As strange as this may seem, sometimes IT knowledge is not enough. I am sure that we have all at one time or another run across a person who knows everything that there is to know about the problem you are having, however they are unable to help you. Unfortunately there are always those that don?t play nice with others?. This does not mean they are not useful members of your team, it does however mean that you as a manager need to recognize that their strengths lie in their ability to resolve the issue, while working alone. This is the kind of person that you can give tasks and be sure they will do their best to complete them in time and probably with more efficiency than you were expecting, it is probable that they will add additional features that you hadn?t thought of, or requested. These members or your team usually don?t interact with the client directly, however they help to give a solid foundation to your team and help to support those on the front lines.
It is important that you try and shield the client from this kind of person, and this is not because they cant help, it is because they don?t necessarily have the people skills to realize that there are users out there who don?t know how to start a computer.
So for your frontline agents, you are wanting those that have a high degree of customer service skills, and an acceptable level of technical ability. The reasons for this are simple really, when a person calls your service desk the first impression that they get is the one they are going to hold, if the person answering the phone appears unfriendly (even though they are trying their hardest to be friendly) then it doesn?t matter if the problem is resolved or not, the perception the client will have, is that the service desk is unfriendly, and as a result they will avoid calling. This is obviously something that you want to avoid.
Just as bad however, is if you have a person who is totally inept and cannot help the caller. Even if they have superlative customer service skills, the client will have the perception that they service desk is unable to help, again something that you want to avoid.
So it?s important that you as the manager of the service desk navigate these treacherous waters carefully. At all levels you are looking customer service skills, and the appropriate level of technical ability.
Sadly it is possible that you will have agents who are not up to the standards you require, this can be a challenge. You will need to make sure of your ability to coach and mentor them so that the desired result can be achieved. Unfortunately there are those that never reach the expected standard, how you deal with this is up to you, for my part I believe that anyone who is not helping the team is hindering it, and those that are preventing the team from reaching its full potential are not welcome on the team.
No matter what you do, you should at all times be building your team and helping them to achieve their goals, hiring team members that fit together and boost each others potential is one of the most powerful ways you have of doing this.