Risk the Interception

For those of you who follow professional football, you know that Brett Favre, quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, broke a long-standing record already this young season. No, I'm not referring to most wins ever by a quarterback, although he did break that record this season.
No, I'm not referring to most touchdowns ever thrown, although he did break that record this season. No, I'm not referring to consecutive games ever started by an offensive player, although he did break that record this season.
No, the record I'm referring to is most interceptions ever thrown by a quarterback. Keep in mind that an interception is when you throw the football to the OTHER team, something Favre has done over 270 times in his career. I'm referring to that because here's a man who's still employed even though he's made the ultimate mistake for someone in his job over 270 times. Here's a man who's revered in many parts of the football world and who's still playing the game at a high level despite being at an age considered near ancient by today's football standards (he's all of 38 years old). Here's a man who's been successful despite mistakes, and is respected because he is constantly trying to do his best, to win - and because of that effort - sometimes throws the errant pass.
Now in customer service, we should all want to do what's right for the customer, but sometimes we're forced to balance that against company policies and regulations. We're in the middle between what are sometimes these competing interests. What we need to avoid in these situations is the fear of doing anything wrong. We need to not be so concerned with failing and - instead - try to figure out how to succeed, how to win.
If you feel passionate about the customer, their position, and their need, fight to help them win. If you feel you and your co-workers need more support or training or recognition or tools to be successful, fight to get what you need. At some point, you've got to take a risk and try to win as opposed to being passive and trying not to lose.
Remember, Favre is the winningest quarterback in history. Sure, he's thrown a lot of interceptions, but he's thrown more touchdown passes than anyone in history. Maybe you'll have a career as long and successful in your chosen field as Favre has had in his.
Find those opportunities to take a risk to go for the win.

Pumpkin Carving Contest Entries Due Oct. 30

Entries for the IST Pumpkin Carving Contest are due on Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Getting to Know: Tammy Dixon

Tammy Dixon, CRM Director

16 Years With Mecklenburg County

Some of Tammy's Favorite Things:

Movies:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Meet the Parents
The Nutty Professor
Christmas Vacation

TV Shows:
Big Brother
The Bachelor
Divine Design
Designers’ Challenge

Actors:
Ben Stiller
Will Ferrell
Matt Damon
Chevy Chase

Actresses:
Sandra Bullock
Michelle Pfeiffer
Queen Latifah
Tea Leoni

Hobbies:
Weightlifting
Traveling
Ping Pong
Pinball

Sports Teams:
Atlanta Braves
Charlotte Bobcats
Carolina Panthers

Sports to Play:
Basketball
Softball
Bowling

Outdoor Activities:
Cycling
Riding Roller Coasters
Cruising in the Convertible
Swimming

Bands/Musicians:
Celine Dion
Kelly Clarkson
Green Day
Fountains of Wayne

Songs/CDs:
Because You Loved Me – Celine Dion
Evergreen (Love Theme From A Star Is Born) – Barbra Streisand
Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler
A New Day Has Come – Celine Dion

Food:
Lasagna
Pizza
Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Icing
Chocolate Ice Cream

New Voicemail System Coming Soon

The County's new voicemail system, CallXpress, will be available to all employees on Monday, November 12. Here's what employees need to know about this new system:

-The system migration will begin after 6 p.m. on Friday, November 9. Voicemail will not be available during that weekend.

-No existing phone numbers will change.

-The remote access number for voicemail, (704) 336-2802, will not change.

-Department Voicemail Champions are already using the new voicemail system and will be training with the new system during the week of October 23

.-Limited training seats are available for other employees. To register for this one-hour training session, please contact Dorothy Morrow at Dorothy.Morrow@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

-Training materials, including a quick reference card and voicemail coach, will soon be available in MeckWeb.

We will provide more updates as we get closer to implementing the new system. Thank you!

Information Services & Technology

Margaret Legge Promoted

Margaret Legge has been selected to be a part of the Project Management Division. Margaret has been with Mecklenburg County for about five years as part of the Development Support Team. Margaret will be working in the Project Management Apps area.

Congratulations, Margaret!

When "Next Day" Isn't

There was a computer emergency. The power cord was sparking - not what Jeanie likes to see. Her lap top was starting to give the low battery signal, and it didn't take much for her to put 2 and 2 together - she needed a new cord.


With it being late on a Thursday afternoon, she realized that ordering online might not work in time, so she called around locally, but no store had the manufacturer's version of her cord. There were a couple companies that made cords with adapters, but none of those specifically referenced her make and model of her lap top, primarily because it was too old.


So this was the plan - buy a temporary replacement cord with an adapter and hope it worked temporarily, and then overnight a manufacturer's version of her cord.


The temporary replacement seemed to work okay. It made some awkward noises, and the battery didn't seem to charge fully, but it appeared to be a sufficient interim step for one day.
Friday came and went, and even though the manufacturer's version was (according to the shipper's website) shipped from the distribution center in the Midwest to her hometown by early Friday morning, it wasn't delivered to her office that day. When she called to ask why, they didn't know.


