Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Keep em around longer with some training
What else can you do with the skills matrix? It can be a starting point to provide training to staff members so they can more easily advance to the next tier. Here are several approaches:
Look below at Skill E. There is one person on the staff, Analyst 5, who has a score of “1.” This score means the analyst has heard of this skill but doesn’t have it. Analyst 3 has a score of “5,” meaning the Analyst is an expert and can teach others. This is an opportunity to have Analyst 3 teach the skill to Analyst 5. This probably can be accomplished with little or no cost. It will improve the skills of Analyst 3 and also give this analyst the chance to improve to a level that may be all this analyst needs to advance to the next tier.
Now look at Skill D. No one on the staff has achieved a skill above a “3.” This means getting a computer-based training program or bringing in a subject matter expert will enable the entire staff to increase their skill level. This may involve some cost, but since the entire staff is lacking this skill, your organization can focus your training in an area that will help the most people.
Next blog I’ll talk about another technique to get staff members to stick around longer.
Also, on Friday August 1, 2008Dr. Jim’s Blog will be unavailable from 11:00AM to 4:00PM EDT for maintenance. So save up any comments or questions you may have until maintenance is complete.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Keepin em Part IV
Tracking skills and testing proficiency
In order to be able to move up as an analyst from one tier to another, it is a good idea to create a test for each advancement. The test can be based on demonstrating proficiency in everything outlined in the current job description. You can also link advancement to the personal goals that are set for each employee. If the employee reaches the goals and demonstrates proficiency on the test you create, this should show readiness to move into the new tier.
You may also want to identify the various skills required to advance. To assist you in tracking the level of proficiency of these skills for each staff member you can create a skills matrix as illustrated below.
SAMPLE SKILLS MATRIX
| Skill A | Skill B | Skill C | Skill D | Skill E | |
| Analyst 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Analyst 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Analyst 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Analyst 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Analyst 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Analyst 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
5=Expert and can teach others
4=Very proficient and can do basic troubleshooting
3=Proficient in regular usage
2=Beginner and understands the basics
1=I’ve heard of it
For each of the required skills you will determine a score based on a self-assessment or your knowledge of the individual using the legend above. You may set a standard whereby a staff member cannot advance to the next tier level until they have achieved a particular score for each of the skills required for that initial tier.
I believe these techniques will provide incentivies for staff members to want to stay longer than they normally would in a specific tier because they can now see a definitive, logical career path to follow at your Service Desk. This will give them a sense of belonging to an organization that is interested in staff members becoming long-term employees.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
More Keepin ‘Em On The Farm
Unless you are a silver-tongued devil, I’m guessing you won’t be able talk the upper management folks to raise the wages way up there to be comparable to some of the 2nd and 3rd level support groups in the rest of IT. So another way to reduce the amount of turnover and keep people at the Service Desk longer before they start sniffing around for higher paying, less stressful jobs is to create several pay tiers at the Service Desk. What to name the various tiers is not as important as having 3-5 levels or tiers, each having a higher pay range. For example:
Tier 1: Pay range $X - $Y
Tier 2: Pay range 15% higher than Tier 1 range
Tier 3: Pay range 15% higher than Tier 2 range
Lead: Pay range 15% higher than Tier 3 range
Supervisor: Pay range 15% higher than Lead range
Having tiers like this will give the analysts a feeling that they have the ability to progress from one level to the next all the way to the top if they have some longevity beyond the usual analyst lifecycle. They will feel there is a long term relationship possible with your Service Desk.
The next step is to write job descriptions for each level with clear requirements for each that will stimulate the analysts to aspire to the higher tiers.
Link personal goals for each analyst to tier requirements to give incentive for progress from one level to the next. But keep in mind that the personal goals of analysts must map to the goals of the Service Desk which must map to the goals of IT which must map to the goals of the company. Therefore all employees will be able to easily see how what they do directly affects the success of the company. This linkage is important.
In my next blog I will discuss other ways to give your analysts a sense of belonging that will make them more likely to stick around awhile.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
How Do You Keep ‘Em Part Deux
How do you keep em? Let’s be honest, in most organizations the Service Desk has the lowest pay range of any group within IT. So to even get really good experienced people to work at the Service Desk is the first challenge. It would be nice if you could attract the best possible candidates, but you are more likely to attract younger people, fresh out of school with little practical experience. But since they have little experience they are more likely to be willing to work for the lower pay range you can offer since this may be the first or one of the first full time jobs they have had since graduation.
