Too many techies get a bad rap for lacking teamwork and communications
skills. The stereotype is that while techies are great at what they are trained
to do, they cannot parlay their knowledge onto others. Because of the
stereotype that techies cannot communicate, they also can be stigmatized that
they lack adequate teamwork skills. So, what are the chances of two Helpdesk
teams communicating with each other to successfully form one team while not
compromising customer service?
Does this plan initially sound like an enormous task? Does
it sound impossible? Not if you were lucky enough to have been on such a
dynamite team like mine.
In 1997, Ameritech Advertising Helpdesk was supporting
Yellow Pages Salespeople, Artists and Data Entry from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio,
Illinois and Wisconsin. When Southwestern Bell Corporation acquired Ameritech
in 1998, procedures started to change. Ultimately, The Ameritech Advertising
Helpdesk became the SBC Yellow Pages Helpdesk and employees were to support
clients not only in the five-state Great Lakes region but clients in other
regions in which SBC resided. SBC had Yellow Pages clients in the east in
Connecticut, in the middle of the country in Missouri and Kansas, in the
southwest in Oklahoma and Texas and in the west in Arizona, Nevada and
California.
There were two Helpdesks: The Helpdesk who supported clients
in the Great Lake region and the Helpdesk that supported clients in the
eastern, middle, southwestern and western regions. The Helpdesk supported
clients 24/7 during the weekdays, a part of Saturday and was on call for
Sunday. The Great Lakes Helpdesk had about seven to eight dayshift personnel,
two-afternoon people and one mid-nightery. The eastern, middle, southwestern
and western region Helpdesk had about eight to ten personnel that worked
different hours from 7 a.m. until 10p.m. eastern time.
The grand plan was to combine both Helpdesks and have all of
the analysts versatile in all of the applications in order to support clients
from all of the 13 states. For example, most of the analysts who supported
clients in the Great Lakes region had never worked with VMS systems, but were
very familiar with systems like the Remedy Helpdesk software. Conversely, most
of the analysts who supported clients in the eastern, middle, southwestern and
western U.S. had been trained on the VMS systems, but had never worked with
Remedy.
Being in Information Technology, one may get used to systems
and applications going wrong. It seems that in too many instances, techies are
troubleshooting and fixing systems.
So, how did combining operations go without sacrificing
customer service?
1. It was about a six-month plan, which started around
February 2002 to gradually adjust analysts from both Helpdesks. One analyst
from each Helpdesk was trained for several months before supporting clients in
all 13 states.
2. Both Helpdesks were in different parts of the Call Centre.
A couple of analysts from both Helpdesks switched desks in order to familiarize
each other with systems.
3. Management was very supportive of the transition and
realized that there was a learning curve during the transition.
4. There were two analysts from both Helpdesks called
Helpdesk Advocates, who were the liaison between the analysts and management.
Both Advocates communicated the analysts’ concerns to management.
5. Clients were informed that both Helpdesks were in the
process of being combined and to please be as understanding as possible during
the transition.
6. Every analyst was receptive to any question from other
analysts. Every analyst was in the same boat – so to speak. Every analyst knew
that he or she would have questions about systems in which he or she was not as
familiar. How every analyst handled any question from a co-worker would reflect
the way in which he or she would be treated when he or she had a question. It
was the human nature aspect.
7. Every analyst had a desire to learn.
8. Every analyst had a willingness to train
9. If an analyst could learn one system, he or she could
learn other systems.
10. Every analyst was a team player. Although there were
folks who had years and even decades of experience on some systems, no one was
too good to help out any analyst who had never worked with a particular system.
The fact that every analyst was cooperative during the transition made it an enormous
success.
This is what we learned from the experience:
1. Teamwork is not about individuals. When a client’s
problem was solved, it was the whole Helpdesk that triumphed.
2. When superstars play as a team, the team will ultimately
win. Every member of the team was a superstar who played as a team and we
ultimately won in transitioning both Helpdesks.
3. Every analyst proved that they could parlay their
knowledge and translate that language to other analysts and clients.
4. Perception and reality may be two completely different
things. I knew very little about the folks at the other Helpdesk. When one got
to know them, they were as wonderful as the folks whom one already knew at their
own Helpdesk.
5. Teamwork is all about dealing with people. What you make
of your relationships is up to you.
6. It is amazing what a team can do when it is up to the
challenge. The team only had a certain amount of time to transition its
operations and it got done!
7. Sometimes just a desire to learn can make the difference
between success and failure.
8. Investment in relationships with people is invaluable
with a rewarding rate of return.
9. Random acts of kindness
10. You can actually appeal to people’s better nature and
not just their self-interest.
Everyone involved displayed so much cooperation and
willingness to train no matter how many times they were asked a question.
Everyone involved during the transition should be very proud that they were
part of that awesome period and it is something that they can take with them
anywhere else they go. All were a part of a group that needed to implement the
greatest effort of teamwork or we were not going to make the transition.
Considering that three shifts were involved makes the event, even more, a source of pride for all of those who were involved. Any person on
the team could be approached and they were more than willing to help with any
question. The team were an example to follow and they certainly set a great
standard for teamwork!!
Teamwork is all about people. Those in technical professions
are people too. No matter what your profession, people in technology have great
skills like everyone else. The team
broke the stereotype that techies cannot communicate well and are not team
players. It’s not your profession that determines what makes you a great team
player, it’s who you are. It’s not how much people skills that you possess,
it’s what you do with those people skills that matter.
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