II - Never Let the Client Lose Face
Back when I first started my career as a professional tech I worked with a very talented and brilliant server administrator. His knowledge of technology seemed endless, and he kept my University’s tech landscape virtually incident-free. However, there was one meeting in particular with them that I never forgot.
I often equate an IT meeting, where attendees are all tech professionals, to a high school bench press contest. All of the techs are talking over each other trying to establish themself as the smartest in the room. Insecurity is rampant, and one tech’s solution to an issue is often discounted by another’s experience.
Reminds me of a joke: How many techs does it take to fix a computer? Twelve. One to fix the computer, and eleven to tell them how they would have done it better.
During one of these tech meetings, I made a comment about what I experienced in fixing a Windows 98 desktop in hopes that others in the room might benefit from what I encountered. The server admin immediately stated I was wrong, and fired off three reasons why what I experienced with my own eyes couldn’t have happened. I wasn’t ready for that level of slicing response, was outgunned in the technical knowledge realm, and had no comeback to his challenge. All I recalled saying was, “I guess I experienced a glitch.” After that embarrassment in front of my peers, I rarely spoke up in those tech meetings unless I definitely knew what I was speaking about, and could back it up.
The embarrassment I felt can be equated with losing face, a term for saying or doing something that would decrease one’s reputation, dignity, and social status. The server admin’s quick, terse retort lowered me in the eyes of my peers, and lessened my self-worth. Losing face is a very important cultural matter in Asia, and is never appropriate in professional matters. In the United States, a “brutally honest” person, like my server admin colleague, shed no tears about putting themself over another tech professional. As a result, I made a vow to myself that I would never make a client feel marginalized or lesser than they already might feel in dealing with me, their tech expert.
Professional tech support see many instances of customers messing up their computers. Techs fix the same error hundreds of times. These common foul-ups increase email inboxes, makes techs fix the same place in customer computers over and over, and it requires techs to reply the same way over and over again in email response. If meeting with the customer in their office, sometimes the tech support professional will get exasperated at yet another messed-up computer and having to return to normal working order. And the tech’s choice of words, decibel level, and tone of voice may be overheard by the customer’s office mates or other nearby. This is not honoring to the client, it is not acknowledging their dignity as a person, and it does not strengthen the bridge needed to maintain a solid professional relationship with the client.
There are ways for a professional tech support to respond better. Here is an example of what has worked for me in the past when I encounter a tech issue that I’ve fixed over 100 times in one year:
Client: Why is my course from two terms ago still in my Canvas dashboard?
Relational Tech: Ah, I see what might be going on. Looks like your course was manually set to start before the term began.
C: Yeah, I wanted my students to see their syllabus and what books to buy before the term began.
RT: Sounds good! All we need to do is provide an end date for this course from the past, and it should disappear from your dashboard….and your students’ dashboards!
C: That was it?
RT: Yup! It happens quite often to faculty around the University. We just need to set both the start AND end dates for courses in the future, and everything should work as expected.
or…
Client: Why is my computer giving me all these error messages?
Relational Technologist, after troubleshooting the computer finding software applications and the operating system have been updated to the latest version, but not restarted for updates to take effect: I’m curious [first name], when was the last time you rebooted your computer?
C: Uh, maybe a month ago? I never click on all those pop-ups telling me to restart my computer. I’m always afraid I’ll get a virus.
RT: I can understand your hesitancy. Getting a virus can be a big stressball. So I’ve seen you have a lot of updates installed, so your system is almost up to date. Let’s reboot your computer so these updates can take effect. Plus, rebooting your computer lets things start up again in the correct sequence, and you will probably notice a lot fewer pop-ups to restart your computer as well!
Tech support professionals need to realize that, while they have fixed an issue hundreds of times, it might be their client’s first time experiencing the issue. So support needs to communicate to the client without exasperation or eye-rolling, taking into consideration the client’s perspective. And responding with words that help the client save face, rather than losing face.