“Oh behave!”- Motivating MSP Teams
Here’s what you’ll learn today:
A big issue MSPs face in the “new world”
These factors are the culprit
Transform the huddle from blah to fun
A sample morning huddle agenda
Trivia is not a trivial thing
You could try an icebreaker, but…
Drumroll, please: the answer to the trivia Q is…
Hey everyone! Just for fun this week, I want to start with a trivia question:
What 2002 spy thriller had the son of the bad guy giving him sharks with lasers on their head as a present?
The answer in a bit.
But first, I want to talk about an issue that we at Advanced Global are seeing more and more in this “new world” MSPs are living in: Teams drifting apart and losing interest in their work.
It doesn’t take a genius to notice some big changes have occurred in the last three years. Changes like:
Hiring (which was already tough) has gotten tougher
Clients are working differently
Many MSP teams have embraced work from home or hybrid working experiences themselves
All of these factors have brought some major concerns about maintaining team cohesion.
The long-utilized method for keeping the Team together is the morning huddle. Many of our Clients use a morning huddle to coordinate daily activities. These meetings are typically limited to 15-20 minutes and only cover who is doing what today and announcements.
I know what you are thinking: “Blah, Blah, Blah.” And that is exactly the problem. How can anyone get interested in work, especially today’s work? “I already know what I am doing; why do I need to talk about it?” And what about fully remote teams, or hybrid teams? How do I keep them motivated and tuned in?
Well, the morning (or daily) huddle is still the best way…but with a twist. For remote, in-person, or hybrid teams on the same schedule, this allows everyone to see each other, ask questions, and all get the same information. The best practice is to make sure you follow the same agenda and keep to 20 minutes.
Here is a sample morning huddle agenda:
Tech Roundtable discussion
Personal Win, Professional Win, Positive Tidbit, What Is going right?
What are you working on today?
Today’s Service Calls
# of Tickets Ready to Be Resolved
What are your roadblocks?
Tickets needing collaboration or escalation
Housekeeping or HR issues
Personal Guiding Word for the Day
Service Coordinator:
Report on Team wins
Customer issues the Techs need to be aware of
Scheduling challenges the Techs could help with
Trivia of the Day or Week
Service Manager:
Personnel, HR, or Administrative announcements
Customer issues the Techs should be aware of
We will get back to the value of a morning huddle in a moment, but let’s talk about how to drive the blah out of it. It’s even possible to motivate the Techs to look forward to it, come prepared, and, oh yeah, stop ignoring the process, so they don’t get called out on it tomorrow.
So, what’s the twist I mentioned? You may have noticed the trivia section under Service Coordinator in the agenda. The best way to pique a team’s interest is to bring trivia.
Everyone loves trivia, and a little Trivia is not a trivial thing. Why? Because it brightens everyone’s day a little. Some fun examples:
One Service Coordinator reported the Wikipedia On This Day
Another had a deck of trivia cards
And another steals from AG’s Newsletter Trivia of the week each Friday…
In each of these cases, the Team looks forward to and participates in the team huddle. Participating is the keyword. If they participate, they come prepared, improve their habits, and ensure everyone knows what they are doing for the day, while paying attention to announcements.
You can take it up a notch to improve participation (and keep the meeting engaging) with the Service Coordinator (SC) sending out the basic information every morning as a short newsletter with the numbers from Autotask, the trivia question, and perhaps a funny meme.
Add in:
The birthdays
Scheduled on-sites
The SC’s “Daily 5” list of tickets they want resolved that day
…and your team is ready to go when the huddle starts leading to a much more engaging meeting.
Don’t care for the idea of a trivia question? You can use an ice breaker instead, like: “If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?” But remember, you want to get people talking at the beginning of the meeting (and you only have a few minutes), so a trivia question is often the best way to go.
A daily newsletter is also a great idea for fully remote MSPs with multiple shifts of people. One MSP Client utilizes east and west coast teams to be able to hire better talent and have better support hours for Clients. They bridge the time gap with the daily newsletter and three 1-hour meetings each week to go over the weekend, the week ahead, projects, and keep up on what everyone’s doing. Friday’s meeting always starts with a trivia question.
This daily coordination drives most of the chaos and reworks out of the daily routine. Do you need better day-by-day coordination? Institute a daily morning huddle. Do you need better participation? Leverage Trivia, and you won’t have to tell the Techs, “Oh, behave!”
Oh, and the answer to the trivia question from the beginning of the article is “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” from 2002.
I bet most of you were screaming the answer, and those that weren’t paid great attention reading this until the end.
If you want your Team to do the same, then start adding trivia to your huddles and newsletters.
And, if you would like some help leveraging the Autotask software to make those Techs even more awesome, give us a shout** and we’ll share some more tips and tricks and do a free check of your business automation.
** Email us at info@agmspcoaching.com
The elephant in the room:
How do we know what we know? Because we are not philosophers! We are hands-on “How To” coaches that everyday guide MSPs on how to thrive by:
1) Fully leveraging the Autotask software – redundant with H?
2) Providing the “Best in Class” Standard Operating Procedures
3) Leveraging Autotask Live Reports to hold everyone accountable
We are Thinkers and Doers with 49+ years of working for MSPs, bringing real Bottom-Line Improvements, change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
Here are a few bullet points to let anyone interested know who we are and what we do:
1) We Are – the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority
2) We Help – MSPs thrive
3) We Solve – Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by making sure that:
a. MSPs know what they don’t know
b. Techs know what to work on next
c. Someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion
d. The Client has a great client experience
e. Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit
f. Projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget
g. Profit is maximized
h. Autotask is being fully leveraged – redundant with #1?
i. The staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced
j. The historical data that is in the Autotask software is accessible to benchmark, track & USE effectively
k. The Service Delivery operations can scale
l. The Company can grow
4) Our Tools:
a. Autotask “Best in Class” standard build
b. Our MSP robust Service Delivery SOP library
c. Advanced Live Reports
d. Expertise in providing a transformational experience
Note: We are not philosophers; we are doers with 49+ years of Service Delivery experience, bringing real Service Delivery Improvement change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
We start by offering a FREE No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation.