Go out there and get it done – from Glen Gary Glen Ross
This afternoon I was asked to help prepare some video for a sales meeting. I am not sure if the video was intended to be motivating or not, but I think the target audience of sales staff could easily have been replaced with IT staff.
Some IT Manager and staff have likely taken the approach that the problem will come to you when it needs to be fixed, I sure have. Waiting until the fire has started and could burn out of control at any moment rather than trying to work with the users as soon as there is something they find that isn’t quite right.
Sure in some cases IT is reactive, you cannot fix a problem if you don’t know its there, but there are some problems that can be fixed simply by being active in your organization and doing some managing by walking around. Hearing how the users interact with each other and the IT staff and seeing how they use their computers might be a clue to an upcoming problem. Being able to solve the problem either before they mention it to the help desk or as soon as they do might take the opinion of the IT staff through the roof as being extra helpful.
The video clip simply got me thinking about doing the work rather than planning to do the work. Yes some planning needs to be done, but if all of the time is spent planning little to no work is getting done.
Spend time building procedure and getting the right process in place as soon as possible to reduce the overall work required to fix problems.
I thought the clip really drove home the idea that we as IT people should get out there and do the work and help those around us.
Have you guessed the clip I watched? – Here is a link (NSFW) Video Clip
Do you think the approach to sales in the clip was too harsh or that it might have been right on target?
