Rewarding users and teams for being smart?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

So after reading shove_this_job's post about a user who learnt, I wondered if there was a carrot equivalent to the banhammer-stick.

Some way that TS can provide a tangible reward to users and teams who are thinking clearly when they call, have all the information needed to fix a problem, or (if you have internal corporate stats) hardly ever call at all.

I'm not exactly sure what we could offer on that level - a flag on the userID which says "They called once and were smart"? Most helpdesks don't really charge directly for calls, so it's a bit hard to offer discounts or free calls. (It'd be nice, though - charge users, teams or areas per quarter for the number of unnecessary calls, with necessary calls free and brilliant calls eligible for a refund, or something.)

Aside from a little mini-trophy which says "The IT department loves you!", I'm coming up a little blank on appropriate 'carrots' - which is a pity, because few people like a division which only has sticks.

Anyone seen an helpdesk which managed to offer both stick and carrot?

Comments

[usekh.livejournal.com]

Usually we just give them a bit more trust, don't put them through the usual asking the same question 50 ways to make sure they have in fact done all they tell you :P

[azurelunatic]

Yep.

I occasionally was awarded direct walk-up access, rather than going through the ticketing queue.

[kuang.livejournal.com]

Just the knowledge that they'll get their stuff done far more quickly because they're not a bunch of muppets :)

[jokergirl.livejournal.com]

I call it the reward system. They get more freedom, more trust and prompter service.
Those that bug me and claim to be smart without actually having any idea are sure to get The Book by the letter. Those that are nice and offer to do stuff themselves get the rights to do so as long as they don't screw up.

;)

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

This can kind of work where people call in a lot (frex, onsite techs), but for the average user who calls in once every couple of months (if that), I'm not sure they'd remember.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

the best carrot is treating them like a person. Instead of acting like they're a dumb user, you actually talk to them. People like that make me enjoy my job and I let them know it.

[pyrtolin.livejournal.com]

To fully implement a carrot and stick solution you simply need to come up with a generous sounding prize and continue to suggest that it will be awarded (and perhaps that it has been awarded) to ideal users.

Maybe take it off the stick every once in a while if they start to get suspicious, but most of the time it should be kept just barely out of reach.

If you're using the stick for anything other than keeping the prize just a little further ahead, then you're creating the kind of negative feedback that makes you work harder to do.

[utoxin.livejournal.com]

Track the good users. Give them an automatic bump up to second-tier support, or to a higher priority queue. Let them know that.

[utoxin.livejournal.com]

Further thoughts:

Give the 10 users with the best 'Support Karma' the automatic bump. Have a way for them to see their karma score, and the top 10 list. Turn it into a competition to be good users. :)

[awarrenfells.livejournal.com]

Heh. I like this idea. Competition tends to breed results.

[doublefelix.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, one of the best traits this competition is to call few times, getting things done quickly whenever you do.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

Carrot/stick is actually usually psych jargon for reward/punishment.

[pyrtolin.livejournal.com]

And "carrot on a stick" is similarly a reference to offering an unreachable reward. And is generally more effective in encouraging proper behavior.

There's some pretty heavy debate as to which is the original form of the phrase.

[mirar.livejournal.com]

I like both ideas.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Do callers generally tend to call often enough to connect the individual attempts into a coherent narrative, though? I mean, sure, we see the interface as a constant boiling sea of calls, but from the user perspective, they might call once or twice a year, and won't remember (or care about) the details of the last time they called.

It'd be like running a competition for best caller to building services. Not many people call them often enough to care that they might be in the running for an intangible prize, they just want something cleaned up or moved.