Turning Customer Frustration into Long-Term Trust: A Program Manager's Journey

Yes. Um, it was again one of my projects at Johnson & Johnson, working with the IT manager who was our sponsor for Eha. Um, I came in as the manager taking over a previous manager and senior's work. Um, the sponsor or the customer wasn't happy with the Performance of our team to that day. So. I came in at a time where the situation was pretty much um escalated, um, and the client wasn't happy. They basically were ready to cut the SLA short, um, and I was thrown into, um, basically the fire to see what I can do, if I can make magic. Um. So that, that first initial kind of interview was pretty uh tough because I could tell she was frustrated. She had concerns about previous coworkers of mine. Um, some of them made sense, some of them, uh, I think it was just more agitating to her over time. Um, and I could, and it was hard because it was, uh, she had a kind of preconception. Uh, for how, on what level I would perform. So that made it difficult, but how I dealt with it was, uh, definitely not take it personal. Um, think of it, uh, more as a work and kind of making, and the idea of, um, coming from the point of she's right, she has a point, she signed a contract, she expected top service, she didn't receive it. So, Kinda understanding her concerns. Um, did my best to, mm To show her that, uh, to kind of send the message that, um, give me a chance, um, to make things turn around. Um, and she did, uh, I think kind of reluctantly, and that, that I think was hard. Um, because typically you start with somebody with like a clean slate and you're able to prove yourself, but when you come in with kind of a negative preconception, I think makes it harder, but that also motivated me to, to really want to turn things around. Um, so she was like an example in our team and our internal teams, and I've kind of joked with, uh, my coworkers as Um, somebody that I went in at a really difficult time and Uh, and she ended up, uh, using me as her PM for, uh, almost 3 years. Uh, but over time, I think what, what really Turned it around for that time. She was able to give me a chance. Um, in the beginning, I tried really hard to make sure her, um, requirements are met, um, did, uh, overcommunicate it in the beginning because I think that, that, I noticed that that was one of her main frustrations that she was out of the loop and she didn't know. Um, so I kind of gave her a heads up that I'll be doing that, and I think, um, that made a big difference for building that trust, um, and Definitely like being present, feeling like I'm um owning it, uh, side by side of her, uh, working through issues, uh, making sure that I get on boarded, um, timely and fast, and, uh, And then once, you know, weeks go by and a few months went by, I think um I could gradually sense that the tension was a lot less. She was feeling a lot better. Project was going smoother, um, risks and issues, kind of issues one by one, being sorted out, and, um, the fact that she didn't need to kind of babysit me and, and, um, Uh, I was, uh, kind of, um, on top of it in terms of communication and making sure that things are on track. I think that gave her the confidence and trust.

Um, Delivered to me personally, I think. And, uh, like, like I mentioned, majority of it was for the previous work. Delivered to me, I think was just, uh, with the quality of my project plan, I think there was a lot more scrutiny for, mm. Accuracy of it, a lot like with the kind of the, in the beginning, especially. Um, so I had this project plan, I had the, uh, uh, dependencies, um, and when I would, when I would go to her to kind of discuss my, my thought process, and like, uh, based on the information that I have gathered and, and the, the Design of the project plan, uh, the different, um, processes and, and like the big milestones. There was a lot of, uh, like, questionings and pessimisms of, uh, without really getting much help or answer, um, in them. So I think that was the main Uh Negative challenge that I had with her, kind of like, uh, I think she had a hard time working with me in the beginning, like helping me out just because of kind of like the history that she had.

Um, like I mentioned, it was basically, uh, the, uh, the communication, um, uh, direct, and, uh, frequency of the communication that I had, uh, working closely with her, mm, and, uh. Um, making sure that kind of the reports that I'm giving, um, and the information that I'm giving is um accurate and she was on the same page.

Um, The outcome was um Uh, like building the trust relationship, um, extending the SLA, um, and ended up working with her as one of her main PMs for like 3 years.

I don't want to focus on the previous team that was in there. Um, So just myself. Um, earlier on, um, I would have, um, it took me a little bit of time to, um, start kind of building relationship with different teams on the project. It was a large project. Um, and in the beginning it was challenging to kinda, uh, Um, identify the, the key roles and stakeholders from different teams. So I think I, I would have probably, uh, within the first week instead of wait 34 weeks, um, to have. To make sure that I, that I, that I'm clear on who has say in, on, in what teams and whose specific roles and start kind of building those relationships. I'm focusing on, on the key people as opposed to um like everybody. If that makes sense