How Job Coaching Prepared Me for Technical Communication

My first “professional job” was as a job coach. A job coach, or an employment specialist (my official job title) is the front line worker in the field of supported employment. Supported employment is a way of supporting people with disabilities in work situations.

The main work situation for a job coach to support is an individual with a job in the regular workforce. I helped the person find a job and get training that worked for them. Our team usually worked with developmentally disabled people, but supported employment is also helpful to people with physical disability and mental illness.

The assumption behind all of this is that most people with disabilities can work if companies, job coaches, and the individuals are doing their part. I love this assumption. I love the idea of having this goal that all three parts of that job equation have to keep working towards. Because it’s true, most people can work. And it’s good for everyone if they do.

I’m not talking about people who have taken disability for some reason after having been in the work force—I don’t know much about that. I’m talking about people who have gone through their lives watching other people take jobs for granted. There is a whole largely untapped pool of potential employees.

Some of the benefits to employers are employees who are less likely to job hop, tax benefits, improved co-worker moral and company image. And if a company looks at its positions and processes to see how they could be modified to hire someone with a disability, work flow can be improved.

I was not a very good job coach.

Looking back, it would have been so much better if I had learned more about task analysis so that I could recommend better job modifications and accommodations. I had some training on that, but I couldn’t imagine asserting myself as the expert to the companies I was trying to convince to hire my consumers. That’s business analyst stuff. Now it sounds fun; then, it was overwhelming.

It would have been so much better if I had had the outgoing, energetic oomph of one of my co-workers. She couldn’t help but network, and she was always on the beat, zooming in and out of the office in a whirl of interviews and first days on the job. Her sunny, hard-working attitude reflected well on the potential employees she represented. Hiring managers were helpless before it.

Job coaches generally spend a lot of time with the new employee during their first weeks on the job, providing extended one-on-one training that would be expensive for the employer to provide. It was intuitive, rewarding work for me. I like the problem-solving, and responding to what the person needed in order to do well. Sometimes it was a job aid, or an extra break, or retraining on a skill. But, often it was something more elusive. My inexperience frustrated me.

Still, I learned a ton. Here’s a short list:

1.Redirection isn’t just for kids.

I learn redirection when I was trained as a daycare teacher and used it throughout my job coaching experience–instead of scolding, redirect misbehaving kids to other activities without acknowledging the bad behavior. I constantly learn new ways to apply this. Change the subject. Stop talking about what someone shouldn’t do and talk about what they should do or what they are doing well.

This even seems to work for solving a thorny problem, like improving a process or making headway on an overwhelming project. If I spend just a little time enjoying the part of the task that is going well, it usually helps me think of a way to fix the problem area.

2.It matters what I do.

I worked with one woman to get a job at a daycare center. She ended up reporting two other workers who were using excessive force with the kids. If she and I hadn’t persevered to find a daycare that could see her worth, it might have taken longer to help those kids.

That same woman later ran away from her sister’s home with an older man who was probably taking advantage of her disability. Her sister thought that if I could talk to the woman, she might listen to me. Maybe she would have and maybe not—there wasn’t a way for me to get ahold of her. But it struck me what a responsibility I had.

Now I write instructions for medical devices and programs that influence patient safety. It makes me think twice when people say no one uses the help. Of course I want them to, but it’s a big responsibility. And as soon as it doesn’t matter what I do, I’ll go do something else.

3.People need to feel capable.

I worked with a lot of people who bagged groceries and washed dishes—and those jobs transformed them. Absolutely everyone benefits when that happens.

I’m going to draw a line here between that and our software users. What’s user error? Isn’t it usually our failure to structure the information (job) so that the user can be successful? I think this also applies to teams. How can a team get more capable if management is afraid to let them make mistakes?

4.There are types of intelligence, and a spectrum of intelligence per type.

Contrary to popular snark, there isn’t an invisible line with smart people on one side and dumb people on the other. People can have all kinds of combinations of intelligences, all kinds of strengths and weaknesses.

There is a medical definition–an IQ cutoff–for mental retardation. There’s an IQ cutoff for genius, too. But people have IQs all up and down that scale. The same is true for the types intelligence that don’t have such well-known scales, such as emotional intelligence.

