Sustaining a Customer Service Initiative:
M
54
ost customer
service improvement
initiatives fail to produce
sustained results. While such
a statement may seem harsh, I think that most
would agree with the statement based on their own
experiences. After investing significant amounts of time, effort and
money in service improvement initiatives, most organizations do not
attain the sustained results they were hoping for. Failure is usually not
due to a lack of creativity or resources. Failure is most often the result
of a lack of long-term commitment to the hard work that sustain-
ability requires. The “launch” phase of an improvement initiative can
be challenging, but it is also energizing. Top management is involved
in the launch, frontline employees join improvement teams and service
communication abounds. There are skeptics, of course, but most are
hopeful that this time things will actually get better. The launch phase
may last several months, or even a year, depending on the organiza-
tion. The service initiative launch usually includes such activities as:
• Creating a service improvement team or committee
• Developing service standards
• Communicating the details of the service initiative to the
organization
• Developing and implementing training programs for all
employees
• Developing and implementing a service recognition
program
Each of the above activities are important and must be
carefully planned and executed. The launch, however, simply
gets things going. Now comes the excruciating and disciplined
work to keep things going. Most organizations simply aren’t that
committed and stop
short of doing the
things that truly sustain
the service initiative. Delving into the
bowels of the organization and messing with
processes, procedures, structure, etc. is very
difficult and usually not as glamorous as the
initial launch. But that is where sustained
improvement lies. The purpose of this article
is to provide principles and processes for
achieving long-term success.
by Dennis Snow
Accountability
The cause for the failure of most service improvement
initiatives is the failure to change the organization’s formal account-
ability processes. Without proper accountability, service improve-
ment remains a “nice to do.” It must become a “have to do.” This
means reviewing and adjusting all of your accountability processes
to include customer service elements. This is a painful and time-
consuming task, but it is vital for long-term success.
Performance Appraisals
Changing the appraisal process is difficult. While most of us
hate performance appraisals, we’ve usually become comfortable
with whatever process our company uses. When implementing