6 Must-Have Skills of Highly Effective Help Desk Managers
Being an IT help desk manager is not just about tech and data. Though a solid technical background is a must-have, a successful help desk manager needs a broad range of skills, including communication skills combined with customer service experience and a problem-solving attitude.
Here are the key six skills an effective help desk manager can’t do without.
#1. Communicate with confidence
Communication is the backbone of your role. Help desk managers have to deal with overly anxious people who want to have their problem solved immediately. They have to answer phone calls, emails, user requests, and be active listeners as well as respond to people’s needs. The key is to be polite, friendly and focus on the information that is going to help resolve customers’ problems.
#2. Negotiate like a diplomat
Help desk managers should be prepared to deal with hassled people and resolve issues diplomatically without blaming or finger-pointing. Staying calm and listening are essential for successful negotiations. If there has been your fault, confess but don’t go into detail – instead, focus on the solution.
#3. Be flexible
It all comes down to effective time-management. Find tools that will help you allocate time for deal with emails, phone calls, tech issues, etc. Be flexible when resolving customer problems – if you can’t find the right solution on the spot, take a new task and then come back to the previous one with a fresh mind.
#4. Know your team
No matter how profound your technical background may be, there are people who are real profs in certain tech fields and can help you with a quick fix of customers’ problems. Get to know your team, build trust and earn respect – this is a great opportunity to increase your overall productivity and provide a better customer service.
#5. Be a customer advocate
Customer service is all about cooperation. Be a customer advocate: communicate with a smile, do your best to resolve tricky issues effectively and ask for feedback. The success won’t take long to arrive.
#6. Practise your presentations skills
Though it might sound surprising but to be an effective help desk managers you need to have outstanding presentation skills. It matter for both communication with customers and for presenting yourself to team members and senior managers. You can try to record yourself or use any popular platforms teaching you the right way to use presentation and people skills. It doesn’t matter what you choose, one thing is for sure – practice makes perfect.
