adminShelter Chieza Change Management
Every time I travel to the Far East I prefer flying on one particular Asian airline because of their attention to detail in terms of their customer service.
They are not the cheapest but they deliver such outstanding service all the time. I took some time to research on measures they have taken to ensure they satisfy their customers. They have a state-of-the-art training college established courtesy of a $500 million investment.
For them there is no substitute for perfection and they are prepared to invest to ensure that the best in the air. Their poise, their attitude, even their greeting is all so uniform and standardised.
Standardisation is definitely a deliberate attempt to reach a certain level of service, it certainly doesn’t come naturally.
It is useful for management or employees to brainstorm on standards from time to time. Set a list of standard categories you wish to represent.
If you were to list responsiveness as your goal in servicing clients, then say that your goal is to maintain a quick level of responsiveness.
When noting your standards, be sure to include detailed descriptions of your services and how you will meet those services through your standards.
Publish your standards; don’t keep them in the drawer. Once standards have been set, agreed upon and written, place them on your website, on signs within your business and on company flyers or logos. I know there are a lot of offices that never interact with the public or customers, but if you manage an office where customers visit, it is important to set standards and expectations for appropriate dressing.
I do believe someone can look professional while wearing jeans. It’s a matter of being careful in their selection.
If the organisation doesn’t set the standard the employees will. In as much as employees are adults there is always one who would want to test management to assess their limits just to see if they will say something. It is for these special employees that “guidelines” are written. Even a place like a church where you would expect members to come dressed decently, you still need to set standards so that female congregants do not dress in revealing attire that distracts their male congregants.
I personally pay attention to first impressions, interacting with a shabbily dressed employee, makes me wonder if that is a reflection of the state of affairs in the organisation. Even when an organisation allows jeans on Friday there should still be standards.
As an organisation, set a standard that will ensure that employees understand their role and responsibilities and ensure that systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.
Internal auditing is essential in diverse legal and cultural environments within organisations that vary in purpose, size, complexity, and structure; and by persons within or outside the organisation.
While differences may affect the practice of internal auditing in each environment, conformance with set standards is essential in meeting the responsibilities internal audit activity.
We can also talk of standardisation of methodology if there is a portfolio of projects within the organisation.
For instance, it may be easy to set standards if you have two projects that are expected to reach the same milestones. This may be the time that we can provide a meaningful analysis of performance metrics such as cost performance index, schedule performance index, and estimated time to completion.
When serving customers, your goal is to always be friendly and helpful. To meet your goals, you must set customer service guidelines to demonstrate your commitment to your customers; more importantly, you set customer service standards as a communication tool for both employees and customers.
Without these guidelines, it becomes difficult for employees to understand how to interact with and behave around customers. Know your company or organisation’s goals. With these you must be able to plan to meet these goals by serving customers. Your mission statement or goals should be aligned to the standards you set. Your customers determine what standards are important. For example if your customers require 24-hour assistance and product information, understanding your customer will determine how effective your customer service policies will be. It is important to clearly explain to each employee what is expected them. If they have been chosen for a specific role in a project, explain to them why they were chosen for that specific position.
You may try to raise your level of expectation. If your employees see that you expect a lot out of them, they’ll be encouraged to work hard.
Employees have the ability to determine where they should exert pressure and where they should not they tend to do little to match your expectations of them. As an organisation, you must adopt and conform to a standard that guides you in your operations.
Till next week, may God richly bless you.
Shelter Chieza is an Advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
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