Competing for Performance

Motivation is one of the great challenges of help desk management. Keeping good morale among analysts and encouraging them to strive for continuous improvement is difficult in a line of work where there are so many customer requests, and most of them come from frustrated end users who have already tried everything to resolve their problem on their own.

One great enabler of positive morale in this environment is to set individual goals for analysts and create a competitive environment. By seeing each other's metrics, each analyst will see objective measurements that compare them to their peers. For most, this is enough motivation to strive for continuous improvement. For those who are not driven by these types of goals, you as the manager will still be able to see where they stand in relationship to their peers and coach them toward improvement.

Many managers are squeamish at first when considering competition. How will it affect the people on your help desk? Will it destroy teamwork and be counterproductive?

There are several ways to make a smooth transition into a competitive, metrics-based culture. One approach is to create a comparative report but replace all of your analysts' names with a label, such as Analyst A, Analyst B, etc. Each individual only knows what their label is, and can see where they stand in the ranking.

Another approach that has been used successfully is to generate both individual metrics and team average metrics. Reporting these on the same score card and distributing to each analyst only his or her own metrics, compared to the team averages, lets each analyst know if they are above or below average. As everyone strives to be above average, the average rises higher, encouraging more competition and continuous improvement.

When each analyst sees only his or her individual scores against the team average, you can also set up a second competitive initiative -- Star of the Month. By making a big deal about your top performer and sharing this individual's metrics, your top talent will strive to become the star. This higher band of competition will take people with a lot of drive and initiative to the next level and reap tremendous rewards. Performers who are below average may not even consider reaching this level, but they will still have the intermediate goal of the team average to move them up to above average.

What metrics should be included in the competitive mix? Typical measurements include: average speed of answer; first call resolution; percent of schedule adherence/availability; case backlog count and follow up; and customer satisfaction. Focus only on the most important metrics so that analysts keep a clear focus and are able to perform.

Let the competition begin.