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Career Pathing Made Easy
In any support organization, it is important to develop a clearly defined career path. No
matter how flat the organization, this can be achieved successfully. With careful planning, even the most flat organization can be engineered into a productive, nurturing environment where management not only provides a career path but also provides a progressive training plan to develop the skills for success.
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Document Transcript:
Career Pathing Made Simple
By
Julie L. Mohr
In any support organization, it is important to develop a clearly defined career path. No
matter how flat the organization, this can be achieved successfully. A traditional career
path is one that provides the opportunity for an employee to move from position to
position taking on new roles and responsibilities with an increase in compensation to
match the position. An example of this is depicted in figure 1. A new analyst will join an
organization at tier 1 and work their way to a team leader. From there, they might be
promoted into tier 2 and maybe even eventually become team leader again. The next
logical position is to replace the service manager.Figure 1 Ð Traditional Career Path
This type of career path can provide a clear path of promotion. However, the time to
promotion may take years and in high-attrition environments this may actually decrease
team motivation.
In other organizations such as call centers, the organization is viewed as essentially flat.
With all CSRs reporting to a supervisor, there is little or no opportunity to create a career
path. In these environments, there maybe ratios of 100 or more CSRs to one supervisor. It
is difficult to develop a career path for so many employees when there is only one logical
position to move to in a promotion.
Step 1 Ð Identify Support Positions
The first step to creating a career path is to identify the different positions within the
support environment. Traditional positions include but are not limited to the following:
¥ Level 1 Analyst
¥ Level 2 Analyst
¥ Level 1 Team Lead
¥ Level 2 Team Lead
¥ Service Desk Manager
Depending on the size of your organization, other positions include:
¥ Quality Assurance Manager
¥ Problem Coordinator
¥ Knowledge Manager
¥ Email Coordinator
¥ Fulfillment Coordinator
¥ Communication Manager
¥ Reporting Analyst
¥ TrainerDifferent positions within the support organization can create a much more robust career
path that moves an employee through increasingly more difficult roles prior to reaching
the final goal of a service desk manager. The enhanced career path would look like the
path defined in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Ð Enhanced Career Path
Step 2 Ð Define Responsibilities
After defining positions, the career path can be further enhanced by also identifying all
key processes and additional responsibilities. Additional responsibilities could be defined
as:
¥ Scheduling
¥ Queue management
¥ Root Cause Trending & Identification
¥ Severity-1 Communication Coordination
¥ Service Level Management
¥ Staffing
¥ Document maintenance
¥ New hire interviews
¥ Call monitoring
¥ Ticket review
¥ Solution testing
¥ FAQ creation
¥ Customer newsletter
¥ Call closure
¥ Technical Support Partner liaison
The possibilities are endless and can be determined by the unique needs of your support
organization structure, technologies, services and products. The enhanced career path
would now include changes in roles and responsibilities between each position.Step 3 Ð Map to Training Plan
In order to successfully implement the enhance career path, a training plan must be
developed that combines technical and soft skills training with the identified positions
and responsibilities. A training plan using our previous examples of positions and
responsibilities is shown in figure 3.
All Employees Position: Level-1 Team Lead (conÕt)
Company Overview Role: Level-1 Trainer
Problem Management System Training Advanced Outlook
Your Job and Responsibilities Troubleshooting Web Applications
Our Customers and You Understanding Novell
Telephone & Communication Skills Performance and Technical Evaluation
Incident Management Ticket Standards Role: New Hire Interviewer
Position: Fulfillment Coordinator Troubleshooting Windows NT
Support Organization Structure Microsoft Certified Professional
Delivering Exceptional Customer Service Position: Level-2 Technical Analyst
How to Handle People with Tact & Skill Advanced Skills in Microsoft Office
Position: Email Coordinator Performance and Technical Evaluation
Help Desk Workflow Role: Root Cause Analyst
Basic Computer Training Position: Problem Coordinator
Position: Level-1 Analyst Managing Technical People
Windows OS Team Building & Mentoring
Role: Queue Monitor Position: Level-2 Lead
Microsoft Office Overcoming Management Problems
Outlook Primer Microsoft Certified Software Engineer
Marketing the Help Desk Help Desk Manager Certification
Role: Newsletter Contributor Role: Level-2 Trainer
Teamwork Training Management Reporting
Performance and Technical Evaluation Understanding ACD Technology
Role: Ticket Monitor Role: Staffing Coordinator
Position: Quality Assurance Manager Proactive Problem Management
How to Lead a Team Performance and Technical Evaluation
Role: Scheduler Position: Knowledge Manager
Help Desk Analyst Certification Knowledge Manager Certification
Position: Level-1 Team Lead Advanced Technical Writing
Management Reporting Role: Document Manager
Role: Level-1 Reporting and Analysis KM Tool Training
Understanding ACD Technology KM User Training
Proactive Problem Management Position: Service Desk Manager
Performance and Technical Evaluation Project Management
Role: Call Quality Monitor You as the Agent of Change
Troubleshooting Windows Understanding Financial Management
Troubleshooting TCP/IP Performance and Technical Evaluation
Troubleshooting Microsoft Office Help Desk Director Certification
Remote Access Troubleshooting
Networking Basics
Figure 3 Ð Training PlanStep 4 Ð Set Employee Expectations
The final step is to formalize the career plan. Position descriptions must be written that
identify the required skills, expectations for performance, and the tasks that are required
of the position. Within each position description, we also outline the different roles, the
training provided and expected timeframes to move to the next position. The most
important step is to provide a strict list of requirements prior to be considered for
promotion into the next position. These requirements can be a level of high performance
for six months, achievement scores for the required training of 80% or higher and above
average demonstration of abilities in performance reviews.
