Struggling to work with another department
All too often, our service and support team will be awarded contracts where there is a clear skill deficit which hasn't been accounted for. As such, any development or upskilling won't happen proactively which leaves the team feeling disgruntled and uncomfortable.
This is a direct result of our sales team not understanding our core services and capabilities.
This correlates with our poor ability to keep on top of individual's skillsets in a centralised, readily-available location. The business is 'siloed' quite vividly which makes handovers and knowledge-sharing very challenging.
However, these scenarios have taught me that a positive collective is just as powerful as a knowledgeable collective. Should an issue arise with such a contract, through effective collaboration and pooling of knowledge, our team will find a solution. Although we will fix the problem, it typically comes at a greater cost than an appropriately equipped team.
Therefore, we have discussed and subsequently raised these concerns via the agreed channels and proposed a solution which involves effective communication between technical persons and the sales team during the bid process. I also raised a concern over how we manage and retain employee skillsets.