Research Articles

You CAN Measure Improvements in Customer Service
Ensuring Quality Customer Service Becomes A Lasting Workplace Behaviour

Alan Rands, Director Impact Learning Pty Ltd 1996. Author of Quality Customer Relationships an online blended learning competency based training program.

We have been delivering Customer Service training programs to large private and public sector organisations for the last 10 years. However, over the last 18 months we have made a conscious decision to turn our consulting expertise and experience in this area into products that can be licensed to organisations for internal delivery and management.

The factors influencing our move to turn our expertise into product have been the:

move to competency based curriculum
need for flexible training delivery methodologies that take the learning to the workplace
desire by organisations to "take back" and own the training and development processes within the organisation
search for cost effective delivery of large-scale programs such as customer service
need to link competencies, training and measured improvements to workplace performance
fact that internal training personnel are often too busy delivering programs to have the time and luxury
to sit down to write and develop programs, standards and curriculum

In designing our three-part customer service solution we also considered:

the fact that behaviour changes over time and with repetition of the message (one-off, quick fix programs do not ensure lasting change to workplace behaviours)
that measurement of change can only be effective if current behaviour/performance is benchmarked and re-measured using a measurement tool that integrates with the training being delivered (all too often we measure performance using criteria that does not relate to the training being delivered)
the importance of challenging the individual's attitude to service at the very beginning of the program: loading the individual with the skills of service will be effective only if that individual wants to deliver quality service!
the critical concept of Internal Customer Service
the vital role the Manager plays in providing an environment conducive to the delivery of quality service and to the ongoing motivation of the individual service deliverer.

The results of the last 18 month's work are:

Impact Learning's Draft Customer Service Delivery Competency Standard

Developed using the NTB's guidelines for Competency Development. Due to be published by Standards Australia as a Draft Standard and being considered by a number of organisations for endorsement as an enterprise or industry standard.
Impact Learning's BENCHMARKING Customer Service COMPETENCE (BCSC)™ 360o computer based profiling tool

A Windows™ based measurement tool based on the Competency Standard which allows you to profile individuals, the organisation, business units, locations, branches and to make internal and external comparisons of performance.

Benchmark current performance. Analyse strengths and weaknesses and devise training and development plans to improve performance and review individual and corporate strategies and processes. Re-test after the training and development plan has been implemented to track improvement in performance.
Impact Learning's Quality Customer Relationship (QCR) Training Program

A learning process that incorporates 13 activities delivered over a 6-10 month period. The program incorporates Computer Facilitated Learning Modules, Correspondence Lessons, Project Work, Discussion Groups and Face-to-Face workshops and has been designed to be delivered by internal training resources.

HOW TO LINK THE PRODUCTS INTO AN INTEGRATED CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGY

The following is our view of developing a sound system for the changing of workplace behaviours using Impact Learning's Competency Standard, Measurement System and Training Program. The model we detail was used to develop our Customer Service products, which are creating a great deal of interest in Australia, the USA and the UK.

Step One -Standard Development

We started the process by forming a focus group comprising all the consultants who had worked with us in the delivery of customer service training over the past 5 years. Once we had a skeleton of the competencies that the consultants thought covered all possibilities we engaged from our customer base, both deliverers of customer service and their managers and sought their views.

Amendments were made and all views considered in determining what were the Units and Elements of competence. We were looking for a generic set of competencies that could be applied to all service situations (private and public sector). Once we achieved this we would construct the competencies in such a way that any Industry or Organisation could readily convert them to their own specific competence set.

The competencies are constructed in accordance with the NTB's standards for competence. We have sought feedback from the NTB on construct and content during the development process.

The process of development has taken twelve months and consumed in excess of two and a half person years of internal resource.

Step Two - Measuring/Benchmarking

This area is critical in behaviour modification. The view of one person in this process is flawed. Classic models of assessment don't work well because there can be a range of behaviours that are appropriate at various times. Moreover people's behaviours can be greatly changeable depending on the situation and the pressure they are under. If they are being assessed only by a person who doesn't see all of their performance the assessment is not accurate.

To create a more realistic feedback process we developed a 360 degree profiling tool that asks the person, their manager, their peers, their subordinates and where possible their customers to rate their behaviour over the full competency set.

The responses are compared to an Australian database covering 15 organisations. The person being assessed has their scores charted against this database to give over 12 Industries with over 1700 responses.

The measurement system is automated and runs under a user-friendly Windows environment to allow the change agents to acquire performance data for workplace teams, locations, business units, and organisations.

Step Three - Giving Performance Feedback

People need a reason to change behaviour. There is nothing to be gained by saying "you must change" if people don't firstly acknowledge that they need to change.

The only way to get individual commitment to change is to give accurate, factually based feedback on individual performance.

In our process each person is given feedback on how their ratings compared to the norming sample and to their own organisation's average performance.

With this information the individual can target where they need to improve, and importantly they can base this decision on many views, not a one-on-one situation where personality clashes may interfere with objectivity.

Step Four - Training Delivery

The training must be competency based, of course, but the most important thing about behaviour change is that the training MUST take place over time, and it MUST include a variety of delivery methods to ensure that messages challenge all of the senses.

The program we developed for customer service delivery includes:

Computer Facilitated Learning

for exchange of information and testing of knowledge retention

Discussion Groups

for engaging people in debate about applying the learning to actual workplace problems

Face to Face training

for practising skills

Correspondence exercises

for having individuals analyse issues in the workplace and report on how they apply the program material to resolving or improving those issues

Project Work

for ensuring that each person experiences external anchoring of their experience to those in other organisations.

Step Five - Re-Assessment

This is a critical part of the success of the change process. If participants in a change process know at the beginning that they are to be re-assessed they are more committed to affecting change. What you measure is what you get! No measurement - no change.

People need a snapshot of how they are doing: "I've been trying - have I been successful?" This process gives them valuable feedback on their achievement.

The re-assessment can be conducted as many times as desired (with appropriate intervals between) giving the organisation the opportunity to engage in a continual improvement process. We also recommend that the organisation use the feedback data as a part of the formal performance management process.

It should be noted that in all 360-degree feedback that we have given over the past two years, most people feel that the assessments are very accurate, and we can show improvements in the correlation between the different views in second and subsequent assessments.

Step Six - Analysis of Changes

The organisation should use the re-assessment data to evaluate not only individual change, but changes that have occurred in strategic groupings within the organisation.

This analysis will assist in pinpointing organisational "blockages" that are causing retardation of the change process. For example, if a particular Division is lead by a person who does not create a customer focused culture, the change recorded by their Division may be out of sync with the rest of the organisation.

Step Seven - Reconciling Behaviour Change to the Bottom Line

This is the area that most managers struggle with. They will say: "Changes in behaviour don't always equate with improvements in the bottom line performance of the organisation". If this is the case, then either the wrong behaviours are incorporated in the standards, or the management practices are working counter to the efforts of the front line staff.

The organisation should be able to identify improvements in revenues, productivity, costs, or any number of other statistical performance indicators.

Step Eight - Step One

The process goes on. We review the standards, re-assess and continually improve.