We’ve all been there. You get a call from someone whose workday has completely stalled because of a tech issue. You dig in, figure out what’s wrong, and then you get that sinking feeling… the fix belongs to another team.
In that moment, you have a choice.
You can do the standard thing—transfer the ticket and wash your hands of it. Or you can say the six words that quietly poison an IT department: “Sorry, that’s not my job.”
But what if we could build a culture where that phrase just doesn’t make sense anymore? A place where the goal isn’t to close a ticket, but to see a problem through to the end, together. It’s not a fantasy. It’s completely possible, and it starts by being honest about the damage this mindset really causes.
The Real Cost of a Divided House
When “that’s not my job” becomes the default answer, things start to break down in ways that aren’t always obvious.
- The Hot Potato Ticket: You know this game. A user has a problem. The service desk lobs it to the network team. The network team says it’s a server issue and tosses it over. The server team points a finger at the database folks. All the while, the user is stuck in the middle, getting more frustrated by the second, losing all faith that IT can get anything done. The problem isn’t a lack of smart people; it’s a lack of a shared goal.
- The Innovation Graveyard: Think about the best project you ever worked on. Chances are, it wasn’t a solo mission. It probably sparked from a random chat between a developer, a security guru, and a systems admin. Real breakthroughs happen in those casual, in-between spaces. But a siloed culture locks those doors. Great ideas never get off the ground because nobody feels like it’s their place to step into someone else’s territory.
The Way Out: Think Like a Single Team
So, how do you fix this? You stop thinking like a collection of individual experts and start acting like one unified team. The blueprint for this is found in ITIL Service Management.
Now, I know what you’re thinking—the name itself sounds corporate and stuffy. But forget the official title for a minute. At its heart, the ITIL Framework isn’t a rulebook. It’s just a way to get everyone speaking the same language. It’s the tool that helps the network team, the dev team, and the security folks finally understand each other. The focus shifts from just managing tech to delivering a service that makes someone’s workday better.
It gives everyone a bird’s-eye view of a user’s request. You see the whole journey, not just your little piece of the road. When you can see the entire path from their problem to their solution, the urge to say “that’s not my lane” just vanishes. You realize your part isn’t an isolated task—it’s a critical link in a chain. You stop feeling like just “the server guy” and start feeling like part of the crew that gets the ship safely to port.
How to Actually Make This Happen
This doesn’t require a massive, top-down overhaul. It starts with small, smart changes.
- Create a Shared Playbook: If “urgent” means “today” to one team but “this week” to another, you’re already in trouble. This is where good ITIL Training comes in handy. Sending your people to an ITIL Course or an intensive ITIL Boot Camp isn’t about memorizing terms. It’s about running drills together so that when a real problem hits, everyone knows the play.
- Make Teamwork the Easy Choice: Working together shouldn’t be a special event; it should be the most natural way to get things done. Create small, nimble crews with people from different corners of IT to solve tough problems. Ditch the confusing email chains for a single chat channel where everyone can see what’s happening. And when that crew gets a win, celebrate the team, not just one person. When people see that teamwork is what gets results, it’ll become the new normal.
- Focus on Happy People, Not Just Stats: “Tickets closed per hour” is a terrible way to measure success. What if you measured user satisfaction instead? Or how quickly a new hire gets everything they need to be productive? When you focus on the human outcome, your team will naturally pull together to make it happen.
This Isn’t Just for the Company—It’s for Your Career
Here’s the thing: this shift doesn’t just make your company better. It makes you better at your job. The moment you start seeing how your work connects to the bigger picture, you stop being just a technician and start becoming a strategic problem-solver.
This is exactly why an ITIL Foundation Certification has become so valuable. It’s shorthand for “I get it.” It tells a manager that you’re not just there to do a task; you’re there to deliver value. And for anyone who wants to lead, the ITIL Practitioner Certification shows you have the skills to not just work in the system, but to actually make it better.
An ITIL Certification isn’t just a piece of paper; it’s a sign that you speak the language of modern, results-driven IT.
See Also: Think Like a CISO: How CISSP Training Rewires Your Approach to Security Strategy
Let’s Make “It’s Our Job” the New Standard
“That’s not my job” is a dead end. It’s a phrase that belongs in the past, back when IT was tucked away in the basement. Today, IT is the heart of the business.
By working as one team with one purpose, we can stop being firefighters and start being the innovators our companies need.
If you’re tired of the finger-pointing and ready to be part of a team that really works together, it’s time to take the next step. Seeing how a proven framework can unite a team is the best place to start. To see these principles in action and give your own career a boost, exploring an ITIL 4 Certification is a smart move toward building an IT culture you can actually be proud of.
