1. Monkey Tamers
Practical application for finding ideas
within complaints
Ben Jackson | Brigham Van Auken | Janet Malsam
Marcques Johnson | Marty Martinez | Suzy Bathel

2. Complaints or Insight?
You’ve heard it or said it:
“This sucks, it’s broken…again.”
“I hate this program, it does make sense
why it works this way.”
“Why are we doing this, it is such a waste of
time.”

3. Insight from Complaints
These can often be code words for either:
“I have an idea, but don’t know who to
share it with.”
Something is broken - “What am I supposed
to do now?”

4. Insight from Complaints
We’ll take a step by step approach to creating a
better way to take these moments, capture
them and build better practices for taking
action…and start talking about the monkey in
the room!

5. Develop a scalable and widely applicable
model for GCO reps that helps them:
Clearly and
logically identify
issues within their
frustrations
Package an issue
for escalation to
their supervisor
that is actionable
Tame the Monkey
Objective |

6. What is the Monkey?
The Monkey is a problem. Imagine that
you see something that doesn't make
sense or is broken. You think to yourself
"this doesn't make any sense, why are
we doing this?" This triggers an
emotional reaction, usually frustration,
which we’ll name “The Monkey”

7. What is the Monkey?
The Monkey (issue or
complaint) now sits on your
shoulder, preoccuping your
time, causing you to be
frustrated and/or complain.

8. What is the Monkey?
Most people want to give The Monkey to
someone else as fast as they can, usually
walking to someone else and sharing the
issues The Monkey has caused, how bad
The Monkey is, and hoping that someone
else will deal with The Monkey.

9. What is the Monkey?
You are acting like an owner, taking intelligent
risks, being open, honest and constructive,
so, now, the Monkey is your problem.

10. Develop a scalable and widely applicable
model for GCO reps that helps them:
Clearly and
logically identify
issues within
their frustrations
Objective |
Express concerns
Think creatively about temporary solutions
[workarounds, etc.]
Commit to working toward best practices for
identifying issues and expediting resolution

11. Develop a scalable and widely applicable
model for GCO reps that helps them:
Package an issue
for escalation to
their supervisor
that is actionable
Objective |
Focus on impact through
a) areas for improvement and b) 3 suggested
resolutions
Convince a decision maker to
a) Be convinced
b) Give the necessary support: framework for project,
resources, time etc

12. Develop a scalable and widely applicable
model for GCO reps that helps them:
Tame the
Monkey
Objective |
Create a simple process/form
to complete, weighing the
pros/cons of suggested
resolutions
Investment commitment from
management to review on a
regular basis

13. Response 1
Rep mentions how much this issue makes
them angry to a peer, but then does nothing
else.
Monkey stays with rep

14. Response 2
Rep schedules time with supervisor to review
the issue and asks for help. Supervisor
acknowledges issue, but takes no action as
value of action not clearly expressed.
Monkey returns to rep…

15. Response 3
Rep schedules time with supervisor to review
the issue and asks for help. Supervisor
acknowledges issue, encourages rep to take
action and email Product Specialist and does
NOT follow up.
Monkey lies dormant…for now.

16. Response 4
Rep schedules time with supervisor to review
the issue and asks for help. Supervisor
acknowledges issue, encourages rep to take
action and email Product Specialist and
follows up until issue is resolved.

17. Response 4
Issue is clearly
identified,
process, product
or system is now
fixed.
Monkey is tamed.

18. Next Steps: Practical Application
That’s all fine and good, but what can I do as a
rep to start having my feedback heard?
We’re glad to hear you are solutions-focused
now, here’s a few tips to get you started.

19. Step 1 : Rep is
made aware of
issue
Step 2: Rep
determines scope
of issue and impact
on customers,
company and team
Step 3 : Rep
presents issue to
supervisor or SME,
asks for feedback
on when issue can
be reviewed
Step 4: If no action
taken, rep
investigates issue
further, adds
business metrics to
case, including #
members or
employees
impacted, financial
impact, etc.
presents to
manager, Product
Specialist
Step 5: If no
action taken, rep
investigates issue
further, adds
business metrics
to case, including
# members or
employees
impacted,
financial impact,
etc. presents to
manager, Product
Specialist
The Issue Escalator
Is there a process for
improving a process?
Of course!!

20. Recommendations
Building a business case
Identify the issue: Who is impacted? To what
extent? Financial Impact?
Identify your resources: How can you find out
who owns the product, process or system?
Identify who people who are willing and able to
help champion the cause.

21. Recommendations
Escalate to next level/build stronger case
What questions have you answered?
What questions do you have left to answer?
Do you know who else has tried to solve this
issue before?
Is anyone else working on the same thing?

22. Recommendations
Escalate to next level/build stronger case
How have you positioned your idea? Did you
showcase financial impact, customer impact,
employee impact?

23. Feedback Filed
How do you avoid being just another email in
someone’s inbox?
1. Maintain an appropriate level of rage – make sure to
follow up, follow up again, and follow up one more time.
2. Make sure you’ve identified a squeeky wheel on the right
car – if it squeeks and annoys you, no one cares; find a
way to get people in the right car in order to hear the
squeek.

24. Feedback Filed
How do you avoid being just another email in
someone’s inbox?
3. Ask for follow up – Request dates/times they will be able
to give the idea an adequate amount of time to review.
4. Recruiter leverage – If you aren’t gaining traction, bring
in a manager who will help champion with you.

25. Clearly and
logically identify
issues within their
frustrations
Package an issue
for escalation to
their supervisor
that is actionable
Tame the Monkey
Remember our Objective?

26. Tame more Monkeys!!
We believe that if you take some
time to review the examples and
processes we’ve suggested
creatively on your team, you will
unlock the secret to turning your
complaints into progress!

27. Appendix

28. Source of inspiration
Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?
by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass,
http://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey/ar/1
No monkeys were harmed in the making of this presentation.

29. Case Study: Resolved
Systems Issue : Account Look-up in SalesForce
Original Issue: All accounts displayed, making a manual
process of account lookup very time consuming.
Request to add a column to show "active or inactive" status
so that we can quickly identify the active account out of
(many times dozens of) account names.
Huge Win: recently implemented and created
significant efficiencies for global Enterprise Support
team

30. Case Study: Resolved
Systems Issue : Account Look-up in SalesForce
Request to add a column to show "active or inactive" status
so that we can quickly identify the active account out of
(many times dozens of) account names.
Huge Win: recently implemented and created significant
efficiencies for global Enterprise Support team

31. Case Study: In progress
Systems Issue identified: Provisioning
Current Status: When provisioning Recruiter licenses, free
Hiring Manager seats are not included on the main CAP
'Grant' screen and requires an additional submission,
which can take an additional 2-3 minutes.

32. Case Study: Systems Improvement?
TimeForce
Takes too long to load in
morning.
Not easy to correct mistakes.
Can we have an app in our
Hidden Icons window that let's
us login/out?