Anti Service

We have been on strategic retreats, done all the right things, the MBA checklist is ticked off, and yet, the company, department, or as individuals we veer off track. It seems to happen every year.

Problem: The company does not seem to have traction and keeps veering off course.

I am interested in helping companies, and people (individuals) move beyond ‘the vision thing’ to answer the fundamental questions of why it cannot cope with the road ahead. Essentially it comes down to examining how the company interacts with the outside world. This interaction is known as delivery, a.k.a. service. We will look at the problems, the causes, and how to diagnose them, and some solutions. Is service really a problem in your organisation? To find out, let’s look at the different types of service and how it can be diagnosed.

There are are quite obviously different levels of service, but beyong good and bad. I am a mad soccer follower. I have played since I was four.

Anti service is seen regularly in a competitive arena. As a player, or even coach I am trying as hard as I can to NOT serve the competition. I am not going to try to help them score a goal.

We do the same in business where we try to beat the competition. Sometimes we have the same competitiveness and anti-service towards people in our own organisation. We see this often with two car salesmen rushing towards us in a car yard, or two middle managers fighting for a promotion. We also see it in our interactions with customers. You will see examples in call centres.

The staff are measured on call response times, to turn the calls over as quickly as possible. You will also see this in some Banking Teller situations, or even airlines trying to turn the plane as soon as possible. The customer may require more time but the staff member is encouraged to do the opposite.

You can see the same behaviour in a Doctor’s surgery. At other times you will see Anti Service in companies that are self assured of their own importance. We have the best product and customers should be privileged to use the service. Sometimes you see this in Monopolies such as government services.

Next posting is Forced Service..... Steven