By Ed Avella
Campus Director & Dean of IT Programs
Thinking back to my days in IT, trying to muddle through project deadlines, cost overruns and motivating the unmotivated in training sessions , I was constantly interrupted by the service call; the individual user problems that sidetracked every day of my already harried existence.
Phone rings. “This is Ed.”
Caller: “This is ____, in Dept. X. My clicky thing broke.”
Me: “Your what?”
Caller: “My clicky thing. You know, point the arrow to clicky thing.”
Me: “Oh, your mouse.”
Caller: “Whatever. It broke. Can you get me a new one?”
Me: “Uh, sure. I’ll be down in a few.”
Seemed simple enough, right? Wrong. I brought a new mouse out of the box, unhooked the old one, plugged in the new one and walked away. Before I got out the door I heard, “It’s still broke.”
Turns out the “clicky thing” wasn’t the mouse at all, the entire cursor (the arrow you see on screen) had disappeared. The problem had occurred because an update performed the night before on the video card in the computer wasn’t playing nice with Windows, but that’s not the lesson here.
It’s another take on the miscommunication between people, and our unwillingness to listen to what is being said and simply assume we heard them. The terminology the caller used is funny, and typical. However, the real problem here was not theirs, it was mine.
We are all guilty of assuming – we let our natural biases drive us and create associations based on our experiences. Trouble here is, we aren’t the ones experiencing the problem. And this can happen in any type of situation where you have an “expert” and a “regular user.” It’s not their job to know the terminology to the level the technicians do. It’s only their job to explain what is happening the best way they know how. It’s our job to listen, and if necessary, have them duplicate the failure.
Its part of good diagnostic procedure, but more importantly, demonstrates good service. Whether coaching, training, repairing, diagnosis or even just offering advice – rule #1 has to be to try to listen without bias. It’s human nature to draw conclusions. Good service people are even better listeners. It will save you time, money and resources to get as much information as you can before trying to fix something. You might even find it’s not really broken!
So how do you audit your service processes and personnel to make sure they are asking the right questions?
Interested in pursuing a degree?
Fill out the form and get all admission information you need regarding your chosen program.
