How to Manage Fear and Greed To Your Benefit

InvGate August 18, 2015
- 3 min read

 

ITSM-Help-Desk-Fear-Greed

Last week we kicked off a new series on The 4 Deadly Sins of Service Management.  In that post we broke down the impact of fear, greed, pride, and hope on IT decision makers.  We also provided some helpful tips and tricks to help you navigate the pitfalls!

Today, we’ll dig deeper into fear and greed to show you how to recognize when they’re getting in the way.  We’ll also show you some ways to use these emotions to your advantage!

Fear

In our intro post I walked you through a recent conversation with a Director of IT.  This gentleman was facing all of the harsh realities that go along with changing a mission critical piece of software like a service desk.  Let’s look at some of the fears every service manager faces, with an eye towards how you can get around them.

End User Adoption

This fear is brought up time and again in our conversations with clients - and it is absolutely valid.  However, when this concern keeps you from taking positive steps, it’s a problem.

As Aaron Rodgers would say, R-E-L-A-X, you’re not alone.  Every service manager deals with this fear at one point or another.  The key thing to remember is that software developers are aware of this concern and they’re hard at work every day coming up with solutions for you.  The new breed of service management apps on the market place a premium on intuitive design and positive user experience so use this market shift to your advantage!

More Training?

Chances are, your responders are pretty busy with their day to day responsibilities.  So when the topic of changing service desks comes up in a meeting, there’s probably some sighing and eye rolling around the table.

Don’t let this dissuade you, though.  The reaction of your techs is reasonable but there are ways to disarm their fears.  For example, when you’re evaluating new systems, make sure to get your responders involved in the vetting process.  Ask them to carve out at least 1 hour to demo any apps on your short list before you move it on for further review.

Believe it or not, this early demo time will double as their initial training on the app.  The sooner all of your responders have been exposed to your new service desk, the sooner they’ll be using it at a high level.

But We’ve Invested So Much In Our Current App!

Either you have spent lots of dollars, lots of time, or lots of both, on your current service desk.  If anything, that investment just proves how important this type of software is to your business process!  Make sure that everyone above you and below you understands the impact that an efficient service desk can have on your business.

Instead of viewing your past investment as a loss - change the tone by attaching high standards to your future service desk investments!

Greed

When it comes to motivation, greed can be a powerful force that works in your favor. When we say 'greed', what we mean is trying to have your cake and eat it too, or expecting the impossible value proposition. The trick is to feed your greed and seek excellent value, but without taking potentially harmful shortcuts.

Given the daily impact that your service desk has on your bottom line, it’s important to track not just the dollars and cents of acquiring a new tool - but also the technical debt and opportunity costs that are embedded into the decision as well.

Every hour that you and your team spend demoing a new tool has an impact on your productivity, so consider using some elements of the Agile approach.  For example, be sure that you assign value to individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

Pre plan your software search with an eye on all of the people impacted the outcome.  Get the leg work done early and you can avoid the pitfalls and gotcha’s that shortcuts can create.  Remember that cost savings are best measured when there’s transparency and visibility.  If you’re including opportunity costs in your planning, you’re that much closer to a truly efficient operation!

Wrapping Up

Hopefully this post showed you how to get around some of the negative consequences of fear and greed.  If you treat these emotions as tools, you can use them as warning signs that lead you to a positive action.  Owning the impact of these instincts means that you can stop them from dictating your behavior!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next post on this 4 Deadly Sins of ITSM topic.  We’ll walk you through ways that will keep pride and hope from poisoning the well.

Read other articles like this : IT Management, Service desk

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