Did I mention she paid $20 for next day delivery?


On Monday, she received e-mail notification that the cord had been delivered. There was only one problem - it hadn't been delivered. So she called the shipping company, and they said that that e-mail just meant it had been delivered to the local distribution center on the previous Friday. Jeanie asked if she could just pick it up at the distribution center, but the shipper said that that's not allowed by the manufacturer until at least one delivery attempt has been made.
The next day - Tuesday - another e-mail delivery notification was received, again in error. When Jeanie called the shipper, they apologized for the error, and said that the cord was scheduled for delivery between 2p-3p that day. It wasn't delivered.


On Wednesday, the cord was delivered. No e-mail confirmation was sent.


Next day delivery - which cost $20 - turned into 4-business day delivery.


It's amazing how some companies can ship items hundreds of miles in a few hours and then have them sit in a warehouse for days just a few miles from their destination.


It's amazing how companies can spend millions on auto-notifications of customers about product/service status, and the notifications are wrong.
Make sure your company doesn't just implement processes and systems and think that, because they're implemented, they work. Test them, monitor them, and continuously check with customers on their satisfaction with them.

Steven Smith Promoted

Steven Smith has been promoted to a Technical Analyst II.

Steven was promoted as a result of several factors:

-Exemplary performance in leading the SMS team towards enterprise service delivery

-Expanded job function from departmental to enterprise focus
-Advanced technical expertise and leadership within the current SMS organization
-Visionary approach for future objectives (Ex: MS Vista, Office 2007)
-Demonstrated ability to work across defined functional and technical areas within IST

Congratulations, Steven!

Getting to Know: Brandon Smith

Brandon Smith, IST Support Technician

Brandon's Favorites:

Movies: The Matrix
TV Shows: Heroes
Actors: Nicolas Cage
Actresses: Julia Roberts
Hobbies: Riding my ATV
Sports Teams: Carolina Panthers
Outdoor Activities: Riding my ATV in the dirt, mud, etc.
Bands/Musicians: Anything & everything
Songs/CDs: I can listen to anything
Little known fact about Brandon: I am a native of Charlotte.

Enter the IST Pumpkin Carving Contest

Tammy Dixon Recognized by County Manager's Office

Tammy Dixon, CRM Director and winner of the Mecklenburg County Customer Service Hero Award for Ethics, was recently recognized at the Mecklenburg County Department Director breakfast.

General Manager John McGillicuddy credited Tammy for pioneering CRM for Mecklenburg County and for helping improve IST's customer service.

"The reason people trust Tammy is because they know she is looking out for their interests, and because she does what she says she'll do," says John. " It's through this method of building trust that Tammy has pioneered the customer relationship management model in IST and in the County. It also is a key factor in IST transforming itself into a high-performing customer service operation."

eGovernment and Customer Service Director Brian Cox said, "I have seen Tammy serve on County-wide teams, lead customer service projects and pretty much help in any capacity needed as the County began advancing its Customer Service standards and philosophy. In fact, she was instrumental behind the scenes in getting the County's heroes recognition started several years ago, so it is quite fitting that she actually be named a hero this year."

The Courage to Tell the Bad News

A successful CEO was getting near retirement age and knew it was time to begin the selection process for a successor to take over the business.

He decided to use a unique selection process, however. He called all the young executives in his company together. He told them that he was nearing the end of his career and would soon step down. The young executives were surprised and disappointed. The CEO then said, "It is time for me to begin determining my successor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The other executives were shocked. The CEO continued, "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One of the young executives named Chuck took his seed, went homeand told his wife. She helped him get a pot, add some good dirt, some plant food and he planted the seed. Every day, he watered it and watched to see if it had grown - it hadn't. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Chuck's never grew. Month after month, after all the watering, tending to the soil, and proper exposure to light, nothing happened. The other young executives continued to talk of their growing, beautiful plants. Chuck had a pot full of dirt.

Once the year finally went by, the CEO told the young executives to bring in the results of their efforts for review. Chuck almost didn't want to go in to work, but his wife encouraged him to bring in the pot, explain the effort, and be honest about the lack of results. When all the executives arrived in the Boardroom, each executive had a beautiful plant, and all were different sizes and beautiful colors. Chuck had a pot full of dirt.

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. "My, what great plants you have grown," said the CEO. He then looked quizzically at Chuck. "Everybody sit down, please - except Chuck," said the CEO. "What happened, Chuck?" asked the CEO. Chuck told his story. The CEO then turned to the others and said "Behold your next Chief Executive! His name is Chuck!"

What?

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Chuck, have brought me plants. Chuck was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it."

How does this relate to the world of customer service? You can earn a great deal of respect for yourself, from family, and from those that matter most if you have the courage to be honest; have the courage to tell the bad news.

