A workshop attendee recently visited our web site article library and read “Casual, Moderate, and Intense Levels of Customer/Partner Focus.”. She sent me an e-mail asking for further insights to the intense level of service I highlighted in that chart. She also wanted ideas on how to accomplish this on a smaller scale within a larger organization.
I suggested that she browse through my other customer service articles at http://www.jimclemmer.com/customer_service_title/customer_service.php. The article Three Basic Steps to Focus on Customers and Partners does give more depth on intensely improving customer service. Her question about changing the big system and building partnerships is addressed in some of my articles on Serving, Influencing, and Leading Upward. My 1992 book, Firing on All Cylinders: The Service/Quality System for High-Powered Corporate Performance, provides an extensive framework for improving service/quality levels.
But most of this material is aimed at external customer service. Increasingly I am working with internal support groups like HR, IT, or Admin and Finance to increase internal service levels. I am looking for examples of ways to increase internal support. Please post any of your experiences or advice.
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Hi Jim,
I love your newsletter, Improvement Points and recently read “Growing the Distance” (loved it too)!
Regarding “internal service”… I spent the first 18 years of my career in my company’s IT organization, providing service to many different business areas over the years. When members of a business area approached me with problems or new opportunities the first thing I would do is learn as much as possible about the business area involved. I wanted to know as much as they did about how their processes were supposed to work, the information they used, the issues involved, how success is measured, etc. What I enjoyed most about my role was that I was learning the business and not just dealing with the technology. I also found that I could propose much better solutions, work much more effectively with people and even propose new opportunities when we were “playing on the same field”. As a result, about 4 years ago, when one of the business areas had an opening in their group they approached me to take the job (which I did). Now that I’m on the “other side of the fence” and needing service from the IT organization, I find that too often the person I’m dealing with just simply asks, “what is it you would you like me to do”? If only they understood what I now do… that you can give much better service (and get ahead) if you seek to understand more than just the specifics of a single request.
Hello again Jim,
I didn’t want to get too long-winded in my first response to your question on “internal service”, but I do have some additional information your readers may find useful.
In the 18 years I spent in our IT organization, I spent many of them physically located in the same office area as my internal customers, working side-by-side. I could have chosen an office in the administration building, but found it much better to integrate myself with my “customers”.
While I believe we in IT were the first to do this in our organization, we now have HR specialists who do the same. One day a week, our designated specialist works out of her “satellite” office in our manufacturing area. She even joins us for lunch where I’m sure she learns a lot more about compensation, benefits and hiring issues than she would ever hear back in the administration building.
And even our accountant makes a point of scheduling meetings in our conference rooms instead of making us travel to his office.
This culture was not started by me, but by a true visionary leader who (unfortunately for us) retired quite some time ago. Thankfully, the culture became ingrained (due to its clear benefits) and still lives on today with some groups.
However, as alluded to in my previous response, it did not survive in IT. Unfortunately, during a significant reorganization, the new leadership decided that only “leaders” of a certain level should talk to each other. This leadership team didn’t survive a recent downsizing (go figure), but the previous culture has yet to be re-born.
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[...] on “From Casual to Moderate to Intense Levels of Service” to read the full blog post that triggered Kevin’s response. To peruse a large selection of my [...]
[...] on “From Casual to Moderate to Intense Levels of Service” to read the full blog post that triggered Kevin’s response. To peruse a large selection of my [...]