How managing expectations makes or breaks EVERYTHING

18Nov09

So, you have decided that your company is going to pursue a full blown, feature rich, complete Unified Communications solution, that’s super, make sure you give us a call.

Let’s think about this situation. We have a certified Plumber, and a Licensed Electrician, both are expert tradespeople, their skills are in demand and they both contribute to the completion of a project (in this case, the building of a house).

The Plumber is proficient with a monkey wrench, plastic and copper fittings, soldering etc. The Electrician uses voltage meters, wire cutters, a variety of screwdrivers and a lot of wire, boxes and other equipment. These two professionals don’t need to rely on each other for anything, so it seems.

What do they have in common? Both do extensive driving to different worksites, both use their trucks as their offices and both rely on specific supplies and tools to do their jobs. This is the point folks.

If you are considering rolling out a feature rich tool heavy UC solution, make sure your employees are ready. Here’s what I mean.

Like the Plumber and the Electrician, find the lowest common denominator amongst your staff, and begin there.

I’ve seen situations where tools get rolled out to the employee base, they are trained and then expected to use the tools, but nowhere has the need ever been defined. Employees need to feel like part of the solution, we are rolling out this new Unified Communications solution to make your job easier, and here’s how. Promote evangelism within, assign mentors and leaders to promote the tools and the benefits they bring to the workforce. Have some fun with it.

If the Plumber and the Electrician suddenly had a helper to run back and forth from the truck for them, they’d be pretty happy once they got used to it, but as has been proven, they’ve been doing their job without one for so long……

Cheers,

CD

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