My customer at the day care center was a whiz at punctuality and remembering details. I, ahem, was not. I’ve gotten much better, but there it is.

5.Everyone needs an accommodation.

I’m probably not surprising any managers here, but even your best performers may have some area where you might cut them some slack or compensate for their inability somehow. People should work on their weaknesses, but sometimes a person is only going to get so much better at something. You might be surprised by how much the person can help you gauge that if you talk to them about it.

What accommodations do our audiences need? Is the manual locked in the supervisor’s office during the night shift? Is this device commonly used by people who are on medication that clouds their vision? How will we know if we don’t research?

6.Accessibility and inclusiveness benefit everyone.

In tech comm we are getting familiar with the idea that web sites and documents that are structured well, with large print and good contrast, are easier for everyone to use, not just people with disabilities. The same is true of a workplace that is inclusive.

How Waiting Tables Prepared Me for Technical Communication

I left the restaurant business three times before I finally found something that worked better for me than waiting tables and bar tending – technical writing. Restaurant schedules can be a lot more flexible than office jobs, and,in Florida, at least, if you don’t like one restaurant you can probably switch jobs until you find a restaurant you like better. It’s a living wage if you’re good at it. It can pay very well if you’re great at it.

It’s physical work, it’s conducive to meeting people and making good friends, and it teaches skills that are absolutely transferable to other fields, such as sales, which I think is helpful in any field. Here are some that have helped me in tech comm:

1. Handling Volume

Every business has a regular busy time, or rush, and a restaurant has at least one almost every shift. There’s the rush, then there is getting slammed and being in the weeds–getting your ass kicked. In a restaurant, this can happen if a large group all arrives at once for some reason, such as all the squads coming in after a cheer leading competition.

Or, the right circumstances can come together to create a chaotic level of volume: Valentine’s day falling on a Friday, for example. In times like that, we were so busy that most of our standard operating procedures were maxed out: we were running out of chairs, running out of glassware, waiting over an hour for food because we got a crazy rush after cooks had been cut for the night. I remember the computer system crashing and having to manually process a slew of credit cards, or getting so busy that we had to stop running tabs so that no one ran out on their bill.

It takes poise and problem solving skills just to get through a rush like that without needing the manager to comp whole tables, let alone to make good tips. Some of that just comes with experience–having made it through once and seen that the restaurant keeps going almost no matter what.

In Fall of 2004, Central and Western Florida got hit with a series of hurricanes, and a lot of people lost electricity, but the Applebee’s where I worked never lost power. I remember several shifts during which the restaurant filled again and again with people who were stir crazy, starved for air conditioning, and tired of eating whatever had defrosted in their freezers.

There were several “hurricane shifts” that fall, but one that I remember particularly well. I was coming on as the night bartender, and the day bartender couldn’t go home. People wanted cocktails and commiseration about their damaged homes. We ended up with a thank-you letter for taking such good care of them.

I try to keep this perseverance in my tech writing job when the document seems never ending, and I’m finding hundreds of inappropriate screen shots that I have to replace, and I just got another request with an aggressive schedule.

Even when the volume of work seems unreasonable, it still has to get managed in one way or another. This is may be more apparent in the restaurant environment than in the office–the doors open and people sit at your tables so you have to keep going.

The work is more abstract in a tech comm department (maybe you’ll have to adjust schedules, or estimate how much help you’ll need, or suggest a compromise in what the files will contain) but the principle is the same.

2. Making it Look Easy

Servers wait for the rush like surfers wait for waves because that’s when they make money. When the rush is not happening, they are making $3.13 an hour and probably being harassed by management to clean something. But they don’t make money during the rush if they look too rushed.

Sweaty, abrupt, disheveled servers who are making mistakes because they have too many customers don’t get good tips. And they don’t deserve them. They’re not giving the customer a good experience.

I struggled with this in the restaurant and eventually got better at it, but the calibration is even more sensitive in an office environment, in my experience.