Communicate the changes in positions, roles and career path to all current employees and
utilize it to recruit new employees. Potential employees have a choice of which employer
meets their needs today and in the future. In the coming years, shortages of workers will
require employers to develop robust retention schemes Ð this enhanced career path will
demonstrate career diversity and a company culture where employees want to work and
thrive.
ImagineÉ.the Possibilities
With careful planning, even the most flat organization can be engineered into a
productive, nurturing environment where management not only provides a career path but
also provides a progressive training plan to develop the skills for success. The career path
shown above is only an example of what is possible in a standard support or service
organization. Your actual implementation is only limited by your ability to use your
creativity and enthusiasm to drive change and provide growth for your team.
Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For
over 15 years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing
imaginative insight and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations
into best practice, customer-focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations
including many Fortune 100 companies to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT
Governance, organization enhancements, process re-engineering and service level
management. Julie is an active contributor to the future development of the industry
through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching industry trends and
publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support organization
maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in
multiple industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and certified
¨
ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the
author of Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help
Desk Toolkit: Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for
practitioners at www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association,
American Society for Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of
Support Professionals. Julie is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
By
Julie L. Mohr
In any support organization, it is important to develop a clearly defined career path. No
matter how flat the organization, this can be achieved successfully. A traditional career
path is one that provides the opportunity for an employee to move from position to
position taking on new roles and responsibilities with an increase in compensation to
match the position. An example of this is depicted in figure 1. A new analyst will join an
organization at tier 1 and work their way to a team leader. From there, they might be
promoted into tier 2 and maybe even eventually become team leader again. The next
logical position is to replace the service manager.Figure 1 Ð Traditional Career Path
This type of career path can provide a clear path of promotion. However, the time to
promotion may take years and in high-attrition environments this may actually decrease
team motivation.
In other organizations such as call centers, the organization is viewed as essentially flat.
With all CSRs reporting to a supervisor, there is little or no opportunity to create a career
path. In these environments, there maybe ratios of 100 or more CSRs to one supervisor. It
is difficult to develop a career path for so many employees when there is only one logical
position to move to in a promotion.
Step 1 Ð Identify Support Positions
The first step to creating a career path is to identify the different positions within the
support environment. Traditional positions include but are not limited to the following:
¥ Level 1 Analyst
¥ Level 2 Analyst
¥ Level 1 Team Lead
¥ Level 2 Team Lead
¥ Service Desk Manager
Depending on the size of your organization, other positions include:
¥ Quality Assurance Manager
¥ Problem Coordinator
¥ Knowledge Manager
¥ Email Coordinator
¥ Fulfillment Coordinator
¥ Communication Manager
¥ Reporting Analyst
¥ TrainerDifferent positions within the support organization can create a much more robust career
path that moves an employee through increasingly more difficult roles prior to reaching
the final goal of a service desk manager. The enhanced career path would look like the
path defined in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Ð Enhanced Career Path
Step 2 Ð Define Responsibilities
After defining positions, the career path can be further enhanced by also identifying all
key processes and additional responsibilities. Additional responsibilities could be defined
as:
¥ Scheduling
¥ Queue management
¥ Root Cause Trending & Identification
¥ Severity-1 Communication Coordination
¥ Service Level Management
¥ Staffing
¥ Document maintenance
¥ New hire interviews
¥ Call monitoring
¥ Ticket review
¥ Solution testing
¥ FAQ creation
¥ Customer newsletter
¥ Call closure
¥ Technical Support Partner liaison
The possibilities are endless and can be determined by the unique needs of your support
organization structure, technologies, services and products. The enhanced career path
would now include changes in roles and responsibilities between each position.Step 3 Ð Map to Training Plan
In order to successfully implement the enhance career path, a training plan must be
developed that combines technical and soft skills training with the identified positions
and responsibilities. A training plan using our previous examples of positions and
responsibilities is shown in figure 3.