Photos from Diversity Day

Come Visit the IST Booth at Diversity Day

IST will be participating in Mecklenburg County Diversity Day on Thursday, October 11. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the CMGC lobby. The event will feature nationally-recognized motivational speakers, special employee cultural presentations, information booths from internal County service providers and ethnically diverse food vendors and door prizes.

IST will be represented with a booth. Stop by and visit your coworkers and enjoy Diversity Day!

Thank you to our Diversity Day Volunteers:

Bunny Brown
Lori Dorrell
Tammy Dixon
Leah Domingo
Maureen Frings
Robert Howard
Dennis Izzo
Render Keaton
Jorge Peralta
Wendy Smith
Ken Tripp
Jeff Vince

IST Raises Money Through Denim Day

IST employees raised $55 for breast cancer research through Lee National Denim Day. Thanks to all our employees who participated.

Free Flu Shots Offered for Mecklenburg County Employees

On Tuesday, October 9, Thursday, October 10 and Friday October 12, County employees can visit CountyCare for free flu shots from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

In addition, free flu shots are currently available to employeesand dependents covered by CIGNA, at Minute Clinic locations. Minute Clinics are located inside participating CVS pharmacies.At the Minute Clinic, you will need your CIGNA member ID card.

For more information, please contact the Employee Services Center at 432-myHR (6947).

Customer Service Hero Nominee: Jason Girard

Nominee: Jason Girard

Nominated By: Bunny Brown

Nomination:

There have been many times in the last year that I have had to ask this individual for help on projects that were above and beyond his normal activities. He always delivered the requested information or help before the requested due date and he did it in a very positive manner. I would not ever hesitate to ask him for something as I know he will deliver.

CRM Director Tammy Dixon Wins Mecklenburg County Customer Service Hero Award

At a luncheon at Freedom Park Wednesday, County Manager announced the IST CRM Director Tammy Dixon as the Customer Service Hero Award for ethics. Tammy received a total of three Customer Service Hero nominations. See what her fellow IST employees had to say about her:

IST Director Jerry Pinkard collaborated with the CRM team for a nomination form that truly exemplifies Tammy's dedication to Customer Service:

Tammy Dixon, IST CRM Director, is a customer service hero. Her dedication to her customers is unwavering and she strives every day to improve customer service. We recently received the results of our 2007 Customer Satisfaction Survey and they were outstanding. Tammy deserves a great deal of the credit for these results.

Her relentless pursuit of high customer service standards and increased employee satisfaction plays a big role in these high scores. Tammy is proactive and makes time to consistently check in on customers to ensure that they are satisfied with our services. She's always sought out by customers and IST staff because she's approachable, patient, a good listener and gives candid advice.

Tammy has spent many hours listening to customers, communicating their feedback within IST to help improve service delivery. She listens to customers and acknowledges their concerns and communicates with them in a language they can understand. She makes commitments and keeps promises.

Nominated by: Bunny Brown

I am fortunate to work for one of the most ethical employees in this County. She always works hard in our area and other areas of the County to make sure things are done in a fair and appropriate manner. She has been instrumental in arranging for the work that is being done with regard to Culture Change. She is honest to a fault. She is an ethical leader that commands trust because she builds it daily through actions that demonstrate concern for everyone. She models a behavior that makes it easy for us to look up to in order to provide our customers with a quality experience.

Nominated by: Randi Davis

Tammy is dedicated to serving her customers.
Even on her days off and on evenings, Tammy is responsive and timely in dealing with internal and external customers.
She possesses a rare tact that allows her to talk to our customers about anything and to do it without hurting anyone's feelings.
Our customer service scores are outstanding and Tammy deserves quite a bit of the credit for that. She is a dedicated to IST and Mecklenburg County and deserves this recognition.

Customer Service Hero Nominee: Linda Gaskey

Nominee: Linda Gaskey

Nominated by: Bunny Brown

Nomination:

Linda serves on the Helpdesk that takes calls, mainly for the Department of Social Services staff. I have watched her in action and she gives her full attention to the customer. If she doesn't understand something, she asks for clarification and doesn't try to rush them. She always speaks in a respective and helpful way. The customers have developed a trust with her and that is very important when you are trying to help them resolved an outstanding issue or get a question answered.

Customer Service Hero Nominee: Matt Newlon

Nominee: Matt Newlon

Nominated by: Isa Momoh

Nomination:

Matthew Newlon of IST's Procurement Group is truly one of the County's best customer service employees. Matthew's professional courtesy, empathy, patience and positive attitude makes him a superb candidate for this award. Matthew always maintains a smile and professionalism even when situations turn hectic. More than once, he has been able to immediately provide service recovery to recapture a customer's faith in Procurement services. Matthew is always sought out by internal and external IST customers for services. He is a joy to work with and I feel privileged work with him.

