This past week, we looked into a customer’s case that couldn’t seem to find a resolution through the normal channels.
The string of emails went back at least a week and finally, reached me with the request . . . . Please decide if we should allow X or if we should not allow X? Although tempted to make an immediate decision we decided to ask for clarification. We called a few people and got enough information to lead us to our billing department. After 5 minutes in billing, it became clear that the customer request would not be possible based on the structure of the account in the system. To meet the customer’s needs we could change the structure of the account. We spoke to accounting and ensured the findings were correct and the proposed solution would be acceptable. We called those making the request on behalf of the customer and reported our finding. Total time, 20 minutes, 2 phone calls.
So, what caused this issue to take over a week?
Lack of depth in the intention to reach a true solution.
In spite of the 7 people that touched this customer issue, none of them went deep enough to find solid clues that would help in the determination of the next step. Instead, most people were accepting other people’s ideas as to the potential cause or problem. I heard that Mr. X said, I think I saw an email that said you can’t do that. Because no one actually had hard facts, everyone in the chain was making assumptions as to why the problem existed and how it could be fixed. The result was at least 4 fictitious solutions for problems that didn’t necessarily exist and a lot of “he said, she said” – The broken telephone game – remember?
When boiled down I can see lack of ownership at each step. Ownership doesn’t mean one has to solve the problem alone. It means that we have to be committed to finding, verifying and questioning facts in order to find the root cause and thereby a potential solution. We have to be willing to push through the quagmire of policy, process and educated guesses until the root cause surrenders ”white flag” and all.
Then, and only then, will most reasonable rational management be willing to take action in changing policy or process.
Ownership means having the tenacity to find the root cause.
February 3, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
As leaders, it is imperative that our team has the vision, motivation and accountability of our Mission. Seeing our customers through resolution, in my opinion, should always be a fail-safe uncompromising value that is part of the culture in the organization. Tenacity must be a non-negotiable!
Great example, I enjoyed it .. !
March 2, 2008 at 11:08 am |
Yes, it all goes back to having the Right People in the Right Seats at the Right Time. I’m not sure why companies don’t have departments that research crazy issues like such and build standard processes based on their findings. It sounds like the people that handled this case the first time around would have given the right answer if they had the proper support tools to handle such a call.