Real-Life Communication
Communication skills are absolutely vital for online help desk technicians.
If you can't communicate with the people you're trying to help, how much help
will you be?
"Communication skills are key in not only just communicating
ideas, but being able to listen as well as summarize and make a determination
or judgment based on that communication," says technical instructor and former
help desk technician Orrett Morgan. "So it's not just being able to communicate,
but also listening. They go together."
Below is a transcript of a phone
call to an online help center. Lucy is the help desk technician and Michelle
is the caller. The call took place the Monday after a company reorganization,
which included moving staff members around between three floors.
At
the end, you will be asked to write down how you would handle the situation.
Pay close attention to the details!
The phone call:
Michelle:
I cannot print.
Lucy: What application are you trying to print from?
Michelle:
Microsoft PowerPoint. I have to get this out this morning for a presentation.
All my stuff is still in boxes and this is the last thing I need this morning.
I could print on Friday and now I can't.
Lucy: I am sure we can work
through this, Michelle. Is your PC saying anything when you try and print?
Michelle:
It tells me that it is printing, but nothing is coming out of the printer
by my cube. I have added some more graphics to the presentation today. Could
that have something to do with it?
Lucy: We'll see. Have you tried
to print from any other application?
Michelle: No. This is the first
thing I have been working on. It was waiting for me in my inbox this morning.
Do you think it might have a virus? I have been hearing a lot about those
lately and they just upgraded my virus software. Do you think that might have
something to do with it?
Lucy: No, I really don't think so. So, Michelle,
were you part of the move over the weekend?
Michelle: They moved me
to the third floor from the second floor. I really did not have time to pack
up on Friday.
The first thing you would have to do in
this case is troubleshoot. There may be several possible reasons why Michelle
can't print her presentation from her terminal.
It could be the computer
itself. It could be the software. It could have something to do with the move,
a simple configuration problem. It could also be a virus. In order to narrow
it down, Lucy made a list of known facts, and divided it into two categories:
important information and non-important information.
Important
information:
- Michelle's things are still in boxes
- Michelle could print on Friday
- Michelle's PC thinks it is sending the information to a printer
- Michelle can connect to get email
- Michelle moved floors
Non-Important information
- PowerPoint
- Virus software upgrade
- Graphics
Using these facts and the information in the phone conversation,
can you figure out how to solve Michelle's printing problem? Write down where
you think the problem lies and what you think the solution is. Then compare
your solution to the real-life solution made by Lucy.