Tracky Dacks is an Australian term for sweat pants; comfortable, casual and desparately uncool. I like to think that my approach to customer service is fairly similar. Customer service isn't cool, but it can be done honestly and in a way that leaves everyone comfortable at least most of the time.

Other pants tell a different story. The Norwegian curling team are famous for their loud and proud uniforms, about as far from an old pair of black tracky dacks as you can get. Their 2014 Winter Olympics uniform is a fine example.

Curling as a sport dates from at least 1540 in Scotland (another country known for some strong choices in men's clothing) and involves a team working together to move a 20kg lump of granite smoothly and accurately across the ice to the right spot.

The thrower sets the direction, velocity and the curl of the stone right up front, and then as it travels there are two people who scurry around in front of it, sweeping frantically like cleaners in a meth lab who've forgotten to wear their masks again.

I've never played the game . In my job I started on the frontline, answering customers directly. I was the person who threw the stone. I threw a lot of them, and I got to be pretty good at it.

Now my role has changed from thrower to sweeper. It took me a while to understand that shift and to realise how to influence the results from in from of the stone instead of behind it.

To be an effective support team manager, I have to let my team take care of the stone throwing work they do so well. While they get on with answering tickets and helping our customers, my time is best spent in other ways.

The most important work I can do happens off the ice between matches. By the time the stone is thrown it is too late to make any big changes to the strategy, or to the direction. Instead, I can have the biggest impact for my team by:

  • Giving them the best tools, resources and equipment I can get.
  • Smoothing the ice; removing any obstacles in their path.
  • Making sure the systems are in place to reduce wasted time and effort.
  • Making sure they understand clearly what we as a team and a company are trying to achieve.

Then from day to day I can give guidance and feedback, and make small course corrections as we go, while helping my team develop and grow in their roles.

It's still a constant temptation to focus on the throwing, to check that I'm still good at it and to get that little rush of adrenaline. But then who will sweep the ice? I've traded in my stone for a broom. The pants can't be far behind.

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