Click here if you missed Better Engaged Employees – Part 1: Initiating the Goal.
The Plan
Utilizing the 10 Tenets of Customer Service, my plan was to provide some context to the changes that were happening within the Company. By focusing on one Tenet each week for 10 consecutive weeks, each class would build on the previous class and address customer service best practices from both employee and Company standpoints.
Living Customer Service
Since I was trying to improve the quality of service our team provided to its customers, I wanted to ensure that my customers – the Billing and Payments employees – knew that I had taken their needs into consideration. If I was going to talk about the importance of customer service and how it set our company apart from our competitors, I needed to lead by example.
The employees’ regular workday was 8AM – 5PM and our agent offices opened at 9AM. That meant that 8AM – 9AM was the ideal timeframe for the class because it would have minimal impact on the current workflow. Knowing that the morning commute isn’t always easy, I chose 8:15AM as the start time so that everyone had the chance to arrive and get settled prior to class. Each class ended at 8:45AM so that everyone could return to their desks and prepare for the flood of calls to follow.
Accountability
As you can probably guess, few were thrilled about being required to take this training given the amount of work they had on their plates. I made it mandatory for all employees and their supervisors to attend the class each week because it was important to have everyone in the department on the same page. I included some scheduling flexibility into the course by allowing individuals to choose which day of the week they would attend. With more than 125 people in the department, this made the classes more manageable by distributing the attendance over 5 days. And, yes, I taught the same class five days in a row. After every session, I would initial each person’s tracking sheet to verify that they had completed the class. My fellow supervisors held their direct reports accountable by incorporating attendance and course completion into everyone’s performance objectives for the year.
I Made an Impact!
By the end of the 10th week, there was a decidedly different atmosphere in the department. The feedback from the employees and the supervisors was positive. Morale improved and people seemed to handle stress more effectively.
In order to measure the course’s impact, I gathered quantitative data immediately prior to the course and then two weeks after the course ended. The analysis showed that the five hours of training each employee received over the 10-week period helped contribute to a 25% decrease in customer complaints and a 10% reduction in employee turnover.
My skeptical manager was so impressed that she shared the positive results with the leadership of the Regional Office. A few weeks later, I was recognized by the Company for creating and implementing this course and received the Regional Special Merit Achievement Award.
Perhaps the highest compliment was the encouragement I received from the management team and the employees to continue the weekly classes. I happily agreed because I saw this as an opportunity to address additional needs such as phone skills, writing skills, computer skills, and compliance training. The classes continued over the course of the following year and were well attended although most were no longer mandatory.
What’s next?
By sharing this story, my hope is that other Agents of Engagement will be able to implement the course and produce similar results in their organization
The purpose of the next 11 posts will be to provide guidance on teaching the course described above – 10 Tenets of Customer Service. I’ll start with how to prepare for the course and then I’ll provide information and recommendations on how each class can be used to re-engage or further engage employees within your company.
Let’s Engage!
I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.
Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.
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Email me at g…@a…t.com.
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Learn more about me at gregoryfsimpson.com.
P.S. First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.
