Get the Right People for the Right Jobs for Service Level Management Success

by Elizabeth Ferrarini

The success or failure of information technology service level management within an organization depends on having the right staff in the right management positions. Just recall some advice from motivation expert Dale Carnegie: “The key to managing through people is to have the best possible people through whom to manage. Good people are not easy to identify, locate, and develop, yet personnel are the most important ingredient in the recipe for successful management.”

Selecting Your IT Staff

When selecting your staff, you should approach the process with a clear idea of the criteria on which you will make your selections.

The majority of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) modules within Service Support and Service Delivery contain job descriptions and attributes for the person responsible for a particular discipline. You need to consolidate these things and then look at some of the generic attributes and skills required by IT service management managers. These include the following:

Knowledge of ITIL, stating which level of certification might be required, such as foundation, practitioner, or management level
Good interpersonal skills and good communications skills
Staff management and leadership skills; motivation skills
Project management skills
Sound IT knowledge and experience
Budgetary management skills
Business acumen
Customer focus

The job descriptions contained within ITIL can also be consolidated and a generic list of responsibilities collated. These include the following:

Implementation of service management disciplines, including project management
Budget acquisition and optimal use of finances
Objective setting
Scope determination
Awareness and marketing campaign
Recruitment and training staff
Ensure efficiency and effectiveness of function
Evaluation and procurement of tools
Audit of the discipline
Implementation of remedial actions for shortfalls
Regular review of staff performance
Monitoring of metrics and management reporting
Establishment of procedures
Knowledge of latest technologies pertinent to the discipline
Knowledge of industry trends pertinent to the discipline
Implement and maintain effective interfaces with other service management disciplines and other areas within IT and the business
Regular attendance at change advisory board meetings as required
Ensuring most effective combination of staff and technology is employed

Each discipline will require unique skills and attributes in addition to the generic ones described. These will need to be identified and the selection process designed to ensure that they are acquired. For example, a problem manager will require strong analytical and problem solving skills, and a service level manager will need excellent negotiation skills, patience and resilience.

The Selection Process

The selection process consists of these four steps: application, interview, evaluation, and reference check.

Application
Ask candidates to complete a standard application form even if they have submitted a resume or curriculum vitae. Having both of these documents makes it easier for you to compare one with another.

In selecting management staff, you might find it useful to request that the applicants provide a written response to specific questions. The questions should aim to determine the applicant’s true understanding of the position for which they are applying and their ability to put their knowledge and experience into practice.

Although unpopular with some applicants, a request for three written answers, each 1500 words or fewer, will ensure that you only get responses from those who are serious about their application. The questions might relate to specific issues currently existing within the organization. For example, a question for a problem manager might be:

“In this organization, responsibility for applications development and support; small systems development, installation, and support; operations including managing the hardware and environmental maintenance contracts; and communications installation and support; are all separate and some are outside of the IT service center in which problem management will reside. Do you foresee there any difficulties in establishing organization-wide problem management, and if so, what are they and how can you overcome them?”

The responses to the questions will help you determine which applicants should be considered for interviews and will act as a very effective filter technique.

They will also provide excellent discussion material for the interview, and can help you gain insight into the applicants’ thought processes.

Interview
An interview must be structured to obtain information about the applicant, their qualifications, knowledge, and experience. It is a two-way discussion, and should also be used to provide the applicant with information about the organization and the position for which they are applying. This should be an honest exchange of information (albeit maintaining company confidentiality), so that the applicant is clear about the job (e.g., scope, staffing levels, boundaries, restrictions), and the organization (e.g., culture and beliefs, mission, objectives).

Not everyone can conduct an interview effectively; you might want to get some training in effective interview techniques, and/or ask for guidance from the personnel or human resource department in the interview process. Hiring inappropriate personnel can not only cost an organization money but can have devastating effects on staff morale and credibility of those involved in the IT service management function — including yourself.

Evaluation
Various evaluation techniques are available. Some employers may use psychological interviews and tests to evaluate the applicants’ work preferences, leadership strengths, decision making, interpersonal skills, team-building, and general personality traits. This can be expensive, but can prove cost-justified to select the right people for management positions.

You can use responses to questions provided in the application forms to help you in evaluating each applicant. As mentioned earlier, the responses can provide excellent discussion material to determine a candidate’s thought processes and preferred working methods.

All applicants should be evaluated against the selection criteria (skills, attributes, and ability to fulfill the job description). Before evaluation, the criteria should be specified as mandatory or optional. Suitable applicants must meet all mandatory requirements.

Reference
Some candidates might have written references, which are perfectly acceptable. However, the norm is to interview references via the telephone. This experience enables you to determine the truth first-hand about a candidate rather than relying what’s on a piece of paper. Try to structure telephone conversation by asking each candidate’s' reference the same questions. To this end, you will have no trouble drawing comparison between clients.

Finally, you need to decide which candidate is right for the job. Yes, the process can take hours, if not days. However, you have to make at stake to cut corners when it comes to getting the right candidate in the right position.

Recruiting Internally or Externally

Should you try to recruit staff internally or from outside your organization? There is no right answer. If possible, given the right staff, you should recruit internally. This demonstrates to other staff that there is opportunity for promotion within the organization. However, you should not promote a person into a position for which they are not suitable just because they are the logical successor in terms of seniority, and so on.

If there are no suitable people within the organization, then you will have to recruit externally. There are external agencies able to assist in the recruitment process, and in some cases, there are agencies that specialize in qualified IT staff. And recruiting from the outside can have the advantage of injecting new ideas and concepts into your organization.

If you make use of the resources at your disposal, they can prove cost effective in the long term.

Elizabeth M. Ferrarini is an IT consultant from Boston, Massachusetts.

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