Deliver Empathy in the Face of Emotion

Maybe it's the irate customer venting their disgust. Maybe it's the confused customer discussing their frustration. Maybe it's the upset customer detailing their ordeal. Whatever the situation, a little empathy can go a long way.


When presented with these emotional customers, if you don't react, you don't respond, customers may think you're like a brick wall - an obstinate obstacle with no concern with their needs. If you argue their points, they stay emotional and think you're (to say it nicely) rude.
When presented with someone who's irate or upset or has a complaint, take the route of empathy. Essentially make a sincere statement that you "can understand your frustration" or "can see how upsetting this must be." In doing that, you're showing your UNDERSTANDING of their emotions. They realize that you're not that brick wall; you're not that rude employee. Instead, you're someone who listens, someone who's understanding. Then maybe their "back" will come down, and their emotions will come down, and it's easier to deal with an issue when it's not coming from an overly emotional person.


But keep in mind we're recommending empathy, not sympathy. Sympathy is more feeling based, like you "feel their pain" or you "know exactly what they're going through." Most people don't like statements of sympathy in situations like this, because you don't know exactly what they're going through. Think of the man who's in the delivery room with his wife; she just gave birth, and he turns to his wife and says "honey, I know exactly what you just went through."
Yikes! That's sympathy. Don't do it. It's too big a risk. That might make them even more mad, even more upset.


Instead, when presented with the emotional customer, use a little empathy to lower the emotions a little.

IST Finalizes Help Desk Consolidation

IST is in the process of finalizing the consolidation of Help Desk services to a centralized unit with the focus on you, the customer. Currently, Help Desk East is housed at Kuralt Centre and supports all DSS customers. Help Desk Central is housed at Hal Marshall Center. This group supports all other Mecklenburg County customers. Both groups are managed by IT Manager Dan Traweek and are part of the IST Desktop Services organization. The IST Desktop Services group also includes the Desktop Support and the Enterprise Core Process teams.

Three years ago, IST began the process of consolidating departmental IT staff to create an enterprise-wide service. In early August 2007, Help Desk East and Central will be fully consolidated as staff members move into the newly renovated Hal Marshall Annex. The new facility is called the IST Technology Services Center.

“The consolidation will benefit the County in many ways,” says Senior IT Manager Jeff Vince. “Having our Help Desk team centralized at one location gives a one-stop approach for customer service and will eventually allow all of our customers to call one number to meet all their support needs. Currently, DSS customers call 2-8000. All others call the 2HELP (2-4357) extension. With this consolidated approach, it yields us increased coverage to provide faster more efficient customer service.”

Jeff says the Help Desk is also exploring new ways of providing customer service. “We can now help customers through email and over the phone. Down the road, we will explore utilizing live chat, web based self help, and other customer centric avenues.”

Help Desk technicians have also been given opportunities to work from home, providing more flexibility for the employees and eventually allows them expand service and delivery for the customers.

“Our main goal is to solve the problems of our customers,” says Jeff. “We want to create a customer-oriented environment that is solution-oriented.”

On Thursday, September 6, IST will be hosting an open house for employees to come and meet the consolidated Help Desk team, along with other members of the IST Desktop Services team. “We want our employees to come out and meet their teammates who support them and get an understanding of what they do.”

Congratulations, Jason Girard!

Jason Girard has been selected to be a part of the Server Team. Jason has been with Mecklenburg County for about 2 years, both as a contractor and full time employee with the Technology Help Center. Jason will be working in the storage area of the Server Team and will start on August 15th.

Congratulations, Jason!

Congratulations, Pam Rikard!

Pam Rikard has been selected to fill the Senior IT Manager position in the Project Management Division.

Pam's professional experience and education are the right combination for this position. She has over 30 years of IT experience with five years of direct project management experience and two years of direct management experience.

Meet: Jerry Phillips

Time with the County: 3 years
Position Title: Technical Analyst II
Job Description: Supervises a team of highly skilled server technicians. This role manages the workload and employees assigned as well performing operational work. Performs advanced analysis, configuration, and the highest level support (Level 3) of complex hardware/software platforms running enterprise-wide Microsoft Windows operating systems
Best thing about working for Mecklenburg County: Great People and Flexible work hours
Hobbies: Computer Flight Sims and R/C AircraftFavorite Movie: Battle of Britain
Last Book You Read: Halo
What one item in the kitchen best describes you and your personality? Coffee Grinder
If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be? Germany
What CD would your friends be surprised that you own? Alison Krauss