My previous posts sang the praises of companies that make the best use of social media marketing and utilize the latest online technologies. But without a solid core of dedicated, caring personnel, even the most media- and internet-savvy marketing schemes will ultimately fail. If you have a snazzy website but no one to returns calls to potential customers, there go your sales. If you Tweet 64 times a day and blog 7 days a week but your technical support team lead is out sick and there’s no one to step up to the plate, you’ll have a crisis on your hands. It takes more than a day of teambuilding activities once a year to create and maintain a team of employees who care about each other and the company. It’s something I take very seriously and think about daily. Tech-Tav writers, though they are geographically spread out across the country, feel part of the Tech-Tav team nonetheless. We share news of births, family events, and milestones with each other; we float writers as needed to pitch in during tight deadlines and unexpected family emergencies. I think that’s one of main reason that we have such a low employee turnover rate – our team-oriented rather than competitive atmosphere.

 

In somewhat of a blur of a week-long nightmare, our webservice provider experienced a massive flood and our website, emails and billing application were all washed away. It took them more than a week to recover our data and restore our service. But during that week, I had a fantastic team of IT support, web developers, writers, and client service representatives who went above and beyond to minimize the damage. We literally worked around the clock to rebuild, restore and salvage what we could while enabling customers and employees with contingency plans and backup support. Our web developer was up until 4 am several nights in a row, the IT manager offered to assist the web developer, and our client services administrator, who is not a deeply technical person, pitched in as well – not because it was in her job description but because she felt (and is) a critical part of the customer support team. Our website and email may have fallen apart for a few day before we got everything redirected and recovered, but we as a team did not.

 

All the advanced technology and social media networking in the world cannot (and should not) take the place of a solid core of individuals who feel part of a team and care about your business, the customer and your corporate reputation. You cannot rely on technology to build your relationships, maintain your commitments or get the job done. Many of us spend our days facing and balancing risks. The risk of missing deadlines, sacrificing quality for cost or customer needs for corporate politics…the list of the risks we face goes on and on in every company across the globe. My advice and insight here is to put your trust, your faith and your extra effort into your people. Software and hardware fail regularly, but a team of professionals striving towards a common goal with the right vision are an unstoppable and awesome force of nature.

 

I am not saying to ignore the latest tools and work in the stone age, but I am saying that your people will always be your biggest expense, your greatest challenge and your best shot at success – so treat your people well and invest in each of them regularly. This management strategy guarantees you the best ROI of your career.  

 

And the next time you come to our site to read my blog I hope you’ll find (and use) the missing RSS feed and Twitter Share button. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome!