The Customer Service Revolution

Transcription

The Customer
Service
Revolution
A City of Markham Innovation
+IPAC Award for Innovative
Management Finalist 2014
+Backgrounder
May 7 2014
CUSTOMER SERVICE REVOLUTION
21st Century Challenges for the Public Sector
Like many Canadian
municipalities, the City
of Markham is facing
the dual challenges of
intensifying fiscal
pressures and rising
citizen expectations for
service delivery.
In Markham, we use
Excellence Canada's
Framework for
Municipalities to guide
our journey toward
becoming as efficient
and effective as
possible while
sustaining a balance
of satisfied customers
and engaged staff.
The Customer Service
Revolution was
developed in the
context of a broader
exploration of
sustainable models for
service delivery.
Executive Summary
The Customer Service
Revolution (CSR) is a
customer-centric,
staff-driven, holistic
program of service
improvement and
organizational culture
shift, designed to meet
and align with
increasing customer
expectations for
excellence,
responsiveness and
efficiency in public
service delivery.
involved dramatically
rethinking our vision
for customer/public
service, shifting away
from transactional
service delivery
toward empowering
staff to create
exceptional customer
experiences by
focusing on their
interactions.

To achieve this
transition, the CSR
project team (which
What started as a staff included numerous
focus group on a
staff from all levels of
proactive service
the organization
model evolved into a
contributing according
large scale change
to their strengths and
project. This project
passions) achieved the
following:
•Replaced our Rules of
Conduct with the
Customer Service
Promise, which better
articulates the focus on
the customer
experience.
•Developed the
Customer Service
Philosophy, including
three principles of
excellent Customer
Service: Create the
Experience, Build
Customer
Relationships and
Exceed Expectations.
•Redeveloped and
streamlined all
customer-facing
procedures to reflect
this Philosophy.
Staff-Driven Innovation
The critical success factor of the CSR project is that it is staff -driven.
Rather than being initiated externally or imposed through top-down
processes, the Customer Service Revolution engaged front-line staff in
developing the standards and philosophy that drove the project.
This intense focus on staff engagement has both transformed the look
and feel of the service experience we offer, and instilled a sense of
personal ownership and accountability for the daily customer
experience and related customer service metrics.
By engaging staff in co-creating and co-designing all aspects of the
innovation project, the CSR has created change on every level –
consciousness, behaviour, culture and systems.
Change at the Level of Consciousness
The Revolution is designed to make change stick. Unlike many change
initiatives, it is continuously reinforced through HR practices and the
routines of daily operations:
Managers and Supervisors keep the Customer Service Revolution in
focus by sharing tips at daily shift meetings.
Staff have monthly meetings with their managers where they are
provided with clear expectations for service behaviours.
All new hires attend Orientation to the CSR to explain the standards.
The Managers’ Hot Seat forum lets staff put Managers on the spot by
asking them for guidance on the most difficult CS interactions.
We share our CS metrics with staff so they know how important CS is to
our customers.
The Core Competency Dictionary outlines the CS competencies expected
for every position – they are included in job descriptions and are the
basis for interviews and recruitment decision-making.
Change at the Level of Behaviour
The CSR Training Strategy is a comprehensive learning program that
all staff must complete – it includes training on decision making,
communication, conflict resolution, positive body language and other
important customer service skills.
The MPL-Ryerson Customer Service Intensive – part of the CSR
Training Strategy – is an intensive workshop designed in collaboration
with Ryerson University staff.
All staff receive on the job coaching where a CS Revolutionary Leader
provides real time feedback and support for colleagues.
Staff are piloting the use of headsets and tablets to enhance
communication and bring our services to where the customers are.
The CSR Training Manual provides supervisors all they need to ensure
new staff get up to speed on the CSR within their probation period.
Change at the Level of Behaviour
A project team of 25 staff came together to explore the concept of
customer service.
Start by becoming the customer – what are our expectations from
customer service when we’re the customer ?
We are all customers somewhere – how can we use this to develop our
service?
We asked the question, what is good service? Which sounds simple, but
there are a lot of assumptions and expectations about what that means
to staff and to customers.
The group shared stories about the best service they ever got – we
identified keywords (see below) and made our list of criteria for
excellent service.
Change at the Level of Culture
The Customer Service Revolution has leveraged a deeper shift in
organizational culture:
Staff buy-in because they developed the strategy.
Staff collaborate to find the best customer service solutions.
Staff model service behaviours for each other and create an
environment of learning & growth by openly sharing feedback and
recognition (Caught Being Awesome recognition program).
Staff feel empowered to handle customer issues at the first point of
contact.
Supervisors and Managers demonstrate visible leadership by being
present to support, coach and recognize staff.
Staff openly share suggestions and opportunities for CS enhancements.
Change at the Level of Systems
The Customer Service Revolution has transformed the organization at
a systemic level:
The Customer Service Promise replaces our Rules of Conduct and
emphasizes our positive relationship with our Customers.
Customer Service Standards are what staff strive to achieve in every
service interaction.
Customer Service Scorecard outlines expectations for every interaction
– staff are assessed using this scorecard to address gaps.
Recruiting Strategy – we have completely redesigned our selection
criteria and job descriptions so that every staff we hire is a CS
Revolutionary – we hire the right people to achieve our vision.
CSR Procedures 101 – we overhauled all our customer-facing
procedures to ensure they lead to the best possible experience for
customers, reduce inefficiencies and empower staff.