Getting them up to speed will be your first task. To supplement their knowledge and train them to be effective may take months. And when you consider the life span of a Service Desk analyst may only be as short as 18 months (according to several studies I have seen), you aren’t getting much longevity from the average staff member. Eighteen months!?!? Mamma Mia, that isn’t much time!
So you may need to design more than one tier at the Service Desk if you have any hope of getting them to stick around longer. How does that work? Sorry, it’s late and I am tired. More coming soon…
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
“How do you get them back on the farm after they’ve seen Paree???”
I am curious. How do the Service Desk Managers of the world out there retain your staff? I’ve got techniques that I have used and recommended, but what do you do to make them want to stay when you know that they want to leave? You realize that most studies say that the average Service Desk staff member leaves in approximately 18 months. So why would the staff want to stay?
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Rant Alert for Road Warriors
Occasionally, my friend, colleague and the President of Pink Elephant, David Ratcliffe writes in his blog about “Rant Alerts!.”
This writing will definitely qualify as a Rant. I realize what I will be discussing here is not related to the Service Desk. But I can’t help but bring up this subject since I travel for a living. There is much disturbing information in the media lately about issues with airlines. It is this news in the media that has triggered this writing.
I am feeling several different emotions. Fear and apprehension about possible serious safety issues that have been ignored and swept under the rug by airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). And anger that the FAA has allowed these serious issues to be hidden for a time from the flying public.
The FAA is the very government agency that is supposed to inspect and govern the airlines to protect the public. What has been happening? Well according to testimony from several federal inspectors who have become “whistleblowers,” evidence has emerged that maintenance by certain airlines has been less than required. When these inspectors have attempted to follow-up and report their findings, their supervisors in some cases have required them to delete information about this lack of maintenance from the reports. Some of these inspectors were reassigned to other work within the agency to remove them from inspections. In one case reported in the newspapers in the past several weeks, an inspector whose wife was also employed by the FAA was allegedly threatened by his supervisor that he and his wife could lose their jobs if he pursued the safety violations.
Maybe if I didn’t travel for a living this might just be just another scandal that I read about and hear about incessantly in the media not one that affected me personally. But I do travel for a living so hence the rant-like nature of this issue of the blog.
I’m really upset and frankly don’t know exactly how I feel. I almost want some time to think about what is happening and how I might want to react to it. On the one hand I’d like to step away from the airlines and take a time out from using them. On the other, I have a job that requires me to travel constantly. Real dilemma here, but I gotta make a living. Have bills to pay and family to support so I really don’t have much of a choice.
But there is still more to this than this newly discovered scandal about safety inspections. In today’s issue of USA Today there is an article in the business section headlined: “Airlines performance near 20-year low.” Evidence? The article goes on to say “more passengers were involuntarily bumped from seats on overbooked flights last year… The rate of consumer complaints reported to the DOT rose… Airlines received seven complaints about mishandled bags for every 1000 passengers, up from 6.5… For the 16 airlines ranked, more than a quarter of their flights arrived late last year.”
Anecdotally, you hear about flights sitting on the tarmac for hours with no food, little to drink, overflowing toilets. Then if you travel enough (I do) you begin to experience these things personally. Rudeness, lack of customer service, complacency, bad attitudes…the list goes on. I even tried complaining once at an airport only to wait in a long line to get to the customer service counter and then be told not to complain to them because “WE COULDN’T DO ANYTHING AND NOBODY LISTENS TO US.” It was suggested that I write a letter instead. Puhleeeze!!
I almost feel like Peter Finch in the 1976 movie Network when he said, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” At least that’s how I feel, but in reality I don’t think it makes any difference how I feel or any other traveler feels, the airlines don’t seem to care. Profitability is more important than anything else. I just hope that nothing awful happens from all the poor maintenance and poor service that has been chronicled in the media.
I feel better now that I have that off my chest. Not sure what to do about it though. How about you? How do you feel??