Customer Service Hero Nominee: Jorge Peralta

Nominee: Jorge Peralta

Nominated by: Bunny Brown

Nomination:

When the words courtesy and respect come to mind I immediately think of Jorge. Jorge is the lead in the Desktop team and he sets the bar high for his group and provides them with an atmosphere that encourages them to act in a like manner to all the customers they come in contact with each day. Whether in person, on the phone or via email, he is respectful of the customer and their time. Jorge follows the Golden Rule:Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He responds promptly to inquiries and requests for information and if he is delayed he is quick to let the person know of that delay.

Nominated by:
Robert Howard

Nomination:

Jorge Peralta continually goes above and beyond to ensure his customers receive the highest possible service. This was exhibited recently when LUESA purchased some new televisions to be used in the lobby area of HMC. Two large widescreen TVs were shipped to the HMC Annex instead of HMC. Jorge could have taken the route of notifying LUESA and been done with it. Instead, Jorge took ownership of the situation and personally arrange to deliver the TVs to the appropriate people in LUESA. Well, this order was double ordered and 2 more TVs showed up at the annex and once again Jorge took ownership and worked with IST procurement to ensure they were returned to the manufacturer. Not done yet, one of the TVs, when unboxed by LUESA, was damaged and needed to be sent back to the manufacturer and once again Jorge arranged the return. This is a prime example of Jorge taking ownership of a situation for the benefit of his customer. Jorge provides service quality at the highest level possible.

Customer Service Hero Nominee: Ken Tripp

Nominee: Ken Tripp

Nominated By: Barbara Lansche

Nomination:

Ken is tireless in his efforts to make the County work environment up-to-date with the best hardware available. He is always pleasant and quick to help customers understand why he has made decisions that affect them and their work. He works very hard to meet the needs of his customers by providing them with the best computer hardware to do their jobs. He has made sure the County has appropriate processes in place to identify and keep track of equipment. Although it can be very tempting to "reuse" or recycle older model hardware, Ken is quick to point out how doing so can create more headaches than using new.

He is truly my Customer Service Hero!

Celebrating Our Customer Service Hero Nominees

This week is National Customer Service week and six IST employees have been nominated for Customer Service Hero Awards.



Congratulations to:



Tammy Dixon
Linda Gaskey
Jason Girard
Matt Newlon
Jorge Peralta
Ken Tripp



Every day this week, we will be celebrating our Customer Service Heroes and sharing their nomination forms. On Friday, IST Director Jerry Pinkard will be recognizing our IST nominees with a special lunch.

"I am very pleased that IST had six nominees for these awards," says Jerry. " I am very pleased with each of them and think they set a great model for what customer service ought to be."



Congratulations, everyone!

Don't Assume Too Much!

Ricky was about to start his first day manning the phones for the large appliance retailer. He was a customer service representative, and he had read all the standard operating procedure manuals, passed all the tests on the technical workings of the computer systems, and knew his products - he was ready to go!

The first call came in. The customer said "I bought this DVD player, and I'm looking through the installation instructions."

"Oh," replied Ricky, "I can help you with the installation."

"No," said the customer. "I've already installed it. I just can't find the registration form."
The second call came in. The customer said "I'm assembling this TV stand that I got as a gift, and I noticed that the back panel has a crack in it."

"Oh," replied Ricky, "I'm so sorry to hear that, Sir. I can help you return that."

"Well I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle of disassembling this and shipping this back. Can you just tell me if there's any structural support that the back panel provides or is it just there for cosmetics?"

The third call came in. The customer said "I'm looking at the invoice for this plasma TV I just bought, and I'm not sure it's correct."

"Oh," replied Ricky, "For invoices, I need to transfer you to billing - hold, please."

"Wait!" replied the customer, "I'm just wondering if the model number on the invoice is for the same product number as on the box. Can you tell me what model number cross-references to what product number?"

Ricky had a rough start to his day. Although he knew his procedures, his computer, and his product, he didn't know how to ask his customers the right questions. He assumed too much. He heard the word "installation" and made the wrong assumption. He heard the word "crack"
and made the wrong assumption. He heard the word "invoice" and made the wrong assumption.
When serving your customers, don't hear that one key word and make an assumption. Ask the next question to confirm your understanding or to better understand your customer's true needs.

Then meet their needs right the first time.

Scott Cato Promoted to Telecom Manager

Scott Cato has accepted the position of Telecommunications Manager within the Technical Services Division of IST. Scott has been with the County for almost 9 years and has most recently been a part of the Desktop Services organization, providing support for mobile and cellular communications technologies.

Congratulations, Scott!

Meet: David Lari

David Lari, Systems Architect

Some of David's Favorite Things:

Movies: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
TV Shows: Mythbusters, Modern Marvels, and anything on HGTV.
Actors: Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom.
Actresses: Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett.
Hobbies: Photography, Aikido/Judo, home rennovation.
Outdoor Activities: Biking, walking/hiking, cookouts.
Bands/Musicians: Aerosmith, Michael Bublé, Soulstice.
Songs/CDs: Verve Remixed, Madonna -- Ray of Light.
Food: Kung Pao Chicken (from Baoding Restaurant), steak, pizza.

