Last night I witnessed a really cool phenomenon unfold among my co-workers. A simple email message to all 318 Staff regarding one of our clients said:
4 users with BBerry email problems
3 users reporting remote access problems
SDM is working to get these assigned and resolved.
“SDM” is short for “Service Desk Managers” who schedule technicians to respond to customer issues. Clearly, SDM was saying we had an issue suddenly impacting several customers.
I had my work email open along with half a dozen other accounts while surfing on my laptop and watching TV. The message arrived in my Inbox at 9:08 p.m. CDT. Remarkable to me was that over the next two hours nearly 10 of us chimed in to respond and support the primary technician assigned to this urgent issue. Even more remarkable was that our suggestions, recommendations and peer support totaled nearly 40 email messages during that time. At one point email was flowing as if it were instant messages.
10 technicians and 40 messages. Wow! That’s not only an awesome after-hours response in a couple of hours but real camaraderie among co-workers I’ve never seen in 20 years in my career. Toward the end of the incident our CEO took notice and chimed in to express his gratitude. SDM this morning said:
I agree. Not only was this cool to see but it reinforces my trust in my co-workers to have my back during a crisis. I’ve never grown closer to a group of people so quickly as I have with those at my current job. And although I visit the home office in Los Angeles infrequently, we part with hugs rather than handshakes. I really appreciate my co-workers.
Remember the Human 