top ten topics for service delivery

8/7/2019 TOP TEN TOPICS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

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TOP TEN TOPICS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

Training is profoundly strategic. It¶s a process aimed at improving the single most important

resource in the organization: people. Nothing affects customer loyalty more than the behaviors and

competencies of employees. Training is the most effective way to communicate the correct behaviorsand competencies that will keep customers coming back.At its core, training is very straightforward:

Figure out what competencies are required for personnel to effectively serve their customers, and

take action to address gaps in competency. The challenge comes in trying to build a system that will

deliver. With good intentions, organizations often build unwieldy systems that are both confusing

and doomed to failure. That¶s why training process must be carefully designed, with an eye toward

relevance, simplicity and customer expectations.

Let¶s start with an understanding of the starting point for training, which is competency. Competence

is the ability to apply knowledge and skills in a job situation. In other words, it¶s the condition that

enables someone to successfully drive customer loyalty. There are countless topics on which

employees can be trained, but resources for training are finite. Organizations must choose the critical

few training topics that drive customer focus and the organization¶s long-term success. The 10 most

critical training topics companies should select are as follows:

1. The organization¶s mission and strategy. The mission is an organization¶s core reason for

existence: serving its customers. Employees need to understand this fact in no uncertain

terms. The message needs to come from the highest levels of the organization to reinforce

its credibility.

Strategy defines exactly how the organization is going to deliver on its mission. Many

organizations treat their strategies as big secrets. The only problem with secrets is that they

aren¶t good communication tools. If employees are going to help drive the organization¶s

strategy (which they must so it can work), they have to understand exactly what the strategy

is. Pick the relevant pieces of the strategy as they relate to individuals¶ roles within the

organization. When the strategy clearly focuses on customers and their expectations, its

relevance becomes obvious to everyone.

2. H ow to present a professional appearance and attitude. Professionalism is an attribute

that has become rare. How many times have you been put off by the appearance and

attitude of someone by whom you were supposed to be served? It¶s an almost daily



occurrence. Disgusting and disinterested employees are among the biggest liabilities that an

organization can possess.

The best way to let employees understand how they should look and act is to provide

explicit guidelines. Don¶t leave it up to individuals¶ powers of creativity and interpretation;

give them clear rules for dress and behavior. Then enforce the rules consistently for all

members of the organization.

3. H andling customer complaints. Even in the best organizations, customers sometimes

complain. The fact that customers complain isn¶t nearly as important as how the

organization deals with the complaints. All employees who have even the most remote

chance of receiving a customer complaint should receive training that lets them know how

to record the complaint, what kind of details to capture, where the complaint should go

after being recorded and how to empathize with the customer in an appropriate manner.

Customers get irate with employees who don¶t know how to handle their complaints. This

kind of ignorance only makes a bad situation much worse. On the other hand, employees

who are trained in handling complaints can diffuse potential disasters and build customer

loyalty.

4. E ffective communication. Communication is one of the weakest competencies within

organizations. It¶s also a weakness that has an enormous affect on customer loyalty and

satisfaction. When employees can¶t communicate clearly, problems are bound to happen:

customer requirements are lost, messages are muddled, information is misinterpreted and

people inevitably get angry. It¶s categorically impossible to breed customer loyalty when

employees can¶t communicate effectively.

Employees should receive training on the types of communication most appropriate to their

customer interactions. These include the following:y Listening skills. This is possibly the weakest link in the communication formula. Simply

put, most people like to talk but few like to listen. Organizational members need to

understand that listening to customers and really understanding what they¶re saying, isabsolutely critical.y N onverbal communication. The way somebody stands, sits and moves often conveys

much more than his/her words. Training should include guidance on appropriatenonverbal communication.

y P roper use of language. English is a constantly evolving language. Despite this fact,there should be clear guidelines for how employees speak and the kind of words they use. Language to be avoided at all costs includes slang, street rap, profanity, off-colorhumor, derogatory remarks and political rants.



y W ritten communication. As hard as verbal and nonverbal communication is, writtencommunication is even harder. One of the reasons it¶s so difficult is that written wordsare often misinterpreted. Written communication must be carefully constructed, withan eye toward simplicity and brevity. Employees must get plenty of opportunities topractice writing skills, along with feedback on the effectiveness of their writing.

