Category Archives: The Job

How To Listen

Listening is an obvious skill everyone must have. In business, it’s especially critical. Companies must listen to their customers. Supervisors must listen to their subordinates. Peers must listen to each other. The key is removing the emotions and focus on the following actions:

Evaluate the need to listen.
Manage internal and external noises.
Demonstrate a curious and open mind.
Manage the flow of conversation.

Effective listening is critical to sorting through and keeping up with the information needed to get results.

Managing Priorities

Railroad Switch

As IT personnel, it’s my job to help business-driven projects. My support tasks generally take priority over my long term IT projects. There are techniques to manage the priorities of these projects, and get them done. Here are some ways to do it:

Say When:
1. Clarify how much time is needed.
2. Determine if it can be handled now. If not, make it known to others.
3. If it can wait, then suggest an agreeable time.
Learn More:
1. Do quick impact analysis.
2. Work with the requester for the results and standards required.
3. Ask for additional learning material.
Ask for help:
1. Determine how the support requests fits into the bigger picture.
2. Agree on roles and responsibilities from the people involved.
3. Focus on required resources.
4. Understand the task required.
5. Get a completion date. If not clear, then suggest times for status updates.

In every step, it helps to listen carefully, be polite, and be sensitive to the needs of others.

Contrary to popular opinions, IT is not entirely a lonesome job. It gets easier to handle when I have the help of my colleagues.

Business may have unending projects. It helps tremendously if I can prioritize them, according to the time and resources at my disposal. Knowing what, when, and who are the keys to success. The how will be answered eventually. Asking why is counter-productive.

Proper Support Tips

Customer Service Throughout my years of doing tech support, I learned a few things about doing the job, without driving myself (or the customer) crazy. Here are a few action plans:

Always stay calm.
Be helpful to customers. Ninety-nine percent of the time, customers are nicer when they are given options to solve their problems.
Document the issues in an electronic log (such as customer service knowledge base) that are search-able, for future reference.
Stay up-to-date with the company’s products.
Stay current with technology advances and industry standards.
Get along with the other tech support peers. Hang out with them, share your stories, and vent some frustration with each other. Group therapy is good therapy. Most importantly, laugh it up together.
Don’t stay at Level 1 tech support too long. Make it a goal to move up, and handle more challenging questions to keep the job more interesting.

Finally, keep a sense of humor. At the end of the day, it’s only a job, and life goes on.