CSR Look & Feel Guidelines ensure staff attend to the details of the
service environment and keep our spaces looking great.
THE CUSTOMER PROMISE
As our customer, you can expect us to:
• deliver services tailored to meet your needs
• offer dynamic service by informed staff who
take ownership of every customer interaction
• acknowledge and respond to your feedback
• have fair practices and procedures while
ensuring accountability to the community
• provide welcoming spaces
We are confident that you will work with us to
ensure that all our customers share an
outstanding experience. As a customer you
will:
• respect the rights of all customers to share a
common space
• ensure the care and safety of your children
• be courteous and respectful to others
• follow our practices and procedures
We will work with you to provide an
outstanding experience.
“To deliver on the customer
promise, public sector
organizations must build
‘connected government’,
seamlessly aligning
multiple government
departments with customer
journey needs. The
‘customer promise’ is part
of the inherent agenda of
governance for the public
sector and sets out the
standard of service that the
government is required to
provide to its customers."
Wim Oosterom
Global Government Leader
PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP
The Road Ahead for Public
Service Delivery: Delivering
on the Customer Promise
Improvements in Customer Satisfaction
The Revolution has resulted in improvements in several facets of
customer service as measured by our online customer satisfaction
survey – see chart below.
More generally, our overall metric for customer satisfaction – the % of
survey respondents indicating that they are extremely or very satisfied
with their service experience – has improved from 38% in 2012 to 49%
in 2013, which exceeds our target of 45%.
Improvements in Staff Satisfaction
A recent staff “check-in” survey asked staff to respond to the question:
“What excites you about working here?”
“The positive work environment, everyone being helpful to customers
and co workers. That it's an encouraging environment that promotes
learning. It's a respectful work place and we are trained to be
professionals.”
“Helping people find the information they need and putting a smile on
their faces.”
“We are focusing on the Customer's needs, and providing resources that
are up-to-date and in demand. Customer's are being provided with a
much better environment and given a more noticeable welcome to our
library. Some customers mention how much better they feel about
coming to MPL than to other library systems.”
Lots. The encouragement to try new things. “
“Awesome co-workers, happy and helpful managers, awesome
community to service and an enjoyable job.”
“I could see that the organization is trying to change with the modern
times and not get itself stuck in it's old ways. I'm proud to be part of
MPL and learn and grow with it.”
A Transferable Revolution
The Customer Service Revolution (CSR) was first developed and
piloted by the Markham Public Library.
The City of Markham is currently implementing the CSR
approach as the first component in a City-wide Enhancing
Customer Experience project, designed to achieve the outcome of
a consistent and enhanced customer experience across all
municipal service areas.
STAFF COMMITMENTS