Monkey Tamers | Practical application for finding ideas within complaints

Monkey Tamers

Practical application for finding ideas

within complaints

Ben Jackson | Brigham Van Auken | Janet Malsam

Marcques Johnson | Marty Martinez | Suzy Bathel

Complaints or Insight?

You’ve heard it or said it:

“This sucks, it’s broken…again.”

“I hate this program, it does make sense

why it works this way.”

“Why are we doing this, it is such a waste of

time.”

Insight from Complaints

These can often be code words for either:

“I have an idea, but don’t know who to

share it with.”

Something is broken - “What am I supposed

to do now?”

Insight from Complaints

We’ll take a step by step approach to creating a

better way to take these moments, capture

them and build better practices for taking

action…and start talking about the monkey in

the room!

Develop a scalable and widely applicable

model for GCO reps that helps them:

Clearly and logically identify

issues within their frustrations

Package an issue for escalation to their supervisor

that is actionable

Tame the Monkey

Objective |

What is the Monkey?

The Monkey is a problem. Imagine that

you see something that doesn't make

sense or is broken. You think to yourself

"this doesn't make any sense, why are

we doing this?" This triggers an

emotional reaction, usually frustration,

which we’ll name “The Monkey”

What is the Monkey?

The Monkey (issue or

complaint) now sits on your

shoulder, preoccuping your

time, causing you to be

frustrated and/or complain.

What is the Monkey?

Most people want to give The Monkey to

someone else as fast as they can, usually

walking to someone else and sharing the

issues The Monkey has caused, how bad

The Monkey is, and hoping that someone

else will deal with The Monkey.

What is the Monkey?

You are acting like an owner, taking intelligent

risks, being open, honest and constructive,

so, now, the Monkey is your problem.

Develop a scalable and widely applicable

model for GCO reps that helps them:

Clearly and logically identify

issues within their frustrations

Objective |

Express concerns

Think creatively about temporary solutions

[workarounds, etc.]

Commit to working toward best practices for

identifying issues and expediting resolution

Develop a scalable and widely applicable

model for GCO reps that helps them:

Package an issue for escalation to their supervisor

that is actionable

Objective | Focus on impact through

a) areas for improvement and b) 3 suggested

resolutions

Convince a decision maker to

a) Be convinced

b) Give the necessary support: framework for project,

resources, time etc

Develop a scalable and widely applicable

model for GCO reps that helps them:

Tame the Monkey

Objective |

Create a simple process/form

to complete, weighing the

pros/cons of suggested

resolutions

Investment commitment from

management to review on a

regular basis

Response 1

Rep mentions how much this issue makes

them angry to a peer, but then does nothing

else.

Monkey stays with rep

Response 2

Rep schedules time with supervisor to review

the issue and asks for help. Supervisor

acknowledges issue, but takes no action as

value of action not clearly expressed.

Monkey returns to rep…

Response 3

Rep schedules time with supervisor to review

the issue and asks for help. Supervisor

acknowledges issue, encourages rep to take

action and email Product Specialist and does

NOT follow up.

Monkey lies dormant…for now.

Response 4

Rep schedules time with supervisor to review

the issue and asks for help. Supervisor

acknowledges issue, encourages rep to take

action and email Product Specialist and

follows up until issue is resolved.

Response 4

Issue is clearly

identified,

process, product

or system is now

fixed.

Monkey is tamed.

Next Steps: Practical Application

That’s all fine and good, but what can I do as a

rep to start having my feedback heard?

We’re glad to hear you are solutions-focused

now, here’s a few tips to get you started.

Step 1 : Rep is made aware of issue

Step 2: Rep determines scope of issue and impact on customers, company and team

Step 3 : Rep presents issue to supervisor or SME, asks for feedback on when issue can be reviewed

Step 4: If no action taken, rep investigates issue further, adds business metrics to case, including # members or employees impacted, financial impact, etc. presents to manager, Product Specialist

Step 5: If no action taken, rep investigates issue further, adds business metrics to case, including # members or employees impacted, financial impact, etc. presents to manager, Product Specialist

The Issue Escalator

Is there a process for

improving a process?

Of course!!

Recommendations

Building a business case

Identify the issue: Who is impacted? To what

extent? Financial Impact?

Identify your resources: How can you find out

who owns the product, process or system?

Identify who people who are willing and able to

help champion the cause.

Recommendations

Escalate to next level/build stronger case

What questions have you answered?

What questions do you have left to answer?

Do you know who else has tried to solve this

issue before?

Is anyone else working on the same thing?

Recommendations

Escalate to next level/build stronger case

How have you positioned your idea? Did you

showcase financial impact, customer impact,

employee impact?

Feedback Filed

How do you avoid being just another email in

someone’s inbox?

1. Maintain an appropriate level of rage – make sure to

follow up, follow up again, and follow up one more time.

2. Make sure you’ve identified a squeeky wheel on the right

car – if it squeeks and annoys you, no one cares; find a

way to get people in the right car in order to hear the

squeek.

Feedback Filed

How do you avoid being just another email in

someone’s inbox?

3. Ask for follow up – Request dates/times they will be able

to give the idea an adequate amount of time to review.

4. Recruiter leverage – If you aren’t gaining traction, bring

in a manager who will help champion with you.

Clearly and logically identify

issues within their frustrations

Package an issue for escalation to their supervisor

that is actionable

Tame the Monkey

Remember our Objective?

Tame more Monkeys!!

We believe that if you take some

time to review the examples and

processes we’ve suggested

creatively on your team, you will

unlock the secret to turning your

complaints into progress!

Appendix

Source of inspiration

Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey? by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass,

http://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey/ar/1

No monkeys were harmed in the making of this presentation.

Case Study: Resolved

Systems Issue : Account Look-up in SalesForce

Original Issue: All accounts displayed, making a manual

process of account lookup very time consuming.

Request to add a column to show "active or inactive" status

so that we can quickly identify the active account out of

(many times dozens of) account names.

Huge Win: recently implemented and created

significant efficiencies for global Enterprise Support

team

Case Study: Resolved

Systems Issue : Account Look-up in SalesForce

Request to add a column to show "active or inactive" status

so that we can quickly identify the active account out of

(many times dozens of) account names.

Huge Win: recently implemented and created significant

efficiencies for global Enterprise Support team

Case Study: In progress

Systems Issue identified: Provisioning

Current Status: When provisioning Recruiter licenses, free

Hiring Manager seats are not included on the main CAP

'Grant' screen and requires an additional submission,

which can take an additional 2-3 minutes.

Case Study: Systems Improvement?

TimeForce

Takes too long to load in

morning.

Not easy to correct mistakes.

Can we have an app in our

Hidden Icons window that let's

us login/out?