Improving Teamwork in a Support Organization

By John Gniadek

Technical support groups tend to be the most tightly knit units within an organization. Technical support people, more so than in any other group within the organization, rely heavily on the help they receive from each other. It is important to build a solid sense of teamwork within a support group from the beginning and to keep that feeling alive as the group grows. It is a manager's challenge to work with the individuals of the group to develop a team and sharing atmosphere. Here are some ideas that have been very successful in the environments I have worked in.

• Set team values: Team goals are usually set every year for corporate bonus plans. Sit down with your team and develop values for the year--values such as openness, communication, effectiveness, and problem collaboration. While these cannot be measured with standard metrics, reviewing how the team feels they are doing on a quarterly basis will keep these values in their mind throughout the year. You could even create an award on a quarterly basis for an individual that has demonstrated these values the most based on feedback from his or her co-workers.

• Limit intra-staff electronic communication: This may seem counter-intuitive for working in a software company. It is very easy to hide behind electronic communication in today's high tech world. Encourage your team to walk issues over to fellow members of the group if they need help. Promoting face-to-face interactions within the group will improve interpersonal communication. It helps break the ice for new folks and can stimulate non-business dialog.

• Review open issues on a regular basis: Past experiences with successful groups has shown me that meeting three times a week to review open issues improves group interaction. For example, if you review a problem that one representative has been stuck on for a long period of time, this many times will encourage others to speak up and offer help on the issue.

• Schedule team activities on a regular basis: Scheduling a lunch on a regular basis (once every other month or quarter) can go a long way in building teamwork. If you can afford to have another group cover your calls for an hour or so, plan time with your group out of the office. It takes them away from the work environment and gets them to talk socially.

• Require sharing of knowledge: Having one individual specialize in one area of your product can cause the "job security" factor to happen. If certain representatives are stronger in one area of technical knowledge, schedule training on a regular basis to share that knowledge among the group. Empowering others with knowledge improves confidence not only in the individual, but also within the group.

• Discuss career paths: Everyone needs the proverbial carrot at the end of the string to stay motivated. Work with members of the group to develop a career path within the group and/or company. This instills within each member that the team succeeds when others move on to bigger and better positions. This also ties into sharing knowledge within the group. If the appropriate knowledge is being shared within the group, a void will not be left if one member moves on to another position.

These are just some ideas that have proven successful in my career as a manager. The key to building any type of teamwork is to make everyone realize they succeed as a team and they also fail as team. Being a manager of a support team is very similar to being a coach of a sports team. You have to get everyone to work as a well-oiled machine based on your game plan. It is up to you to develop your own game plan based on your staff.

John Gniadek is Customer Support Manager at Courion Corp., 1881 Worcester Rd., Framingham, Mass. 01701; 508/879-8400 x272. E-mail: jgniadek@courion.com.