Customer Service Week Schedule

Congratulations to the six IST employees who were nominated for the Mecklenburg County Customer Service Hero Awards. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, October 3 and you can read about each of our nominees every day during Customer Service Week on The gIST of IT.
Congratulations to our nominees! We will also be introducing our new Creativity & Innovation Awards during Customer Service Week.

-Tammy Dixon
-Linda Gaskey
-Jason Girard
-Matt Newlon
-Jorge Peralta
-Ken Tripp

IST will be celebrating every day throughout Customer Service Week. Here is a schedule of our events. Please stay tuned for more detailed information about each event. Please contact Isa.Momoh@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov for more information.

Tuesday, October 2, 8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
• Doughnuts and Juice
CMGC, IST Large Conference Room and HMC, LUESA Auditorium 1

Wednesday, October 3, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• County Luncheon to Announce Customer Service Hero Winners
Freedom Park

Thursday, October 4, 12 p.m. - 2 p.m.

• Lunch For All IST Employees
CMGC, IST Large Conference Room and HMC LUESA Kitchen
• Lee Denim Day

Friday, October 5
• Jerry Pinkard treats our five IST nominees to a celebratory lunch
• Lee Denim Day

IST Welcomes Curt Williams

Curt Williams recently joined the IST Information Security Group.

For the last two years, Curt has been involved in performing information security reviews for community banks and financial institutions (i.e. policy review, access controls, physical security, patch management scans, vulnerability assessments, social engineering and others).

In addition to the reviews, Curt also performed external penetration testing for these types of organizations.

Curt is currently certified in MCSE and CISSP.

Welcome, Curt!

Do the Math

Here's part of a company's profit and loss statement: This year's sales are $40, and costs of goods sold are 50% of sales; so this year's cost of goods sold are $20. You've probably heard the statement that customer acquisition costs 5 times more than customer retention. So let's say that we have two situations. In the first situation, that $40 of sales all came from existing customers. We'll say that the cost to maintain those customers was $2. So our costs are up to $22 at this point. That's an $18 gross profit (45% of sales) before we deduct all our fixed and other costs.
In the second situation, that $40 of sales was all from NEW customers because we lost all of the previous year's customers. Therefore, our acquisition cost was $10 (or 5 times the $2). So our costs are up to $30 at this point. That's a $10 gross profit (25% of sales) before we deduct all our fixed and other costs.
So looking at these two extreme situations (the first with 100% retention and no new customers, and the second with 0% retention and all new customers), there's an enormous difference. Gross profit is almost twice in the first situation than in the second situation.
It's really simple math. It's so simple that an Ivy League-trained CEO could do it. But many don't.
Too many companies are focusing their strategies, their structure, their training, their bonuses, their marketing collateral, and their marketing budgets on acquisition, when a simple look at a P&L would point them in a more efficient and wise allocation of dollars.
In a perfect world, the CEO wants the $40 in sales from the existing AND the $40 in sales from the new. But the perfect world often requires unlimited resources, which exist for no one. So the question is one of focus and allocation.
Allocate resources in the people, processes, technology, and relationship-building activities that will build retention and long-term organizational growth to build a better bottom line.
Executives should do the math.

Meet: Gerry Davis

Gerry Davis, IST Planner/Strategist

Some of Gerry's Favorites:

Movies:
Bourne Identity
Shrek
Matrix

TV Shows:
Two and Half Men
Rules of Engagement
Law and Order

Actors:
Harrison Ford
Robert Redford
Matt Daemon

Actresses:
Charlize Theron
Reese Witherspoon
Renee Zellweger

Hobbies:
Large Scale Radio Control Airplanes
Golf
Camping

Sports Teams:
Panthers
UNC Tarheels
Atlanta Braves

Sports to Play:
Basketball
Golf
Tennis

Outdoor Activities:
Camping
Hiking
Sports

Bands/Musicians:
Bon Jovi
Nickleback
Green Day

Songs/CDs:
Liv'n on a Prayer
Rockstar
If Everyone Cared

Food:
Candy/Sweets/PopTarts
Steak/Lobster
Pizza/Junk food

Adrienne Trent Joins Project Management Team

Please welcome Adrienne Trent, our newest Project Manager, to the IST team!

Adrienne has 11 years of Project Management experience, a BA in Journalism and is PMP Certified.

Culture Club Completes Training

The IST Culture Club recently completed Culture Change Leadership Training.
Facilitated by Appleseed Consulting, the training focused on the foundations of culture change, the culture change process and implementing change.

With training completed, the Culture Club will soon resume working on analyzing employee feedback to facilitate change in IST. The Culture Club members are:

Jim Binford
Bunny Brown
Dorie Dillinger
Tammy Dixon
Fred Ellise
Kevin Hahn
Dennis Izzo
Val McDowell
Michael Nipko
David Reeves
Brandon Smith
Eric Smith
Wendy Smith
Denise Spell-Swede
Serra Williams
Tamika Tims

For more photos of Culture Club training, please visit http://newmeckweb/sites/IST/CultureClub/Culture%20Club%20Training/Forms/AllItems.aspx

Who's Driving Your Bus?