Restaurant work is physical work, so there is some discharge of the adrenaline it takes to get through the rush. In an office, people are sitting quietly, and even a nonverbal disturbance can reverberate through a large room of cubicles until every department on that floor knows that something is going on, even if they don’t know what it is.

Emotional reactions and negativity are disruptive, so every success at minimizing them is helpful to co-workers. My office job seems to offer an endless supply of lessons in self control. A challenge I have is that I can get a little over-enthused solving a problem, and I tend to think out loud, which can sound an awful lot like complaining. I like to debate, too. I imagine what qualifies as disruptive depends on the group.

Does anyone else think this might come naturally to a lot of people who are Generation Y? Or maybe is it more of an introvert thing? There seems to be a code — anything that makes your effort and exertion apparent can probably be done in a better way.

I’ve seen this carried through to a fault (passive aggression, or shunning enthusiasm for a project), but I think it is largely a pretty good rule of thumb for someone like me who is practicing restraint. I’m Gen Y too but, for whatever reason, this isn’t a code I’ve naturally adopted. I’m an extravert and I like that, but like I said, I’m practicing.

3.Watch Your Mouth, Customers Can Hear You

Out in the dining room, if you’re a server or a bartender, it’s unprofessional to swear, or complain about the cooks, or discuss your sex life. There are customers within a few feet of you at all times.

If you are a technical communicator in an office building, it’s literally almost the same situation. Your customers aren’t just the product users who are reading your documents. To some extent, the other teams are your customers–they are relying on you for the service you provide.

If you complain about the process, then someone is going to look bad for not improving it. Maybe you. Maybe your boss, which diminishes his or her effectiveness when going to bat for you.

If you badmouth a project or a tool because there was a misunderstanding, or a learning curve, or a bad day, that can snowball pretty easily. Pretty soon, someone from the Education department is saying to you, “Yeah, I heard there are a lot of issues with Flare and the new format.” And you’re thinking, There are? That was one of my favorite projects.

Gossiping falls into this category, but it’s also related to the idea of not disrupting the work environment. Someone can hear that you talk about everyone, no matter how discreet you think you are. It breeds mistrust, which is a frustrating distraction to have at work. The more people can feel comfortable at work, the better, since we rely on our job to pay for our homes and food and all.

Gossip is really common and sooner or later everyone needs a strategy for surviving it, but why be that person emitting little puffs of poison into the office?

4.Doing Things All the Way

In a restaurant, no matter how inconsistent or forgetful he or she is, almost every server will get regular customers, or “regulars.” I was popular with little old couples, for example.

But the people who have the most regulars and get the biggest tips are the ones who do all the things you are supposed to do for the customers–they bring the right things at the right time, they don’t let dishes and napkins pile up on the table, they remember what people like to drink and what their kids’ names are, and they are fun while they do all that stuff.

There are plenty of servers who do some of those things, and they have some regulars. The few who do it all consistently have regulars who will wait for them to have an open table, or who end up taking up tables in other server’s sections.

What is doing it all the way mean in tech comm? What comes to mind for me are these things: always finding a way to not only finish the iteration, but to improve the document every time. Staying on schedule, keeping consistent communication about status with the project team and with management, consistently suggesting ways that tech comm can improve customer experience, consistently identifying ways that team processes can be improved. And making it look easy.

Practicing Focus

Last week I saw a presentation by some Microsoft reps on the open source projects Microsoft in involved in. I asked how the projects were getting documented for end users, and where the need was. I wondered aloud—if one were going to get involved and get some experience documenting these new applications, how would one choose where to start. In particular, I was looking for the path to getting paid. Before the words were out of my mouth, I was guessing that probably no one could really tell me that. Sure enough, the presenter, Stan Schultes, told me to figure out what interests me and start there. He named one particular product off hand that needed help, but most open source projects could use a hand with documentation. Great– I could choose what we want to work on. Just what an ENTP needs to drive herself bonkers.

Along the same lines, I’ve been thinking about another degree since I got my B.A. in Creative Writing. I was considering everything from a Masters in tech comm. to an A.S. in computers. I finally decided I want more technical skill; a CS degree and some programming languages. Besides starting the prerequisites, I’m following more developers on Twitter and reading more articles on new apps. When it was time for a new phone, I bought a G1 and started reading a bit about developing for Android. By the time Wave came out, I was underwater. Heh. Sorry. But really, it’s humbling to start listening on this new conversation where I really don’t have much to add and everyone is so quick.