All Employees Position: Level-1 Team Lead (conÕt)
Company Overview Role: Level-1 Trainer
Problem Management System Training Advanced Outlook
Your Job and Responsibilities Troubleshooting Web Applications
Our Customers and You Understanding Novell
Telephone & Communication Skills Performance and Technical Evaluation
Incident Management Ticket Standards Role: New Hire Interviewer
Position: Fulfillment Coordinator Troubleshooting Windows NT
Support Organization Structure Microsoft Certified Professional
Delivering Exceptional Customer Service Position: Level-2 Technical Analyst
How to Handle People with Tact & Skill Advanced Skills in Microsoft Office
Position: Email Coordinator Performance and Technical Evaluation
Help Desk Workflow Role: Root Cause Analyst
Basic Computer Training Position: Problem Coordinator
Position: Level-1 Analyst Managing Technical People
Windows OS Team Building & Mentoring
Role: Queue Monitor Position: Level-2 Lead
Microsoft Office Overcoming Management Problems
Outlook Primer Microsoft Certified Software Engineer
Marketing the Help Desk Help Desk Manager Certification
Role: Newsletter Contributor Role: Level-2 Trainer
Teamwork Training Management Reporting
Performance and Technical Evaluation Understanding ACD Technology
Role: Ticket Monitor Role: Staffing Coordinator
Position: Quality Assurance Manager Proactive Problem Management
How to Lead a Team Performance and Technical Evaluation
Role: Scheduler Position: Knowledge Manager
Help Desk Analyst Certification Knowledge Manager Certification
Position: Level-1 Team Lead Advanced Technical Writing
Management Reporting Role: Document Manager
Role: Level-1 Reporting and Analysis KM Tool Training
Understanding ACD Technology KM User Training
Proactive Problem Management Position: Service Desk Manager
Performance and Technical Evaluation Project Management
Role: Call Quality Monitor You as the Agent of Change
Troubleshooting Windows Understanding Financial Management
Troubleshooting TCP/IP Performance and Technical Evaluation
Troubleshooting Microsoft Office Help Desk Director Certification
Remote Access Troubleshooting
Networking Basics
Figure 3 Ð Training PlanStep 4 Ð Set Employee Expectations
The final step is to formalize the career plan. Position descriptions must be written that
identify the required skills, expectations for performance, and the tasks that are required
of the position. Within each position description, we also outline the different roles, the
training provided and expected timeframes to move to the next position. The most
important step is to provide a strict list of requirements prior to be considered for
promotion into the next position. These requirements can be a level of high performance
for six months, achievement scores for the required training of 80% or higher and above
average demonstration of abilities in performance reviews.
Communicate the changes in positions, roles and career path to all current employees and
utilize it to recruit new employees. Potential employees have a choice of which employer
meets their needs today and in the future. In the coming years, shortages of workers will
require employers to develop robust retention schemes Ð this enhanced career path will
demonstrate career diversity and a company culture where employees want to work and
thrive.
ImagineÉ.the Possibilities
With careful planning, even the most flat organization can be engineered into a
productive, nurturing environment where management not only provides a career path but
also provides a progressive training plan to develop the skills for success. The career path
shown above is only an example of what is possible in a standard support or service
organization. Your actual implementation is only limited by your ability to use your
creativity and enthusiasm to drive change and provide growth for your team.
Professional Profile
Julie L. Mohr is the Principal Research Analyst and Author at BlueprintAudits.com. For
over 15 years, she has been passionate about service and support management providing
imaginative insight and dynamic leadership to transform service and support organizations
into best practice, customer-focused environments. She has helped over 50 organizations
including many Fortune 100 companies to implement Knowledge Management, ITSM, IT
Governance, organization enhancements, process re-engineering and service level
management. Julie is an active contributor to the future development of the industry
through speaking engagements at conferences worldwide, researching industry trends and
publishing over 150 articles on best practices. Julie has developed a support organization
maturity model and audit methodology utilized by thousands of organizations to identify
weaknesses and develop improvement plans. She is an expert worldwide instructor in
multiple industry frameworks including ITSM, KCS and COBIT. Julie is a certified Helpdesk Director and certified
¨
ITIL Service Manager. She is currently serving as VP of Membership for the itSMF LIG in Sacramento, a faculty
member with HDI and participated on the HDI Support Center Certification (SCC) standards committee. Julie is the
author of Mapping Support Processes: Blueprint for Success, The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success, The Help
Desk Toolkit: Companion CD and The Help Desk Dictionary, and maintains an informative industry portal for
practitioners at www.blueprintaudits.com. She is a member of IEEE Computer Society, National Speakers Association,
American Society for Quality, Association for Computing Machinery, ISACA, PMI, HDI, itSMF and the Association of
Support Professionals. Julie is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science.
You)can)contact)Julie)at:)
jlmohr@blueprintaudits.com)
+015307500240)
