciting engagement places they really are. I’ll be chatting to people who know their stuff and are doing great things. This podcast is independent and a proud supporter of Action Aid UK .

  1. 19h ago

    #267- James Revell - Why great teams don't grown on trees.

    Martin welcomes back "the Bearded Wonder Man" himself, James Revell, for a wide-ranging conversation on leadership, team culture, and the future of customer experience. Drawing on years of judging national and European contact centre awards, James shares what separates truly great teams from the merely good — authenticity, storytelling, and leaders who empower rather than dominate. The conversation turns to the evolving leadership journey: from early missteps navigating strategy and communication, to mastering the "dark arts" of stakeholder politics and budgets across different cultures. James and Martin also dig into one of the industry's biggest questions right now — how AI and automation are reshaping the contact centre, the risk of losing entry-level talent pipelines, and why customer experience must remain the driver behind every technology decision, not cost alone. Packed with hard-won insight from a leader who's built and led award-winning teams, this episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating team building, leadership, and the future of CX in an AI-driven world.

  2. Jun 26

    #266 - A closer look at what contact centres may look like in 2035

    Martin takes a closer look at the near future of the contact centre — not the vague "AI will replace everyone" headlines, but a practical, role-by-role breakdown of how the industry might really change over the next decade. After attending the National Contact Centre Awards in London, Martin reflects on how far the industry has come — and where it's heading. He walks through what a future 500-seat operation could look like, and what that means for every team: agents, team leaders, QA, training, WFM, and HR. In this episode: Why transactional contacts will largely disappear — and what that leaves for human agentsHow the team leader role becomes more important, not lessThe evolution of QA from auditors to insight specialistsWhy training will shift towards emotional intelligence, resilience, and critical thinkingThe real risk of removing humans too aggressively — and why customers will punish itWhy demand for exceptional team leaders will be higher than ever by 2035 Whether you're deep into AI adoption or still running on an Excel Frankenstack, this one's for you. Share your thoughts — how do you see the contact centre changing?

  3. Jun 19

    #265 - Has contact centre technology actually improved? With Danny Wardell

    Martin Teasdale is joined again by Danny Wardell of Alvaria for Part 2 of their conversation.  Fresh from a great response to Episode 1, they dive deeper into the realities of contact centre life, from the agent experience to the evolution (or lack of it) of customer experience over the last 20 years.  Danny shares candid takes on CCaaS, proactive outbound, AI, and why buying brand over capability has held the industry back. A genuinely honest conversation from two people who've lived it from the agent's seat upwards. Chapters: 0:20 – Being an Agent 3:59 – Has the Job Got Harder? 8:22 – Has Customer Experience Improved? 16:32 – Proactive Outbound 19:22 – The BA Story 28:20 – Service vs. Cost 29:43 – AI & The Future of Contact Centers 41:23 – Wrapping Up ContactCentre #CustomerExperience #CX #Podcast #Outbound #AI #CCaaS #Alvaria #GetOutOfWrap

  4. Jun 17

    #264 - Prioritisation, Decision Systems & Improvement with The Forum

    Feeling stuck in a cycle of firefighting, endless meetings, and inbox management — and wondering why nothing ever seems to truly improve? This episode might be exactly what you need. Martin is joined by Phil Anderson and Chris Rainsforth from The Forum — an organisation dedicated to raising standards in customer operations — for a practical and thought-provoking session on how to break free from reactive working and build smarter decision systems. Together they explore: The Failure Loop — why great intentions so often lead to the same problems repeatingResetting before redefining — why you need to stop old habits before you can build new onesThe Eisenhower Matrix — a simple but powerful tool for sorting urgent from importantThe 1-3-5 Rule — how to structure your day around what actually mattersDecision architecture — moving from reacting to orchestratingThe Strategy Pyramid — aligning daily priorities to organisational objectivesWhether you're a team leader, analyst, or operations professional, this session is packed with practical frameworks you can start using immediately — no matter what's going on around you. Plus, stick around to the end to hear about The Forum's Virtual Learning Academy, now available exclusively to the Team Leader community.

