Is help desk management really that important?

In a previous life I was a Contract Manager for a IT Professional Services company so I'll offer my opinion. ;)

People need leadership and guidance. While your staff may work well together as a team and as much as we would like to think our employees can run on autopilote because they are good at what they do, there needs to be some semblance of higherarchy.

Since I do not know much about your situation, I will assume that your HD staff ultimately answers to someone form of management along the line. Does this manager also oversee other departments as well? How much of their time is consumed with day-to-day operations of your HD staff - I.E. report generation/analysis, complaint resolutions, etc. Depending on the size of your company and HD head count, this can be a combursome task. Having a Supervisor or Manager also makes handling disciplinary issues and performance reviews much easier as they work with the staff on a day-to-day basis.

However, if cost is a factor with highering an actual "Manager", I have seen these resolutions work well in some environments.

1. Assign a HD tech to a "Supervisory" or "Lead" role. Analyze your staff's leadership capabilities one-by-one. Don't assume the most technically qualified is the best leader - that isn't always the case. Once you have made a decision on who that is, write out the additional responsibilities this person will assume, decide on a reasonable compensation increase for the additional responsibilities.

2. Create a list of "Supervisory" tasks and schedule a rolling Lead position that all staff are allowed to assume for a specifiied period of time; such as a week, two week, or even monthly. This keeps a sense of equality they are accustomed to amongst each other while at the same time offering an opportunity to show and strengthen leadership abilities. This of course is the most cost effective method as you do not have to increase salaries since it is not a permanent promotion.

Hope this helps...

In a previous life I was a Contract Manager for a IT Professional Services company so I'll offer my opinion. ;)

People need leadership and guidance. While your staff may work well together as a team and as much as we would like to think our employees can run on autopilote because they are good at what they do, there needs to be some semblance of higherarchy.

Since I do not know much about your situation, I will assume that your HD staff ultimately answers to someone form of management along the line. Does this manager also oversee other departments as well? How much of their time is consumed with day-to-day operations of your HD staff - I.E. report generation/analysis, complaint resolutions, etc. Depending on the size of your company and HD head count, this can be a combursome task. Having a Supervisor or Manager also makes handling disciplinary issues and performance reviews much easier as they work with the staff on a day-to-day basis.

However, if cost is a factor with highering an actual "Manager", I have seen these resolutions work well in some environments.

1. Assign a HD tech to a "Supervisory" or "Lead" role. Analyze your staff's leadership capabilities one-by-one. Don't assume the most technically qualified is the best leader - that isn't always the case. Once you have made a decision on who that is, write out the additional responsibilities this person will assume, decide on a reasonable compensation increase for the additional responsibilities.

2. Create a list of "Supervisory" tasks and schedule a rolling Lead position that all staff are allowed to assume for a specifiied period of time; such as a week, two week, or even monthly. This keeps a sense of equality they are accustomed to amongst each other while at the same time offering an opportunity to show and strengthen leadership abilities. This of course is the most cost effective method as you do not have to increase salaries since it is not a permanent promotion.

Hope this helps...