 |
Case Study:
Health and Human Services Agency
Poor Service and Customer Complaints:
The rampant corporate problem that destroys a company's reputation, morale and margin, and makes doing business a little harder every year.
The Challenges:
- Building a culture that uses customer concerns as an opportunity for even greater service and loyalty.
- Creating team pride and an identity that relishes
excellent service.
- Tapping into your front line's creativity for breakthrough
service ideas.
Several years ago, this state agency supervisory staff was quite disenfranchised. Service was poor and customer complaints were at an all time high. The staff felt like their efforts did not make a difference, that no one cared about their concerns, and many of their best people were looking for employment elsewhere.
They needed to shift the overall attitude from 'employee entitlement' to an orientation of true customer service. Over the years, many government offices have unfortunately developed the posture of treating citizens as more of an inconvenience than as customers worthy of our best efforts.
"During the The Pathways to Leadership® training, we realized clearly that the well-being of our department was not dependent upon upper management. We acquired the leadership tools to create an "oasis of wellness" within the bureaucracy. I cannot tell you the relief and hope we felt in trading in our "victimhood" for resourcefulness.
"Three months later, when our team returned for the Mastery
Retreat, everything had changed. Our team had dropped the
reputation of being a group with a poor work ethic and become
famous for enthusiastic, competent service. Our front line
people began coming to work with a genuine desire to serve
and customer complaints plummeted." -- Regional Director,
HHS
Modeling a new awareness from the top down was a paramount necessity. Top management became clear that simply changing systems, dictating attitude or hosting departmental picnics were insufficient to meet the challenge of reversing poor service and rampant customer complaints.
Tools and Concepts
Note: The following steps represent only a few of the key concepts and tools
applied in this case study.
- Effectively shifting the cultural climate from "apathetic"
to "caring," began with a transformation, using the Pathways
to Leadership process, in how the staff perceived themselves
-- from simply cogs in a government machine to ambassadors
of service. Bottom line: the customers would never be treated
with genuine honor and respect until the staff at all levels
honored and respected one another.
- A powerful shift occurred when leaders discovered the concept of the Energy
Circle. The predominant focus of the organization for
years had been on problems. Literally, leaders were unconsciously
creating as much momentum backwards (on problems) as they
were forwards (on what was working well). They immediately
began to change their focus and expectations.
- When management started focusing their energy on the strengths of their people (in conjunction with appropriate leadership tools) they generated a palpable shift in the culture. Focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses, the staff became much more helpful, productive and tolerant.
- With a receptive culture, the Vision Process was implemented to align
the departments. A clear, unified vision of the importance
of their services to the community was created -- from the
front-lines up. A specific plan of action/accountability
was created so everyone knew what the objectives and guidelines
were.
Learn more about the Pathways to
Leadership programs.
back to top
(c) 2003 Pathways to Leadership, Inc. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
|
Poor Morale