Taming the help desk

So you were a computer geek: supporting desktops and servers, maybe some web design... and suddenly a staff is dropped in your lap. Maybe they're a bunch of inexperienced students and now you have to deal with their academic responsibilities and needs, then add in support for thousands of customers, and you (the geek turned manager) need your own development. Who in their right minds would want that job?I took the job and chose to run with what I had -- and it worked. For this session, I will present the secrets of our (and my) success at the Computing & Information Technology Help Desk at Wayne State University. Then, we will discuss how our methods can be applied to you and your institution's support center.By establishing training and mentoring for new employees and learning how to manage a staff correctly, I helped create a dynamic team and a fun workplace. Ensuring that management is an active, visible presence has established positive employee performance. Encouraging the student staff to participate in problem solving and change management reinforces the fact that we are a team. Finally, everyone is allowed to evaluate the team's performance, which then helps the team to improve their technical abilities and responses to our customers. This has helped us move from an underappreciated resource four years ago to a respected authority now. You can do it, too.