A friend of mine just returned from Italy visiting his wife's family. During the trip, the gracious family offered my friend the use of his car. Knowing he hadn't driven a stick-shift for about 25 years, they went for a test drive. My friend learned some special Italian words but managed to drive the car successfully. That is...until they were stopped at the top of a hill.

This brought back memories when I was teaching people how to drive a stick shift. Though the language heard was English, I'm sure the words I heard were similar to the Italian spoken by my friend.

One particular case was teaching a friend. All went well until he reached the top of the hill. After three light changes (and more car stalls), he put the car in park, got out of the car, and walked back to his apartment. Yes, leaving me on the passenger side of the car...at a green light...with about a dozen cars behind me.

My father taught me how to drive a stick on a car we were "thinking" of buying (and we did). As we drove away from the lot, my father pulled the car over and told me to take the driver seat (this was decades ago and the used car salesman let my father and I take the car without him). He had me drive the car onto a major highway (Route 46 in Garfield, NJ) at 4:30pm. It was the height of truck rush hour. Here I was, in a small Toyota Corolla, surrounded by 18-wheelers on all four sides and approaching a hill and a light.

Let's face it. Learning to drive a standard stick shift is challenging enough. The level of difficulty increases when you are forced to start from a stop at the top of a hill. The car begins to roll backwards...sometimes bumping into the car behind you. Learning the skill to quickly move your foot from the brake to gas peddle without stalling takes time. Time you may not have if you must get this accomplished before the light changes or if someone is behind you waiting for you to move out of the way.

Sure, you do get through this uncomfortable experience...eventually.

Sure, you do learn how to maneuver the vehicle easily...eventually.

Sure, you may give up...eventually.

The panic, the pain, the frustration, the embarrassment may cause you to make more mistakes.

The panic, the pain, the frustration, the embarrassment may cause you to start an argument with those around you (using words I won't share here).

The panic, the pain, the frustration, the embarrassment may cause you to stop and not try again.

Imagine your business people having a deadline or their boss leaning over their shoulder waiting for some specific information. He or she is using a new piece of software or hardware. They have the basics down but the pressure of a virtual hill with a light approaches. Mistakes are made. The panic, the pain, the frustration, the embarrassment erupts. What does he or she do?

• He or she gives up and jumps back to doing it the old way.
• He or she struggles through and eventually gets what is needed...eventually.
• He or she calls a colleague for help...using language not appropriate for open discussion.

So many times, technicians roll out software or hardware and forget about helping the business community through the hills. Sure, you train them on the "common" scenarios. You provide documentation that describes almost every possible situation that you thought could occur.

None of that matters when a business person is under pressure. It is as if he or she is trying to learn a standard-shift car. You took them around the parking lot for them to get a feel of the clutch and the process of shifting. You may even take them on a hill...once or twice. Most technicians stop there. Some expect the Help Desk or Call Center to be able to take over (unfortunately, they are not trained in the unexpected hills).

Sorry, that doesn't qualify for even minimum satisfaction! The perception of VALUE from the business community is that you HELP them in times of stress.

So, how do you add VALUE to HELP the business person when they reach a hill?

First off, if you had a relationship with the business person, he or she would feel comfortable calling you and asking for help. Because you have a relationship, you would stop what you are doing and either help him yourself (first choice) or find the right person to call or visit him or her within 10 minutes.

If you don't have a friendly relationship with the business person, you can begin the relationship on a positive note by:

• Call him or her regularly (weekly at least) to see how he or she is doing with the new technological situation.
• Make sure the business person can reach YOU at any time of any day when his manager asks for something out of the ordinary.
• Ask them if they see any "hills" coming up? Any time constraints or special requests from their management. If so, ask if they would like you to be there for them to help (preferably in person).
• Write up customized and specific instructions for him or her to get through the hill (as every business person will have a different concept of a difficult hill).

Hills are tricky. What seems easy for you may be very stressful for the business person. It is important to stay calm, relaxed and available. Ignore words that I prefer not to use in this article. Sure, the business person will work through it. But with your help and patience, you can add value to him or her.

Think of it in terms of helping YOUR career! It is a trust-building opportunity, not a burden. Your responsibility is to make sure the experience creates a positive and trusting relationship with you. If you do, soon the business person will call you to show off what he or she can do with the technology. Better yet, he or she will show the new skills off to other business people and mentioning the experience he or she had with you. You become remarkable and of value to the business community.

How are you alleviating frustrating hills for your business community?

SBDi speaks both Business and IT languages. Bring SBDi in to help communication between both organizations. Let us help you find the right flexible solution that will help business increase revenue.

Pat Ferdinandi, Chief Thought Translator