- Have you ever tried to push
a shopping cart with a broken wheel?
Try as you might, it's nearly impossible
to get it go straight.
That one wheel keeps pulling
the cart in the wrong direction.
Culture is a lot like that cart.
It's much easier to go where you want to go
when all of the wheels are aligned
and pointed in the same direction.
I'd like to share an assessment you can use
to evaluate how closely your organization, department,
or team is aligned with your customer service vision.
The first aspect is the the business goals we set
and hold our employees accountable for achieving.
The second is hiring for culture fit
which means hiring employees
who embrace our cutomer service vision.
The third is training.
Employees need knowledge and skills
to know how to contribute to our service culture.
The fourth aspect is empowerment.
We must give employees the ability to fulfill the vision.
The last aspect is leadership.
Leaders must use the customer service vision
to guide everything from strategy to communication
to even their own behavior
so they can model it for employees.
This assessment can help you identify
which aspects of your organization, department,
or team are most in need of alignment.
To complete the assessment,
you can download the Customer Service Alignment Assessment
or follow along on the screen.
To complete the assessment,
rate your organize on a scale of one,
we almost never do this,
to five, we almost always to this.
The first item focuses on goals.
We set business goals that represent progress
toward our cutomer service vision.
In other words,
are your business goals aligned with the vision?
Next is hiring.
We hire employees who are passionate
about our cutomer service vision.
This one is asking
how successful you are at hiring for culture fit.
Next is training.
Employees are given sufficient training
to teach them how to deliver service
that fits our cutomer service vision.
Number four is empowerment.
Employees are empowered with the authority,
resources, and work procedures they need
to fulfill our cutomer service vision.
Notice empowerment is more than just authority.
It's really giving employees the ability
to deliver outstanding service.
And finally, we need to evaluate leadership.
Organizational leaders reinforce our customer service vision
with their employees on a daily basis.
Once you've assigned a rating to all five elements,
tally up your score.
Your total score on the assessment
can be an indicator of alignment.
The higher the score,
the more likely various elements are working together
towards the customer service vision.
Now, don't feel too bad
if your alignment score is not very high.
Most organizations start out with a lower score
than leaders would really like to see.
Keep in mind, this is a conversation starter.
The assessment can help you prioritize
which areas you should focus on aligning
around your service culture.
In most cases, you can quickly improve your alignment score
with just a few key actions.