How often have you heard someone from information technology or
from some other staff function like human resources or quality
complain that their business clients don't talk to them, that
they don't have a "seat at the table" where decisions are made,
that they don't get the opportunities to give the business
people the good ideas that would really improve things?
Having been a staff person for much of my career, I thought
about this on-going whine as I read "A Credibility Equation for
IT Specialists" by information systems professors Barbara J.
Bashein and M. Lynne Markus, in the _Sloan Management Review_,
Summer 1997. The subheading on the article summarizes the issue
well: "Expertise alone does not inspire trust and credibility.
Successful IT specialists work on their trustworthiness and
build good relationships with clients at the same time."
The responsibility for credibility, good or bad, is ours, not
the customers'. Credibility is a matter of perception.
Credibility is in the eyes of the beholders, our customers and
users. Bashein and Markus say that the two major elements of
credibility are perceived expertise and perceived
trustworthiness. Ideally, both should be present, but
trustworthiness is absolutely necessary and sometimes is even
sufficient. Yet building trust is a skill not taught in most
MIS schools. (When we next hire someone, we probably should pay
more attention to their grades in their psychology, sociology,
and economics classes than those in their (rapidly aging)
technical subjects.)
Bashein and Markus quote research that identifies four important
characteristics of perceived trustworthiness: similarity and
likability, prolonged interaction, appropriate behavior, and
consistent, predictable behavior.
Let's look at the last element first. Given that the
relationship factors are in place, predictability is important.
Ideally, this would mean that we always meet the promises we
make. But, Bashein and Markus point out that customers will
cut us some slack if we miss a commitment, again, assuming all
the other relationship factors are in place. If the
relationship factors are missing, even consistent technical and
schedule precision will not create overall trust.
In other words, to be trusted, we have to be physically and
emotionally with our customers and be like them. But how do we
do this? Here's a brainstormed list. Many of the points are
from the article; some are from my experience.
- Initiate and hold regular one-on-one meetings with line
managers, users and economic buyers.
- Take frequent tours or walk-throughs of customers' work
areas.
- Show a sincere interest in what they do; ask them about it;
listen to them.
- Talk *their* jargon, not IT-babble.
- Read the papers and magazines they read and talk about issues
that they're interested in.
- Know about their customers and what their customers want from
them.
- Dress like they do, even if it means something more formal
than T-shirts and sneakers.
- Hang out where they hang out. Put our desks in their areas.
Go to lunch with them.
- Take an interest in the non-profits they support.
- Don't rush to suggest technical or new solutions; explore
familiar ground first.
- If we feel the customer is doing something wrong, listen even
more carefully than ever. Try to surface the assumptions
the customer is making. Even when we finally are sure we
understand what's going on, raise concerns only gradually.
Never be "An I told you so."
- Spend plenty of time with customers and users when new
applications or technologies are implemented. Even when
we're sure they don't need us any more, show up regularly so
that they know we still care.
- When new applications are installed, minimize classroom
training and maximize hands-on work with enough coaches
around so that people can always get help. Users learn new
applications better by doing rather than by listening,
but, more important from the standpoint of credibility,
strong relationships are built from one-to-one, real-world work,
sharing both the frustrations of and the little victories over
the technology.
- Ask for feedback often and in lots of different ways (e.g.,
interviews, surveys, metrics, etc.). When we get the
feedback, demonstrate clearly that we appreciate it and are
responding to it.
- Lead the customers to new technologies by involving them in
the exploration processes. Take them with us to demonstrations
and conferences.
- Offer to do pilot implementations of new applications.
Experiment in the small. Let the users of the pilot be the lead
advocates for the full system development and roll-out.
- Keep and report performance data. When relationships are
good, customers will tend to depend mostly on their warm
perceptions and take comfort in the fact that data exist even if
they don't examine it carefully. Good data won't repair
relationship problems, but if strains do occur, data at least
may keep the discussions focused on business rather than on
personal issues.
I'm sure this list isn't even close to complete. I'd love to
hear your suggestions of how to build and maintain credibility
with your customers.