Episode 7 is a Worthy Workplace Fairy-Tale

What’s the most important part of working with a client? Communication.

If you don’t greet the client, communicate with them about the work, and document the work properly, it will be difficult to have a mutually beneficial relationship.

Service providers especially have to keep track of their work for billing purposes and service continuity (when multiple people work on the same project at different days and times). Employees must document their billable hours, the tasks that have been completed, and their start and stop times.

But service people and consultants have a bad habit of not recording their billable hours the same day. The delay can be one day to two weeks, or never. No one can accurately enter all the important details after this type of delay. Not documenting your work is unethical, unproductive, costly, and damages important relationships.

In Episode 7: Goldilocks Documentation, Goldie and her team of service professionals have a new client. Before they start the job, Goldie encourages everyone to document their work as they go. However, as Habitly subscribers will see, some of her team members still need more time to master the art of documentation.

The Real-World Story Behind the Episode

The owner of an IT services company (an “MSP” or “managed services provider”) sat down at the conference table and threw his hands up in the air.

“I don’t know what to do. Yesterday, Blake spent 3 hours working at our client’s office. But the work isn’t finished, which is actually okay. Some jobs take multiple days to complete.

“But he’s on vacation starting today and we have no idea what he did! He didn’t document his work, didn’t document his hours, and I’m not sure what I’m going to bill the client! The client doesn’t know yet, but we are having quite a time trying to figure out how to finish the job. I sent Matt and Corey over there this morning and they still aren’t back yet (and we told the client a fix would only take a few hours). This is a recurring issue and I’ve talked to Blake about it before. He needs to change or I’m going to have to find someone to replace him.”

Ouch.

Unfortunately, this is a recurring issue with many service providers, whether they are IT companies or not. That’s why we created this episode.

NOTE: Every Habitly episode is inspired by real-world events and experiences. That makes them relevant to you and your company, and easy to digest.

Train Your Team

Does your team fail to document their work properly? Do they fail to document other activities that need to be written down for others? Maybe it’s time for some training.

If you subscribe to Habitly, you and your team can watch Episode 7 now. Use the episode as a reference point for your next team meeting. Allow it to remind your employees and managers of the importance of documenting their work.

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