  5. Jun 12

    #263 - Danny Wardell of Alvaria CX

    Get Out of Wrap | Episode #263 – Danny Wardell, VP EMEA GTM at Alvaria CX From filing in a damp cellar at a solicitor's office to VP at one of the contact center industry's most recognised brands, Danny Wardell's journey is anything but ordinary. In this episode, Martin sits down with Danny to explore the grit, setbacks, and hard-won lessons behind a career built from a working-class background in West Yorkshire. They cover early jobs that shaped his relentless work ethic, the rejection that lit a fire under him, what it really costs to succeed in sales, and why returning to carry a bag after a decade of leadership was the best move he ever made. They also get into the AI hype problem facing the contact center industry, why proactive outbound is the most underused superpower in CX, and the human moments where no technology should ever replace a person. Honest, grounded, and genuinely entertaining and this is part one of two.

  6. May 15

    #262 - Teams, Trust, and BOSS Culture

    In this episode I am joined once again by the brilliant Lee Houghton for a conversation that gets to the heart of what makes a team a real team, and what gets in the way. They explore why "team" is consistently the number one thing people say brings them happiness at work, the difference between a group that works and one that truly performs, and why artificial harmony might be the biggest silent killer of team culture. From belonging and connection to healthy conflict, watermelon reporting, and the danger of mistaking agreement for high performance, this episode is packed with honest reflections, practical insights, and more than a few great stories. Lee also introduces his BOSS framework — Behaviours Observed Set Standards — and why, as leaders, everything we do (and don't do) is setting the standard for those around us. If you lead a team, are part of one, or simply care about creating environments where people can do their best work, this one's for you.

  7. May 8

    #261 - Don't kick the hive with Jamie Corbett

    In this episode I sat down with Jamie Corbett, Head of Operations at Advantis Credit, for a conversation that's as honest as it is inspiring.  Jamie's story starts on the building sites, a plumber by trade who accidentally stumbled into a contact centre when he needed holiday money and ends (for now) at the top of operations.  But it's the messy, human middle that makes this episode unmissable. Jamie opens up about bombing on the phones, the hippie colleague who changed his entire outlook with a Dale Carnegie quote, and the Excel V-lookup that quietly launched his career.  He talks about what it really means to build psychological safety for a team, why he created a secret project called "Project Artemis” to solve a wrap time problem, and the brutal setback that turned out to be the making of him. If you've ever questioned whether you're ready for the next step, taken a leap that didn't land, or wondered what separates good leaders from great ones, this one's for you. Topics covered: contact centre culture, emotional intelligence, early leadership lessons, dealing with failure, self-development, and why the best leadership lesson is learning it's never about you. From Plumber to Contact CentreLearning the Hard Way on the PhonesThe Vinny Effect: Lessons That LastStepping Into LeadershipBuilding the Bad Apple TeamCreating Psychological SafetyThe Setback That Changed Everything• Jamie 2.0: From Me to We

  8. May 1

    #260 - Where is the AI bandwagon heading ? With Lee Houghton

    Martin sits down with Lee Houghton, the UK's National Coach of the Year and founder of Get Knowledge, for a wide-ranging, honest conversation about artificial intelligence and what it's doing to us as humans. Fresh from the Forum Conference, both self-confessed AI enthusiasts wrestle with a genuine tension: they love how AI has transformed their solo businesses, but they're worried about what we might be quietly giving away in the process.  Are we outsourcing our creativity, our curiosity, and our human connection along with our admin? From SatNav and checkbooks to ChatGPT and Claude, Martin and Lee explore how technology has always reshaped behaviour and ask whether this time it's different.  Lee shares his fear that we're slowly "practicing being human" less and less, while Martin wonders whether AI could actually create space for the things that make us irreplaceable: lived experience, genuine connection, and the kind of nuance no prompt can fully capture. They also touch on inclusion and exclusion in the AI age, what organisational structures might look like in the future, and inevitably, the looming spectre of Tottenham's relegation. Warm, funny, and thought-provoking……this one's got real heart. Topics covered: The "AI is as bad as it's ever going to be" mindset shiftOutsourcing thinking vs. outsourcing the humanHead, hands & heart — what AI can and can't replaceInclusion gaps in an AI-accelerated worldWhy your actual intention behind using AI matters

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There are 6,000 contact centres in the UK - this is the 1st podcast dedicated to the world of the contact centre. Perhaps still an industry with a negative perception externally, the reality is very different & very positive. This is a podcast all about best practice in Contact Centres &what vibrant, vital, diverse, exciting engagement places they really are. I’ll be chatting to people who know their stuff and are doing great things. This podcast is independent and a proud supporter of Action Aid UK .

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