Managing others doesn’t come naturally to a lot of people, and it’s common to make some mistakes along the way. This can happen when solo MSP providers grow and begin hiring others. They’re used to doing everything themselves and are now thrust into a role where they’re managing a team.
If you are unknowingly making some common managerial mistakes, you could be confused as to why you can’t seem to keep good employees or why the ones you have aren’t really progressing as you think they should.
Research shows that 57% of employees quit a company because of their boss. High turnover is costly and can hurt your customer experience and retention.
Having a solid PSA/RMM tool to enable your team is great, but that’s one part of your employee experience. The other is in how well they’re being managed by their supervisor on a daily basis.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that managers make and that can negatively affect how well their team performs as well as employee retention. You may find that if you adjust your managerial style to correct a few of these, that managing your MSP business becomes much easier.
Mistake #1: Not Providing Adequate Training
Lack of training leads to employees that aren’t quite sure what to do and that might guess instead of following a procedure. You get more stressed out if a new technician isn’t doing something that you find obvious. But if you haven’t specifically trained them on the process, they can’t be expected to know the way you want things to be done.
Create specific training materials and a training schedule that allows employees to not just learn something but become proficient in it. This can include them shadowing you or another experienced technician before they’re expected to take solo service calls or remote sessions.
Mistake #2: Micromanaging
Micromanaging employees can be a problem for MSP operators that used to run a solo business and did everything themselves. If you’re always looking over the shoulder of your employees and not giving them any decision-making capabilities, it tells them that you don’t trust in their abilities and leads to a poor manager-employee relationship.
Employees also are less likely to take ownership if they make a mistake because they’ll say they were only doing what you instructed.
If you train employees well, then you should not need to micromanage and can instead focus on your own priorities.
Mistake #3: Avoiding Uncomfortable Conversations
If you don’t like uncomfortable conversations, then you can end up with personnel problems because you don’t want to address something with an employee.
Small issues that are left unaddressed can grow into much bigger problems that result in a parting of the ways between the employee and the company.
Think about how you would like to be approached about some work issue that needs to be corrected. This will help you enter into a conversation with empathy for what the employee feels. It’s best to address and correct any problem behaviors (showing up late, not recording remote sessions, etc.) as soon as possible.
Mistake #4: Not Sharing the “Why” of Rules & Procedures
If you just tell your employees that you need them to record everything they do on a service call right after the call happens, not later, they may get annoyed. They may just think you’re being unrealistic due to the busyness of the day and can’t see their point of view that doing it later would be better.
But if you tell them a story of why this policy is in place, it can make all the difference in overcoming resistance and getting their understanding. For instance, you had a large client that called two hours after a service call wanting to know what had been done. The technician hadn’t logged anything in yet, and the upset client dropped services shortly thereafter.
Knowing the why gets your team on the same page as you and gives them the necessary context as to why you do things the way you do.
Mistake #5: Not Having Clear Expectations
When you don’t provide clear expectations for your team, you’re setting them up to disappoint you. You can’t expect them to be mind readers and natively know everything you want when it comes to how customer tickets are handled or how you run your RMM process.
Make sure employees have clear expectations that cover both the work they do and things like attendance, company vehicle use, IT security, etc.
Use a System That Promotes a Strong and Cohesive Team
The Syncro RMM/PSA platform helps you streamline your MSP service workflow and keeps things easy to learn and consistent for your employees.
Contact us today to schedule a free demo and a 30-day free trial. Call 856-579-6276 or start your trial online.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://syncromsp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Caitlin_Headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Caitlin Good is the Content Marketing Manager at Syncro with more than 10 years of experience in the technology and eCommerce industries.[/author_info] [/author]
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This document is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Syncro makes no warranty, expressed nor implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information contained herein.
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