Almost four years ago I was wrestling with the problem of becoming the director of UEN. The real problem was getting a handle on the complexity of the UEN network. Couple that with learning the customer base, their expectations, the history of problems and struggles that had gone before. It was frustrating.

My new boss gave me the charge to spend time on the road talking to the "stakeholders". One immediately noticeable concern was that the stakeholders had different expectations and needs then my staff was telling me about. This presented to main problems.

First, I needed to get the stakeholders needs met.

Second, I needed to have my staff gain a richer understanding of the network details throughout the state.

How to approach these two needs?

I hit on the idea of replicating my efforts with other members of the UEN Management team. The idea was to divide the state into 8 areas and assign a manager to understand and work with the stakeholders in each of these regions. This would give us the opportunity to better understand customer needs and a forum to follow-up with commitments. You know, get things done.

But what to call these "managers". Novell had a similar program back in the early 1990s. These team members where assigned to customer problems and were called "champions". I used that term the first time I shared the idea in the Southwest region. I was laughed at. No one liked that term. So I changed it to Advocate. That designation stuck.

Today I returned to the Southwest region. This time as the newly appointed Advocate. Someone remembered the "Champion" faux pax and teased me about it. We all had a good laugh. I going to enjoy the new assignment. Once again, I'm the new kid in town...........
8:30:25 PM    comment []