I got the idea to put some more effort into technical skill from two things: a Joe Welinsky’s presentation on getting away from standard help files and providing more specialized, branded user assistance. In some cases this requires tech writers to learn some programming or new tools. To illustrate, is site, WritersUA.com, is full of articles on standards and applications and how they’re being applied to user assistance. And when we started using MadCap Flare at work and getting into the XHTML code and CSS to troubleshoot, I absolutely loved it. I’m following that bliss a bit, and trying to steer it towards a specialty in content strategy/ business analysis.

Something else that’s going on right now is that I’m slowly getting a handle on some project management skills. I know that comes easily for some people, but as in most areas, when it comes to taking on projects, I get the eyes-bigger-than-stomach syndrome. I’ve got a gifted manager at work that is helping me develop my “finishing” skills. I’ve had the chance to lead a couple of large, complex projects to success, even if one of them did have a meandering path. I’m applying it to my role as Vice President of the local STC chapter, too. I’m a hairsbreadth away from having several months of speakers and meeting places lined up so that I can concentrate on other projects for them. It makes me smile to type that, because I’ve been treading water in that position for months.

In the past, taking on those kinds of projects has always started out exciting and ended up feeling like a pummeling of simultaneous to-do items. It’s incredibly satisfying to learn that if I keep steadily punching back a little each day, focusing my next actions, planning my follow up– that I don’t have to get overwhelmed. I don’t have to throw up my hands and walk away when I’m behind, I can just ask for patience while I catch up. I can prioritize without feeling (too much)like I’m missing out on things. It’s a bit mysterious to me how it’s happened, but my bandwidth has increased, and I’m confident that it’s still growing.

Mentor Sips

Several months ago I thought I would look for a mentor. I was already starting to follow experienced technical communicators on Twitter: clicking the links they posted there, posting the occasional question to them.
In particular, I messaged with Charlene Kingston a lot. She asked for my resume, and we even chatted on the phone once about my goals and interests. I admire that she has grown a successful and stable freelance business, and I am learning by watching how she goes about this. In particular, her high energy and level of productivity impress me, and I like to hear how she does it.
I read a couple of articles by Jack Molisani of Prospring and his positive, creative approach to drumming up work resonated with me. I added him on LinkedIn with the intention of building another experienced tech comm contact, but at the time I was also building an Arbonne business on the side. I asked if I could send him a sample of the men’s line. He graciously accepted, but as you can imagine, our correspondence ended up getting off the tech comm track.
These days I concentrate on building skills that will help me build my own tech comm business. Arbonne is a perfectly worthy company, but I can’t serve two passions.
Okay, so that was embarrassing, but where was I going with this? The point I’m trying to make is that via Twitter, LinkedIn, and blog comments, I’ve been getting mentorship in 140-characters sips.
The STC Annual conference was an extension of that, for me. At the progression sessions, I hopped from table to table, listening to mini-presentations about the issues that were on my list of Things to Ask People About at STC 09. These were presentations on solutions that were already working for them in their businesses. Things, that if given the chance, I will take back and make work in my work environment; either for my employer or for myself.
Granted, I introduced myself to anyone who got within four feet of me and asked them how they were addressing the issues I was concerned about. I worked to get the most out of the registration fee. I took notes at a party in Bernard Aschwanden’s suite, for Pete’s sake. I also put real live faces to a heck of a lot of Twitter user names, which was a powerful icebreaker. It would be reasonable for a company to expect someone to do these things, I think, before shelling out well over a grand to send an employee.
I really think this is one more thing to put on the lists of reasons why of course employees should be allowed to use social media, and of course companies should send them to conferences and not make them take vacation days (ahem): access to the consultant-quality ideas and solutions that leaders tend to provide to developing members of their profession. There are some people that I will continue to correspond with beyond the conference about the things we discussed. Now tell me again, what’s my motivation to concentrate that correspondence on company challenges?