Who's driving the bus? Is it the evil Mr. Ned? Is it the flighty cousin Janet? Is it the focused brother Floyd? Is it the kind-hearted Kara? Is it the irritated Uncle Ira? Is it the selfish sister Sally?

The preacher used the analogy to describe the different personalities that we all have inside of us. Each individual person can be a little testy or get angry. Sometimes we can be focused or kind or easily irritated or selfish. We can be all sorts of things. But what we're feeling inside at any given moment does not necessarily dictate the decisions we make as people. The preacher's point was well made. Each one of us is our own bus. And we decide who drives our bus.

The same situation arises in the world of customer service. As much as we'd like to be proactive our whole life and plan tomorrow knowing that tomorrow will go according to plan, the reality is that customer service in particular demands reaction. It requires us to respond to the customer's changing needs or to the complaint or to the issue or to the red flag or to the unexpected or to the new edict handed down by executive management.

And how we handle that situation is often dictated by the attitude we bring into the situation. We could have an attitude of inflexibility and resisting change. We could have an attitude of pointing figures and talking behind others' backs. We could have an attitude of self-pity and self-doubt.

Or. . .

We could have an attitude of flexibility and welcoming change. We could have an attitude focused on creating solutions and being open. We could have an attitude of trying to help others and the confidence to do so.

Our attitude comes across externally to others, but it's based on an internal decision we make. We decide who drives our bus.

Who's driving your bus today?

Reggie Grier Promoted to Senior Programmer Analyst

Reggie Grier was recently promoted to a Senior Programmer Analyst on the Quality Assurance Team. Reggie began working at Mecklenburg County in 1996 as a contractor working on the Help Desk. Reggie became a County employee in 2002 as a Information Systems Specialist where he provided technical support to several criminal justice agencies like the District Attorney's and Public Defender's Office.

Reggie joined the Quality Assurance Team 2 1/2 years ago. In his role as a Quality Assurance Analyst he worked on numerous projects including ISS-CW and EJuror. Reggie enjoys the QA environment and is looking forward to furthering his education and experience in this area.

Sandra Oliver Accepts IT Project Manager for Applications Development and Support Team Position

Sandra Oliver has accepted the position of IT Manager for the Applications Development and Support Team. Sandra has been with the County for 7 years, most recently as a Project Manager for the PMO team and has over 19 years IT experience. Sandra has a BA in Computer Information Systems and a Masters Degree in Business Administration with emphasis on Management Information Systems. Additionally, Sandra is PMP certified.

Congratulations, Sandra!

Review the IST 2007-2008 Annual Report and Plan

Please check out the new Annual Report by visiting http://tinyurl.com/yq9spl.

Customers Visit Technology Services Center

Many employees visited the newly renovated IST Technology Services Center on Thursday, September 6. The new center is located at the Hal Marshall Annex basement and houses numerous work groups from the IST Desktop Services organization.

Customers were invited to tour the new center, enjoy refreshments and learn more about how the IST Desktop Services organization works to support you, the customer. The celebration also finalized the consolidation of IST Help Desk Services to a fully centralized unit.
In the past, Help Desk East was housed at Kuralt Centre and supported all DSS customers. Help Desk Central was housed at Hal Marshall Center. This group supported all other Mecklenburg County customers.

Even though both groups still exist and support that same customers, they are now centrally located at this new facility. The group is managed by IT Manager Dan Traweek and is part of the IST Desktop Services organization.

The IST Desktop Services organization also includes Desktop Support Services (East and Central), SMS Support Services and the Enterprise Core Process team. The IST Desktop Services organization is managed by Senior IT Manager Jeff Vince.

Three years ago, IST began the process of consolidating departmental IT staff to create an enterprise-wide service. Now, Help Desk East and Central are fully consolidated. "It was a great opportunity for us to meet our customers, introduce them to support staff members and share how we can best serve their needs on a day to day basis," says Senior IT Manager Jeff Vince.

Drive Retention

This past weekend, I met someone who works at an auto dealership, one that I'd heard very positive things about. Let's call him "Paul." The following conversation ensued:

Me: So how's business?
Paul: I tell you. It's great. We sold over 400 cars last month and beat a comparable dealership in another state in a competition we were having.
Me: Wow! That sounds great.
Paul: Yeah, we're all exhausted after last month, but I'm happy to be in this situation. Most every other dealership around here is struggling, but we just keep selling cars.
Me: Why do you think your dealership is doing so well?
Paul: The main thing that we attribute it to is customer retention. We don't do nearly as much advertising as most dealers around here, but it seems that even when the car market isn't great, our customers keep coming back to us. We get LOTS of repeat business.
Me: I'm happy for you.
Paul: Thanks. I've been here 10 years, and we've just always been busy like this; the organization just does a great job.