5.

Time management. Failure to manage time means that customers won¶t be served.

Organizations rarely provide guidance on how employees can best use their time. Much to

the contrary, organizations tend to build bureaucracies, ensuring that employees will fail to

use their time effectively. Some of the keys to time management include planning each day

in advance, prioritization of tasks, avoidance of activities that distract from priorities,

meetings that are brief and timely, and information provided at the point of use. Nonwork-

related temptations, such as unlimited Internet surfing and chatting with friends on the

telephone, should be controlled. A little bit of oversight usually goes a long way.

6. Root cause analysis. The ability to investigate a problem and identify its root cause is

critical to customer loyalty. After all, most customers are willing to endure occasional

problems if the organization aggressively attacks their causes and prevents recurrence.

Inability to address the root cause guarantees customer dissatisfaction.

Everyone in the organization should receive training on problem solving, root cause analysis

and the use of simple analytical tools that will enable them to solve problems. After

receiving training, employees need the opportunity to practice. Effective root cause analysis

is a skill that rarely comes naturally.

7. S afety. Customers should care if employees are safe because a lack of safety delays

processes, causes defects and drives up costs. Ultimately, a lack of safety will doom the

organization. Training employees to work in a safe manner may not ensure customer

loyalty, but a lack of safety will certainly negatively affect it over the long term.

8. Business ethics. Remember all those fundamentals that everyone was taught in

kindergarten? Well, not everybody learned them. I¶m talking about: ³don¶t lie,´ ³don¶t

cheat,´ ³don¶t steal´ and ³play nice.´ These principles can be lumped into a category called

business ethics. Over the last couple of decades, the notion of ethics has seemed quaint and

outmoded to some organizations. Their attitude seems to be, ³We¶re here to succeed, and

we¶re going to do anything it takes to be No. 1.´ Never mind if that results in unethical and



sometimes illegal behavior.

Unethical behavior can destroy an organization. Reputable customers don¶t want to

associate with organizations that bend rules and violate accepted standards of conduct.

Training of employees should include specific guidelines on ethical practices, with lots of

examples that people can relate to. Then it¶s up to top management to model ethical

behavior in their day-to-day activities. Years of ethics training can be undone in a matter of

minutes when organizational members see that their leaders don¶t practice what they

preach.

9. H ow to propose improvement ideas. Organizations are full of creative people. They¶re

always discovering new and improved ways of doing things. You don¶t even have to ask

people to find improvements; they¶ll generally do it on their own. The organization should

to provide a way to communicate and standardize improvements. One person with an

excellent method is nice, but when that excellent method has been adopted by everyone, it

has enormous implications. Suggestion systems are one way to formally solicit people¶s

ideas for improvement (for information on suggestion systems, refer to The Continual

Improvement Process: From Strategy to the Bottom Line, (2004, Paton Press). A simple open-

door policy can also be a tool for organizational members to communicate their ideas to

leadership. Whatever the method, train employees to seek improvements and how to

communicate them once they¶re found. And make sure they think about improvements from

the perspective of their customers.

10. Document control. This may seem like an unusual training topic to drive customer focus.

However, document control has a huge affect on customer loyalty. It¶s an invisible process

to most customers, but they¶re directly affected by its effectiveness. Think about how many

errors result from someone having the wrong specification, requirements, order or

instruction. Having the correct information is nothing more than document control. All

employees should receive training on the organization¶s process for document control,

including how documents can be revised, who approves revisions, where the currentversions of documents are located and what to do with obsolete documents.