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Service Desk Surveys
Well Dennis, you’re in luck. A while back I wrote an article for SupportWorld on Service Desk surveys. I am including a copy of my article here now. Hopefully this will fill some of your needs. Then our fellow bloggers can chime in with their comments as well:
It is worthwhile to be aware of the customer perception of your IT organization. Usually, if following ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practices, your Service Level Management process can handle this task. As a part of this process, in the planning stages, a customer satisfaction survey is recommended as well as a follow-up no more than a year later when reviewing the process and all the agreements. Establishing regular surveys will allow you to compare and contrast results over time and hopefully demonstrate improvements from one survey to the next. You will want to seek views from both management and users to fully understand the perception of the quality of the services that you deliver to the business.
There are other places where surveys can be utilized that will gauge customer/user satisfaction as well as staff satisfaction. The types of questions asked would be influenced by the kind of information you are seeking. Whether you are looking for general perception or information about a specific service or product will determine what questions to ask to get you what you require.
There are many places you can go to get help. Here are some sources where quality survey tools can be found:
HDI, formerly known as the Help Desk Institute, has a customer satisfaction tool called the HDI Customer Satisfaction Index (HDI-CSI). This tool lets you benchmark your customer satisfaction ratings against other support centers in your industry. For more information visit the HDI website at http://www.thinkhdi.com or call 800-248-5667 and ask about the HDI-CSI tool to get a free live demo.
There are also many survey tools available on the Internet. Here are several other websites you may want to visit:
http://web.mit.edu/ist/survey/ This is from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
http://www.statpac.com This is the website for StatPac, which produces survey software, online surveys and paper questionnaires.
http://www.busreslab.com This is the website for The Business Research Lab and the site includes employee satisfaction surveys.
http://www.vovici.com This is from the website of Perseus, which includes some free downloads.
http://www.nbrii.com This is the website for the National Business Research Institute which specializes in design, development, deployment and reporting associated with employee surveys and organizational assessments.
http://www.surveyshare.com This site contains templates and sample survey questions.
There are several other ways to gather important data from the user community besides a comprehensive annual survey. For example, do you send out a short inquiry to users after resolving incidents? This can be automated and your incident management tool should allow this. It is an opportunity to focus on a specific event (an incident) to measure satisfaction. Any time an incident is placed into a “resolved” state in your incident management ticketing system you can generate a short survey about that incident. All you need to do is ask, “…Are you satisfied with the resolution of this incident?” Give the user 24 or 48 hours to respond by calling the Service Desk and referring to the incident number on the survey. Tell them if you do not get a response you will close the incident. If you get a negative reply, you can ask them for clarity and probe for the reasons for the dissatisfaction. Then of course, take some positive action to alleviate the discomfort.
You cannot rely only on these automated surveys however. You should also plan to do spot checks proactively by calling selected users after resolving an incident to speak directly to them and asking for their opinion of the way the incident was handled. Doing spot checks of closed incidents by calling users will provide a good cross-section of data for analysis.
But surveys should be only one part of your strategy for understanding customer and user perception and satisfaction. In Service Level Management, to manage the ongoing process, you should be monitoring performance against the SLA’s and reporting results to the business. Then you should be scheduling monthly, bi-monthly or, at a minimum, quarterly service level review meetings with each of your business unit managers. It is during these meetings that you can have meaningful dialogues that will give you much more insight into the psyche of the user community than any survey could provide. So do not neglect to take advantage of this great opportunity to understand the perception of IT services.
But the bottom line is, once you have gathered the data through whichever means you choose, you must create action items and implement them to improve the services and the processes that deliver the services. In ITIL, these are called Service Improvement Programs (SIPs). SIPs are formal documented improvement programs designed to improve a particular aspect of a service that is measured in an SLA. If you do not take positive action after uncovering poor perceptions, you run the risk of losing credibility with the business. It will also render all the survey techniques as meaningless since the business will see that you do not take action when a poor perception is identified.
So surveying the user community about the perception of IT and the services you deliver is an extremely important step in an overall continual improvement mindset that a good IT organization needs to have. It shows the business your commitment to quality and aligns you more with the business as a partner instead of an adversary.
