Archives for October 2015

Help Desk. When you picture this from a decade ago, what do you see? One on-call expert manning the phones? Writing tickets, solving the problems one at a time as they’re reported?

Help Desk today has evolved. Businesses have also evolved their expectations of IT. Support covers more than a computer that won’t restart. IT now covers everything from mobile technology to data security.

A percentage of CEOs agreed on the technological importance of the following, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers 2015 survey:

• 68%–technology plan

• 55%–mobile technology for customer engagement

• 64%–vision of technology’s competitive advantage

• 62%–data analytics

• 61%–data security

• 75%–cyber security

• 61%–CEO is “digital and tech champion”

So are you Tech Champion?

This is where your partnership with an IT provider can help you succeed. A great partner can support your business through a proven track record of evaluating existing systems to create a roadmap for your technology to evolve and improve efficiencies.

But a great IT provider doesn’t just work with your existing systems. We can also provide solutions. We recommend changes. We install software to greatly improve your process flow. Think of it as leveling up your IT services.

The help desk of yore was focused on solving problems as they come. They closed tickets as the phone calls came in. But an excellent IT provider is preemptive. We’ve evolved.

Here’s the question: “Are you using the right technology to get optimum results for your business?”

If you’re committed to finding the answer, we’re committed to answering this question with you. Vested on both sides, the IT provider and business customer can implement long-term solutions for today’s evolved technology world.

When you think of great leaders, what comes to mind? Qualities of a leader? Specific leaders? Let’s take a minute to focus on one quality that makes a great leader: They can think like each member of their team.

Teams that collaborate well often have a leader with the ability to identify with each individual’s mindset and sentiments, a multivocal leadership, as Brian Uzzi, a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, calls it. Leaders don’t attempt to gain technical efficiency in multiple areas but identify with their team members’ experiences and are able to broker their individual skills into successful collaboration.

Here’s how you can tap into this skill for your teams and projects:

Understand the various cultures on the team. The best leaders don’t try to enforce their ideals onto the actions and decisions of the team. Instead, through empathy, relatable experiences and listening, they are able to speak the same language as the individual. Each team member then feels empowered to make decisions and drive the team towards their achievements. Team members also recognize that their leader has a genuine interest in their personal motivations. This fosters trust.

Know your limitations. Effective leaders know where they excel, where they are mediocre and where they are weak. They are able to defer to the expertise of team members in the areas where they are lacking. They also have a clear understanding of what each player brings to the table and can create order from a group of disparate professionals.

Frequently assess yourself. Psychology research shows that we have a tendency towards a “self-serving bias,” where positive achievements are the result of our actions and negative events are caused by external factors. This keeps a leader from understanding their weaknesses. Learn to be honest with yourself about your talents and your limitations. You may need to enlist help to get feedback from teams and management in order to do a thorough self-assessment. Regularly doing this will help strengthen your ability to be a multivocal leader.

Maximize your team’s success by developing multivocality: empathize and relate with individuals; bring together the group’s strengths; and build trust through self-awareness.