adminShelter Chieza Change Management
“Our service culture is to under-promise and over-deliver” read a company’s manifesto.
Really?
Why on earth would someone come up with such a catchline.
In all honesty why would someone under-promise for some services to be delivered and then over-deliver?
It is said that too much of anything is bad, things should not be overdone for the sake of it.
Also, too little of anything is also bad.
Then how do we have to balance this equation?
The simple answer then is moderation is the answer to the above equation
But just what is called standards?
How are standards set and measured?
Are there hard and fast rules on the setting up of standards?
Is there anything called acceptable standards of delivery?
Who sets guidelines, of what social disposition, background, who really are these people to set standards for others.?
Excuse me if I sound ignorant but I am now confused as to the direction of Zimbabwe’s financial status.
Where exactly as we heading, are we heading in the right or wrong directions?
Is our country facing a situation of being overbanked or underbanked at the present moment?
Does the number of banks tally with the account holders.?
A recent FBC report says that Zimbabwe is underbanked and that 11,2 million people or 76 percent of Zimbabwe’s population has no access to formal financial services.
The report further explained that less than a fifth of Zimbabweans possess an active bank account.
Now, the mobile operators are said to be trying to bridge the gap by offering mobile money products to those that were previously excluded from mainstream banking services.
What happens if a company gets into the habit of underpromising?
Are you not giving people the impression that you offer the least?
Should it excite your customer or wow them if the initial promise was weak, does it make people take more notice of you?
Are you not underrating yourselves and expecting the results to make up for the initial shortcomings?
It’s almost like being promised a day of fun at a theme park, you are enticed by the list of activities and at the end of the day you swear never to come back. If you are Volvo and you are known for vehicles that provide the highest level of safety, don’t try and undercut yourselves, so that people notice you, it will simply take the steam off your brand.
I recall last year General Motors, the company that makes the Opel brand of cars, had a chief executive who resigned after being pressured by labour unions to step down over issues to do with overcapacity.
One company has an interesting byline of exceeding customer expectations, yes it’s good for marketing the businesses, but first make sure you meet their expectations then exceed them.
In a work scenario underperforming is obviously a drawback.
There are options you might look at, of either providing training for the underperformers or moving them to a different position.
In financial terms, to overperform is to perform better than the market as a whole for a stated period of time. To overperform does not necessarily mean to perform well.
For example, if the market is expected to go down significantly, a stock may be said to overperform even if it dips slightly.
In sports psychology, any sports- person may suffer from performance anxiety in sports.
It could be choking to them, leading to a decrease in athletic performance due to too much stress.
It is mainly because they have extremely high expectations of their success.
In business law terms, a party’s failure to fulfil an end of the bargain under a contract is known as a “breach” of the contract.
Depending on the specifics of the contract, a breach can occur when a party fails to perform on time, does not perform in accordance with the terms of the agreement, or does not perform at all.
In reality, however, we encounter delays every day.
You could promise a client to deliver in 24 hours but end up encountering power outages, or unexpected events to hinder or even prevent a successful contract from being carried out.
So what is better then, to over or under?
Till next week, may God richly bless you.
Shelter Chieza is an advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
Online Reporter