The employee was exhausted, but he was exhausted from transacting business with a high volume of repeat customers, not from beating the pavement looking for new customers. He was exhausted from success, and Paul attributed that success to customer retention.
The slow times in an economy or for an industry happen, but they can be mitigated by strong customer retention.

Work today to build your relationships with high quality employee attitudes, skills, and knowledge. Work to have high quality processes and high quality products and services.
Build your credibility and relationships you have with customers today, so they'll keep your sales higher than competitors during those tough tomorrows.

Mecklenburg County Employees Receive 20% Discount at Verizon Wireless

Did you know that Mecklenburg County employees receive a 20% discount for personal cell phone services from Verizon Wireless?

To receive this discount, simply take your Mecklenburg County ID to any Verizon Wireless store or visit https://b2b.verizonwireless.com/tbmb/rylEnterEmailAddress.do.

Meet the New MeckWeb

At 2 p.m. today, the old MeckWeb will be retired from service and will be replaced by New MeckWeb. New MeckWeb was developed using a Web site development and collaboration tool called Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services.

You may not know it, but you are already using New Meckweb. Have you changed any of your personal information in myHR, clicked on the Internal News Portal or used the County "Buy, Sell, Trade" web site? Then you have already been using New MeckWeb.

To get to New MeckWeb, from your browser simply key in NewMeckWeb and press enter. You can make New MeckWeb your Home Page by clicking on tools, then Internet Options from Internet Explorer, then enter in http://newmeckweb/ in the address bar.

To visit the IST MeckWeb site, go to http://newmeckweb/IST/default.aspx

New MeckWeb's features include:
A better search capability for finding documents and links quickly and for creating advanced searches.
Organization for quick access to the most commonly used information, including department information.
The ability to quickly update information for those of you who will be content managers.

If you are interested in learning more about SharePoint Services, contact your your IST CRM, Bunny Brown, for a Quick Source Guide. It provides easy instructions on how to perform advanced user functions. There also will be training opportunities for Windows SharePoint services in the future.

IST Employees Celebrate

On Wednesday, August 29, IST employees were treated to a celebratory lunch at Francis J. Beatty Park.

Employees were rewarded for their excellent Balanced Scorecard, Customer Service Survey and Employee Climate Results.

Please visit http://tinyurl.com/2dsy6s for more photos of the event.

Have a Layout That Lets Employees Succeed

The secretaries had just completed customer service training, and they were excited. The company had invested in them, and they had learned some great tips on how to effectively manage calls and walk-in visitors.

They had learned great techniques for diffusing upset and irate customers. They learned how to be more proactive in their communications to have fewer complaining customers as well.

Just as exciting to them was that on Monday they were going to walk into a newly renovated office! The secretaries had been operating out of a makeshift office for the past four weeks, and they were thrilled to be getting rid of their tiny temporary quarters and get into a more professional and well-decorated environment.

As they entered the new offices on Monday morning, their excitement and smiles quickly turned to frowns. The new computers were setup facing the far walls, so that as customers entered the offices, the employees would have their backs to them. How would the secretaries know when a customer entered? Would the secretaries have to turn around from their computers every 10 seconds to see if anyone was standing there?

And the telephones were located on the back wall. So if the secretary was helping a walk-in customer, she'd have to turn around, and go to the back wall to answer the phone. The rack that holds the office forms was located at the desk where the computers sat, so the secretaries would have to walk over to the computers to get the forms for the walk-in customers to serve them.
Who designed this office?

It surely wasn't somebody who was focused on delivering great customer service. The employees had been excited about their new knowledge and skills learned in training, but now they had an office setup that was setting them up for failure.

Delivering stellar customer service requires more than smiling and making eye contact. It requires a company with a "systems" mindset for service. What is the entire service process or system like? What's the most efficient and customer-friendly way to serve a customer?

Organizations that truly want to be great at customer service will design their facilities to make it easy on the employee to be organized, efficient, and customer-focused.
Assess your facility for its service shortcomings. Then change the layout to let your employees succeed.

You're Invited

A Message of Thanks from Jerry Pinkard

The IST 2007 Balanced Scorecard is now available for your review. IST improved its Scorecard results dramatically over 2006. 10 measures were exemplary, four were successful and one needs improvement.
These are great scores and you all should be proud of our accomplishments. IST continues to achieve exemplary in the key Customer Satisfaction measure, and was greatly improved in employee measures.
Another key measure is the Technology Resources satisfaction from the Employee Climate Survey. IST has countywide responsibility for that measure and it was also exemplary.
Achieving this level of success is a team effort that required significant contributions by every team and every person in the department. I want to thank everyone in IST for contributing to our success in 2007.
Please visit http://newmeckweb/C6/ISTADMIN/Lists/Announcements/Attachments/13/FY07BSC%200607%20Final.xls to review the Balanced Scorecard results.

Customers Praise IST Employees

Take a look at some of the e-mails sent to our IST-Praise mailbox:

"Just wanted to say what a wonderful job Brandon Smith did today helping me with a document that I was struggling with. He was helpful and did not make me feel like an idiot for asking the questions that I asked."