Service Desk Surveys
This subject was sent in by Dennis U. I am adding my comments on this. But I’m sure there are others out there with insight into surveying. Let’s hear from the rest of you.
I am seeking knowledge or awareness to any material surrounding the Service Desk and Surveys monitoring the effectiveness of the services provide by the Service Desk.
I’m concentrating on how other companies handle this coordination between surveys and the Service desk.
How are other companies establishing the hook and coordination between ticketing systems and ASP survey applications?
I am making the assumption that most companies with Service Desks want to:
1. Have a survey application offer the ability to import data from a ticketing system (respondent email address, ticket information, and survey link), build an email with this information, issuance the survey and capture the respondent’s feedback. Example - Remedy data integrated with survey email text.
2. The Ticketing application triggers a survey event based on the close of a ticket (or similar event).
Are there some Help Desk forum groups providing thoughts around this topic?
Friday, March 28, 2008
Now that’s funny!
I remember a situation once where I was working on a consulting assignment at a Service Desk. We got an alert message that one of the data storage discs was nearly full. We had to quickly delete some files to make room or soon the server would start slowing down and would eventually stop altogether if some action didn’t take place right away.
So one of our technicians got permission from the IT Director to logon to the server to begin looking at files to see if we could find some that could be deleted. What the tech found was an enormous amount of files with .jpeg extensions. So he began opening them to see what pictures were being stored. It turns out that one particular user had stored hundreds of wedding pictures and literally every picture he must have ever taken in his entire life. Thousands of personal photos were being stored on our business server.
We were able to make one phone call to the employee to share what we had found. We gave him thirty minutes to get the photos off the company server. Thank goodness at least all the photos were rated “G”, not “R” or “X”!!!
Friday, March 21, 2008
What’s so darn funny??
There is a whole lot of seriousness going on in the I.T. world. But there must be something funny going on as well. What has happened at your Service Desk that you thought was ha-ha funny?? Let us hear about your funniest experience. Let’s see who can come up with the weirdest/funniest happening.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Recruiting for Service Desk Part 2
One of the approaches that I have seen that seems successful is recruiting from multiple sources including colleges for recent graduates. The idea is to have a blending of various levels of skills and experience. This will require having more than one job description and various pay levels to accommodate.
For example, you can have Service Desk Analyst I, II, III, Lead, Supervisor, and Manager positions. This allows a new analyst to progress from one level to another over a longer period of time. If they have higher pay levels to aspire to and a chance to improve skills and learn more to look forward to they are likely to stick around much longer. You can then count on keeping analysts for a longer period on average before they begin to look elsewhere in your company for other positions.
The trick is to define each position in detail in the job description with clear understanding of how and when an analyst will be able to progress from one level to another.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Recruiting for the Service Desk
Welcome to Dr. Jim’s blog. Just who is this “Dr. Jim” anyway? He is a persona of Jim McKennan an IT Management Consultant at Pink Elephant. The persona was created about 4 years ago when I started writing a regular column for SupportWorld Magazine called ‘Dear Dr. Jim the Service Doctor.’ In the magazine, I answer questions submitted by IT professionals looking for help and guidance on issues they are faced with in the day to day world of IT.
Since the magazine is published only 6 times a year, Pink Elephant asked me if I would also manage this blog to allow more topics to be covered more often than a magazine could. So here we are on the blogosphere to focus some attention primarily on the Help Desk/Service Desk.
One of the nice things about working at Pink Elephant is that I am surrounded by many bright people. In our conversations, burning issues often arise, so I will call upon my “expert” colleagues to offer up topics that they hear about during their training or consulting engagements.
I also get questions directed to me at my Dr. Jim email address: drjimtheservicedoctor@yahoo.com which I use as fodder for my column in SupportWorld magazine. We should have enough ideas to get started. So here is the first topic open for discussion. By the way, thanks to my colleague Robin Hysick for sharing this topic with me recently.
Recruiting for the Service Desk
‘Many companies believe they should hire college recruits into the Service Desk and then after so much time “promote” them to another IT function. On one hand that’s a good way to start customer service skills early but on the other hand do all college recruits have the skills to be a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for users? And, if the perception is to “promote” them to another IT function what message does that send to longer term Service Desk staff.’
How and where do you look to recruit new Service Desk staff members? Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.