The FT Word – August 2012
The FT Word
The FT Word is a free monthly newsletter with support management tips. To subscribe, send us email with your email address. The subscription list is absolutely confidential; we never sell, rent, or give information about our subscribers. Here’s a sample.
Welcome
Welcome to the August 2012 edition of the FT Word. Feel free to forward it to your colleagues. (They can get their own subscription.)
A bit of fun for the summer (well, at least for us in the Northern hemisphere) and to celebrate the Olympic Games:
-
What the Olympics can teach us about support
-
Coming up: Third Tuesday Forum on September 18th and an open-registration workshop in November
What the Olympics can teach us about support
Have you been watching the Olympics? I have, and right from the opening ceremony I could see lots of lessons for us in the support world. So for a bit of summer fun, here are 10 ideas you can use — and, of course, three medals for my faves!
Put the athletes on display, not the coaches and managers
I love the parade of athletes in the opening ceremony, where everyone gets a chance to be on camera. But I would vote to put that spotlight on the athletes only, not their entourage. Recognize individual contributors, not overhead.
Cater to all kinds of talents
From the diminutive gymnasts to the massive weightlifters, from the rowers to the marathoners, the Olympics cater to a vast array of talents. So don’t just hand out medals for the highest customer satisfaction ratings or most KB articles written. Surely there’s value in the best telephone voice, or best editing of a release note?
Bring everyone together on a regular basis
Electronic substitutes are wonderful but they will always remain just that, substitutes. Old-fashioned, face-to-face contact builds teamwork.
Hand out plenty of hardware
The vast majority of Olympic athlete don’t get a medal, but the medals make it fun for everyone.
Invite the media
Get a writeup about support (customer quote, anyone?) in the corporate newsletter or a quote on the website.
Add a really different event
Did you know that poetry was a bona fide event once upon a time? The French track and field athlete Gilbert Prouteau was injured for the 1948 Olympics but won the bronze medal for poetry with a short poem about how it feels to win (I’m not making this up!) Maybe a poetry slam about troubleshooting …
Stick to tradition but shake it up a bit
Everyone wants an Olympic flame or a parade of athletes, but new sports are tested on a regular basis — and others booted out. For me, I want to bring back the tug-of-war (discontinued after 1920, alas!)
and now for the medal round… Bronze:
Provide instant feedback
Whether it’s the clock, points scored against the opponent, or the Kafkaesque scores of gymnasts, everyone gets instant feedback on how well they did. Our metrics often fall short, don’t they?
Silver:
Find ways to put the team(s) first
In addition to the traditional soccer (football) or water polo, the Olympics make room for plenty of team-oriented combinations, from synchronized diving to relays, in addition to the individual sports they came from. Pitting the ProductX support team against the ProductY support team is fine, but expected. How about synchronized case resolution? JK – but perhaps there is a way to recognize pairs of Frontline/Backline reps that work well together.
and Gold:
Have the queen drop in
You don’t have to hire a helicopter (although it does add to the fun!) but do invite the CEO to say a few words at the next all-hands meeting. Extra points if he or she can muster some enthusiasm for the task, unlike what we saw in London.
What other lessons can you draw from the Olympics?
FT Works in the News
Third Tuesday Forum – September 18th with Brad Smith
The next meeting of the Third Tuesday Forum will welcome with a very special guest on Tuesday, September 18th. Brad Smith will join us to discuss industry trends at a new San Francisco location, graciously provided to us by Atlassian (thank you!).
You can read more here and register. Space is limited so we can bring you an interactive experience – guaranteed to be PowerPoint-free.
Soft Skills Training Workshop – November, 2012
Here’s a rare chance to attend an open-enrollment workshop for support engineers and support reps, focused on working harmoniously with customers throughout the issue resolution process. Yes, it’s part of employee engagement, to keep with this month’s theme!
We are planning a session in November in the South Bay of the San Francisco area, probably in Santa Clara (exact date TBD based on participants’ wishes). If you are interested, please let me know your timing preferences and I will add you to the waiting list. Space is strictly limited to the first 20 registrations.
And if you’d like us to schedule an open-registration workshop in another location, please let me know.
The full description of the workshop is here.
Curious about something? Send me your suggestions for topics and your name will appear in future newsletters. I’m thinking of doing a compilation of “tips and tricks about support metrics” in the coming months so if you have favorites, horror stories, or questions about metrics, please don’t be shy.
Regards,
Françoise Tourniaire
FT Works
www.ftworks.com
650 559 9826
About FT Works
FT Works helps technology companies create and improve their support operations. Areas of expertise include designing support offerings, creating hiring plans to recruit the right people quickly, training support staff to deliver effective support, defining and implementing support processes, selecting support tools, designing effective metrics, and support center audits. See more details at www.ftworks.com.
Subscription Information
To request a subscription, please drop us a note. The mailing list is confidential and is never shared with anyone, for any reason. To unsubscribe, click here.
