Client experience is the starting point of all service offerings. When designing services to support your organization it is essential to start with the experience of your users (both internal and external) in mind. Once you are aware how your services impact the lives or responsibilities of others that’s when you reverse engineer the process to make sure proper people …
Organizational mission sets all calendars
Business side of your organization sets the calendars of all others. This can happen directly or indirectly, but all functional areas need to be aware of the core mission of their business and act in support of it. In my particular case, in higher education, academic calendar sets our IT calendar and has a significant impact as to how and …
We are all in customer service
No matter what you do, what your title or position says, part of your responsibilities is customer service. In order to create organizational culture where everyone is on the same page and provides consistent level of quality to clients (both internal and external) each team member must understand that their interactions with customers matter. All of us must embrace this …
Focus on your personal strengths and hire your weaknesses
Focus on your personal strengths and hire your weaknesses. Each of us have different skills and talents and we should leverage them for our success. These qualities will complement qualities of others as you build or join teams and with everyone working together towards a unified vision, success is guaranteed. Contrary to what you may have heard in the past, …
Honor your word and build credibility
As you are building your professional credibility, it is important to honor your word. No matter how small it may seem, make sure to follow through on things you have said you would do. With time, these somewhat small actions will lead to larger acts which will all assist in establishing your credibility within your community. As people (both clients …
Set clear expectations, you are not a puppet
As the (wo)man, the myth, the legend continues to grow and your capabilities, accomplishments and skills become known to a wider audience you will often begin receiving invitations to join projects and tasks outside your current core responsibilities. These are great opportunities to learn new things, meet new people and help others with what you know so please take advantage …
Managing massive enterprise projects
Large enterprise projects can be daunting and seem insurmountable at times, but we all know that that is not true. It is not true as they have been done before and if others have completed them successfully, who says that you won’t be able to do the same. And when going gets tough, breathe and remind yourself of these four …
Spend company’s money as you would your own
Fiscal responsibility of a budget is exactly that, a responsibility, not a right. This privilege should not be treated lightly and should be approached with rationale, integrity and accountability. As you are making purchases focus on the needs of your team and those you work with and support. Once the needs are addressed and if budget permits, only then should …
Leverage available expertise
Work with your colleagues, peers and counterparts across different functional areas in order to produce contributions of the highest quality. None of us know everything so it is time to act that way and leverage available expertise within our organizations and invite others to contribute and share both the work and rewards.
Ask your team for honest feedback
Are you failing your staff, your coworkers, your team? How do you know? Did you ask them? While most of us will annually reach out to our customers, clients and partners to get their feedback on our performance we often neglect those we work with closely. How often have you asked your coworkers, your staff, your immediate team members about …