New Years Eve, and a friend asked me “what’s going to be the next big thing in the coming year”?  (Perhaps you can tell what type of parties I go to!) I was just about to launch into my “here’s where I start sounding knowledgeable as I’m in the business and must have a thing or two to say about the subject“, when a nagging voice inside my head asked me “why’s he so interested in this right now “?  It occurred to me that he was taking stock of the world and his position in it.  At this time of the year we all do, that is why the media is flooded with lists and predictions for 2008.  New beginnings always provide time for reflection and I suppose that is why the media spends many column inches in offering us pre-packaged things to consider.

Rather than offer you my own pre-packaged list of ‘10 New Year’s resolutions For IT professionals’, allow me to offer you just one resolution and you supply the rest.

My number one IT resolution for 2008: Remember to say thank you to employees as much as to customers.

Now, before you accuse me of getting all touchy -feely, I’m interested in the business case for this in addition to doing it because it is the right thing to do. 

Although everyone claims to be busy, we all know IT professionals are really busy!  The nature of our work often means we are pulled in many different directions at the same time.  Network engineers, database administrators, IT support staff, and IT managers, to name a few, are often “fighting fires”.  It can be very easy to fail to recognize the effort of others, whilst all too simple to point out their mistakes.  We often wonder about staff retention and loyalty not being what it should.  The following story highlights a remedy to the malaise.

An advertising director of a national advertising company had just completed a large promotion on behalf of a client. As so often the case, everyone rushed around at the last minute to complete the project within the specified deadlines, and no one more so than the director’s PA.  As a token of gratitude for her work, the advertising man bought his PA a subscription to a monthly magazine which he knew she would like.  On hearing of this gift the PA became quite emotional and couldn’t stop thanking her boss enough.  The monetary value of the subscription was far outweighed by the future dedication of the staff member to the advertising director.

Saying “thank you” to someone recognizes their self worth and affirms their contribution.  I say thank you to customers because in part I wish more custom.  I should say thank you to employees because in part  my business needs their custom too.

Please let me know what other priorities you may have for New Year IT resolutions.