These 10 topics are by no means the only training issues that affect the customer. Depending on the

nature of your organization, there may be others. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer and

think about the kinds of training you would expect organizational members to have. Even better, ask



a few customers about the kind of training they would like to see you provide your people. Their

input might surprise you. Keep the training focused on issues that affect the customer and you can

never go very far off course.

TOP TEN PEOPLE TRAINING TOPICS

. Behavioral Interviewing

There is nothing more important than hiring the right people. Hiring the right person for the right job

provides tremendous organizational benefits by increasing employee productivity, reducing training time,

and controlling the high cost of employee turnover²not to mention the positive impact on team morale.

You¶d think, with double-digit unemployment rates across the country, that it would be easy to hire right

now«right? Well, maybe. Read more«

2. Business Writing

Many experts estimate that as much as 90% of human communication comes from non-verbal clues such as

voice inflection and body language. In business writing, however, you have only the words to get your

meaning across, so the way the writer uses those words becomes more important. On-the-job writing

matters²to your company, to your readers, and to you as a writer. From sales proposals to client emails tointernal communications, your employees represent your organization every time they write an email or

craft a document. Read more«

3. Coaching/Mentoring

Coaching can help managers and supervisors provide a structure for enabling their employees to achieve

high performance. But the bewildering array of both available resources and management duties can

complicate the process. What situations call for coaching vs. counseling? What¶s the difference in coaching

and performance management? How exactly do you give constructive feedback? Read more«

4. DiSC

There are, of course, many different assessment tools that rate behavior, preference, attitudes, etc. and

provide a framework for understanding the way in which you see the world and the differing ways in which

others may approach the same set of facts or circumstances. Myers-Briggs/MBTI, Emergenetics, Lominger,

Insights and many others remain popular, but the most common tool we see clients utilizing is theDiSC. Read more«

5. Emotional Intelligence/EQ

All managers can relate horror stories about employees or team members who were clearly intelligent,

technically capable, and able to perform the duties their job demanded«and who wreaked havoc on their

teams because their social skills or self-management capability was lacking. When it comes to individual and

team success, IQ is not enough; in fact, the skill set known as Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has consistently

proven to be a better indicator of workplace success. Read more«

6. Facilitation Skills

Most of us feel like we spend too much time in meetings. Meetings that are too long. Meetings that have too

many participants. Meetings that don¶t have clear objectives. Meetings that get sidetracked by off-topic

discussions. Meetings can be a waste of time«but with an effective facilitator, that doesn¶t have to be the

case. Read more«

7. Harassment Prevention/Respectful Work Environment

Even when training budgets are tight, harassment prevention and awareness remains a topic of interest to

many organizations due to the legal liability issues that can be involved. Ensuring that both individual

contributors and managers understand the policies/procedures and responsibilities of the organization is

essential, but may not be enough. Read more«

8. Networking Skills

Networking«it isn¶t just for salespeople! Although for many people the word ³networking´ conjures up a

cringe-inducing image of a pushy salesperson shoving a business card into every hand she can find, the



reality is that networking is about serving as a resource²about giving, not taking²and it¶s essential for both

individual and organizational success.Read more«

9. Project Management

In past years, much of the project management training offered by organizations was geared towards those

employees who were planning to become a Project Management Professional (PMP) and whose job title or

function specifically encompassed a formal project management role. Today, however, we see organizations

recognizing that many employees manage projects (albeit on a less formal basis) and recognizing the

benefits of a project management overview. Read more«

10. Work-Life Balance/Stress Management

It goes without saying that the state of the economy, mass layoffs, and ever-increasing demands on our

employees¶ time creates a perfect storm of stress. The negative impacts of stress can range from the

physical to the mental and can have devastating impacts on both individuals and teams. Organizations are

exploring a variety of resources they can offer to help weather the storm. Read more«

Wishing you an excellent and productive 2010!

top ten topics for service delivery

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