Moving full-circle within your career development is good advice when it comes time for employee evaluations.
According Ron Muns, founder and chief member advocate of the Help Desk Institute, organizations must follow a holistic view of attracting, finding, evaluating, developing, certifying and promoting individuals within their help desk/ customer support areas.
“The fact of the matter is we forget the simple things, so we need reminders. We need some ideas,” Muns said in a presentation at Comdex in Toronto.
The world is evolving with new technology, according to Muns, and people aren’t so important anymore.
“So why are the call lines going up? There’s a lot more technology. Technology is embedded everywhere,” Muns said. “The more you have, the more problems you’re going to have. As much as we do to try and eliminate calls, problems and questions, it’s not gonna happen now.”
In fact, Muns said it is not going to happen in any of our lifetimes, because the volumes are going to continue to increase and the support industry is going to keep growing.
“Our industry has matured a lot. We’re not start-up babies anymore,” Muns said. “When you talk about 360 degree career development, we use that term in employee evaluations. It implies that you’re looking at things from different angles.”
Muns said regardless of where your help desk is used, the “top dog” needs to take a formal structural approach to career development. He advised the following outline: define positions; search/screen, qualify/evaluate; train; certify; and promote/mentor/motivate.
“The reality is that you have to have the positions that are right for your organization,” Muns said. “There are many different places to get job descriptions. The job descriptions have to match your environment.” After the positions are defined, companies need to search for those people, then screen them, he said.
According to Muns, there are many places to search for jobs, such as Monster.ca and JobDesk. He reccommends going where your “types” are.
“It might be a techie type environment, customer service desk (or) service pros,” Muns said. “Make friends at the local educational organizations.”
At the Help Desk Institute, they use a hiring model called TIPS to choose the right people for jobs. “T” stands for team, indicating that they are team players and customer service oriented people. “I” stands for interesting, meaning they’ve done interesting things with their life.
“We spend eight, 10, 12 hours a day with these people – we ought to be around people we think are pretty interesting,” Muns said.
“P” stands for passion, because Muns said they’ll transfer that passion to your organization. And “S” stands for smart – smarter than the average person going into the position they’re trying to fill.
“We believe if you hire for those skills – team, interesting, passion, smart – they’ll learn anything,” Muns said.
Next, Muns suggested planning those interviews, knowing who will conduct them, how and when. Then the organization must evaluate the specifics of individual to the specifics of the job, as well as career plan for the near- to mid-term.
According to Muns, training is very important, and goals must be set. He strongly advised spending the money to get the results, because “some of the most successful corporations in the world are the ones that invest the most in their people.”
Muns also said promoting, mentoring and motivating are all crucial elements of the relationship between employer and employee.
“We do need to have just rewards for people – financial and non-financial. In many cases you need to be a friend and an example.”
Moving full-circle within your career development is good advice when it comes time for employee evaluations.
According Ron Muns, founder and chief member advocate of the Help Desk Institute, organizations must follow a holistic view of attracting, finding, evaluating, developing, certifying and promoting individuals within their help desk/ customer support areas.
“The fact of the matter is we forget the simple things, so we need reminders. We need some ideas,” Muns said in a presentation at Comdex in Toronto.
The world is evolving with new technology, according to Muns, and people aren’t so important anymore.
“So why are the call lines going up? There’s a lot more technology. Technology is embedded everywhere,” Muns said. “The more you have, the more problems you’re going to have. As much as we do to try and eliminate calls, problems and questions, it’s not gonna happen now.”
In fact, Muns said it is not going to happen in any of our lifetimes, because the volumes are going to continue to increase and the support industry is going to keep growing.
“Our industry has matured a lot. We’re not start-up babies anymore,” Muns said. “When you talk about 360 degree career development, we use that term in employee evaluations. It implies that you’re looking at things from different angles.”
Muns said regardless of where your help desk is used, the “top dog” needs to take a formal structural approach to career development. He advised the following outline: define positions; search/screen, qualify/evaluate; train; certify; and promote/mentor/motivate.
“The reality is that you have to have the positions that are right for your organization,” Muns said. “There are many different places to get job descriptions. The job descriptions have to match your environment.” After the positions are defined, companies need to search for those people, then screen them, he said.
According to Muns, there are many places to search for jobs, such as Monster.ca and JobDesk. He reccommends going where your “types” are.
“It might be a techie type environment, customer service desk (or) service pros,” Muns said. “Make friends at the local educational organizations.”
At the Help Desk Institute, they use a hiring model called TIPS to choose the right people for jobs. “T” stands for team, indicating that they are team players and customer service oriented people. “I” stands for interesting, meaning they’ve done interesting things with their life.
“We spend eight, 10, 12 hours a day with these people – we ought to be around people we think are pretty interesting,” Muns said.
“P” stands for passion, because Muns said they’ll transfer that passion to your organization. And “S” stands for smart – smarter than the average person going into the position they’re trying to fill.
“We believe if you hire for those skills – team, interesting, passion, smart – they’ll learn anything,” Muns said.
Next, Muns suggested planning those interviews, knowing who will conduct them, how and when. Then the organization must evaluate the specifics of individual to the specifics of the job, as well as career plan for the near- to mid-term.
According to Muns, training is very important, and goals must be set. He strongly advised spending the money to get the results, because “some of the most successful corporations in the world are the ones that invest the most in their people.”
Muns also said promoting, mentoring and motivating are all crucial elements of the relationship between employer and employee.
“We do need to have just rewards for people – financial and non-financial. In many cases you need to be a friend and an example.”