"I would like to nominate Wendy Smith for a Star Perks Card.
Unfortunately, because Wendy and I are at different locations, I do not get the opportunity to work with her often, but when I do, it is a wonderful experience. She is always pleasant to deal with it and takes care of issues quickly and efficiently. She has been particularly helpful in helping me with invitations for the new Help Desk location at the HMA. I have asked Wendy to take care of several issues for me over the last several weeks and she has done so quickly, with a smile and has asked if there is anything else she can do to help.
THAT is excellent customer service.
Thank you, Wendy."

"Congratulations are in order for Candice Broadie, who is moving on to a new position with Mecklenburg County in project management with County Finance and IT. Candice has been a terrific asset to AMH over the past couple of years as she managed three significant IT projects successfully. We wish her well and appreciate all that she has done for AMH. Of her many contributions perhaps the most significant was that of teaching AMH staff the detail of the RFP process and, through project management and facilitation, enabling those teams to take ownership of the replacement process and thereby setting the stage for confidently selecting our next software packages."

IST Celebration Scheduled for Wednesday!

Come celebrate our outstanding Balanced Scorecard, Customer Satisfaction and Employee Climate Results on Wednesday, August 29. A lunch of hamburgers, veggie burgers, hotdogs, side dishes, drinks and desserts will be served at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The 265 acre park has six tennis courts, two basketball courts, five soccer fields, horseshoe pits, boats, a stocked fishing lake and a trail for walking or biking.

Understand the Culture Change Challenge

Why does it take so long? You say that it can take 18-24 months to change the culture of a company with 500 or 1000 employees? Why? Can't you just develop some customer service standards and e-mail them to everyone? Can't you just tell everyone to get their act together and start focusing on the customer? Can't you just get the employees to smile more and tell the employees what to do? It's quick and simple.

Right?

We wish.

In the perfect world, that would be the case. But much of what's identified in that first paragraph really comes down to setting expectations with staff of how they should behave. But setting expectations with staff about what are acceptable behaviors and actually getting those behaviors put into practice can be two totally different things.

That's why it can take a while to change a culture. Because a culture change results when behavior truly changes. And a lot is required to change behavior. Maybe you're setting the expectations, but if staff aren't trained in HOW to deliver great service, many can't. You can set the expectations, but if employees are not rewarded for great customer service or held accountable for being terrible at customer service, what's the incentive to improve?
If employees are told they should be customer service-oriented, but their managers are dictatorial and more task-oriented than customer-oriented, then they're not witnessing models of proper behavior.

If employees are told to be customer-oriented, but the organization is disorganized, or the company isn't structured to communicate between silos or work together to meet the customer's needs, then the best attitudes can't overcome a poor structure.
It should be easy to change a culture, but the larger the organization, the harder it is to change a culture. Or the tougher it is to turn over staff (i.e., fire the "bad apples"), the harder it is to change a culture.

Understand what it really takes to change a culture. Be systematic. Be driven. But do whatever it takes to get it done.

Live Communications Server (IM) Tips

Manually Change Your Status
If you are using Microsoft Office Outlook for your e-mail, your presence status as shown in Communicator is determined by your schedule in Outlook. You can also manually change your status.
In the Microsoft Office Communicator window, click the arrow next to your name, and then click the status that you want to display.
To set a note to be displayed next to your status in Office Communicator 2005, click your name, and then click Set Note. In the Set Note dialog box, type a message, and then click OK. Your active Outlook Out of Office Assistant message will automatically be displayed by your name.

Start a New Conversation

In the Microsoft Office Communicator window, do one of the following:
In the Find box, type the name of the person you would like to contact. When the correct name appears in the Find Results pane, double-click the name.
Type your message in the box at the bottom of the window, and then click Send.

In the Contacts list, double-click the name of someone who is online.

Save a Conversation as E-mail
To save an IM conversation as an e-mail message, click File, and then click Save as E-mail.

Running Communicator Minimized
In the Microsoft Office Communicator window, select Connect from the menu, then select Change Sign-In Account.
In the Options window, click the General tab and uncheck Automatically open the main window when Communicator starts. Click OK at the bottom of the screen.
The Communicator icon will appear in the system tray. To open the window, left click the icon, select the Open.
To minimize the Communicator window again, click the Close button and the main window will minimize in the system tray.

Nominate Your Customer Service Hero by Friday, August 24

Do you know a Customer Service Hero? Take the time to look around, many of your teammates in IST are customer service heroes!

Nominate them by Friday, August 24 for recognition as one of Mecklenburg County's Customer Service Heroes. Visit http://tinyurl.com/3329f6 to submit your nomination in one of the five categories: Service Quality, Ethics, Timeliness, Courtesy & Respect, and Communication. A hero from each category will be selected and announced by the County's Customer Service Council during National Customer Service Week, October 1-5.