Dumb Contact

This week I listened to an interesting podcast on the customer service experience from the User Experience Podcast site.  The specific interview I am referring to is about half way down the page and is numbered '42' and called-  'The bizarre myth of customer service: an interview with David Jaffe'.  

A link to the full 27 minute long interview is here.

David Jaffe is a consultant and author on customer service topics, most notably the co-author of a title called 'The Best Service is No Service', written with the former chief of customer service at Amazon.com.

I have not read the book, but in the podcast Jaffe makes some salient points about the typical problems in many large organizations  customer service efforts - using the wrong metrics, not extracting competitive intelligence from customer service interactions, not empowering customer service agents to really solve problems.  Many of these problems in the customer service office could also be applied to the service efforts that HR organizations provide as well, but in particular three principles that Jaffe identifies in the podcast really resonated in light of some recent work I have been involved with.

Eliminating dumb contact

'Dumb' contact are those emails, calls, or queries that service agents have to respond to that really should be 'self-solved', from either easy to find content on a intranet, from asking a colleague, or by posting a question to an internal forum or other tool to foster crowd-based customer support.  These 'dumb contact' interactions, while singularly not very time consuming, accumulate over time, and as the organization scales become a drag and draw on overall ability to support more complex and significant issues. HR - how many times do you feel like you are answering the same questions, over and over?

The policy shield

Customer service agents often have official company policies around product returns, refunds, discounts, etc., that can end up becoming a kind of 'shield' they use to hide behind.  Who hasn't heard a customer service agent state, 'I am sorry but I am not allowed to help you, our policy says blah, blah, blah'. Agents can then hide safely behind the shield until the customer gives up or goes away. HR organizations operate under the same policy restraints certainly, and while many policies in HR are truly 'must follows', perhaps involving legal or compliance issues, the larger majority are self-imposed.  Making it too easy to hide behind policy shields in the customer service environment often leads to more frustrated customers, that see you as inflexible, unfeeling, and simply not easy to do business with.  And it also frustrates the front line responders, who are not fully empowered to support customers and solve problems.

Extracting Intelligence

Often in customer service interactions, insight and intelligence into customer behaviors, competitive actions, and overall satisfaction with the products/services and company itself can be gleaned. But the problem is that by focusing almost solely on classic service metrics (call answer time, issue closing, repeat calls), the service organization does not really focus on collecting this intelligence. Since the agents and supervisors are not measured on collecting and sharing this insight, it often goes uncaptured.  I think the same thing is true in HR, we survey the entire employee population annually, and often review and take action on those results (hopefully), but likely don't do anything with the intelligence that can be extracted from the typical volume of calls and emails to the HR service center. What are employees asking about?  What programs or activities are generating confusion, interest, or concern?  What are the Top 10 most informative comments that employees made this month?  

There are many more interesting points in the podcast about improving customer service in organizations, and for me, lots of cross-application to the HR function, at least the component of the function that is essentially in direct customer service. 

Have a listen and better still, let me know where else HR can learn from great customer service organizations.

Deliver the Wow

Cleaning up my trusty travel backpack from the last several weeks of traveling to events like HR Florida, HR Technology, and this week HR Southwest, and I found a small slip of paper in one of the pockets that said simply, 'Deliver the Wow'.flickr - wiedmaier

The phrase sounded familiar, but I could not remember why I jotted it down.  I dug into one of my vendor-branded notebooks from one of these trips (my favorite swag),  and discovered the source of the 'Wow' quote.  

At the HR Technology Conference during one of the vendor 'shootout' sessions, (where vendors are asked to demonstrate live their solutions to several common and important talent management processes), one of the vendors, (I honestly can't remember which one), was running through the steps and functionality around performance management and appraisal processes.

The demonstration highlighted the application's ability to assign and rank the importance of key competencies to a given role, and allowed the manager to evaluate the employee on their degree of demonstrated mastery of the identified competencies.  It was solid, if not spectacular functionality, pretty much all the performance management solutions provide that kind of capability today. 

But what caught my attention was that in the demonstration of manager assessment of employee competencies for a role in a Customer Service position, one of the specific competencies that was being rated was called 'Deliver the Wow'.

Tucked neatly right alongside some standard competencies like 'Demonstrates Integrity' and 'Customer Focus' was this sort of out of place seeming competency called 'Deliver the Wow'.  It seemed to me that it really did fit though.  So many of the traditional competencies that get assigned in performance management processes are really hard to measure and assess effectively and objectively.

How exactly do you rate someone on 'Ethical Behavior?' By noting the employee did not steal out of the till 98% percent of the time?.  By taking careful inventory of the supply cabinet to make sure no one nicked a ream of paper for their kids middle school book reports? I guess we just assume most people are behaving ethically if we don't catch them not behaving ethically and leave it at that.  But when performance management processes force the manager to give a numerical or some other ranking on an 'Ethics' competency, then what really justifies a 3 or 4?  It is kind of an all-or-nothing thing I think, and then it becomes sort of irrelevant.

But something like 'Deliver the Wow', that has some potential. The successful demonstration of delivering 'Wow' moments, whether to external or internal customers seems easier to assess, and likely a better mark of differentiation across employees in a given role. How does the manager know which employees are really successful in 'Wow' delivery? 

Well, they probably already know. There probably is a paper trail of 'Wow' moments. Unsolicited email testimonials from enthused customers, internal or external (LinkedIn?) recommendations from colleagues and partners, or even special recognition at holiday time from vendors (warning, do not use for folks in Purchasing). It is not so easy to 'know' about focus, ethics, and other more nebulous concepts.

In fact, Delivering the Wow is probably a competency, if you are a believer in identifying and assessing these kinds of things at appraisal time, that should be on everyone's performance plan. 

The HR Technology Conference vendor shootouts are really all about the solution, and this particular solution, like all of them, was tight, capable, and effectively demonstrated the required functionality. But to me, the most interesting aspect of the demonstrations was 'Deliver the Wow', and it to my recollection was not mentioned by the presenter or anyone in the audience. 

The technology on display was fantastic, awesome even.  But 'Delivering the Wow' is more awesome. 

Any solution you buy for Performance Management these days will let you evaluate any competency you like, but not all of them will make it easier for you to Deliver the Wow.

That is if you are trying to measure for Wow in the first place.

HR Southwest - Do I have to talk about my feelings?

The afternoon of the first day of HR Southwest was fun - good sessions, a lively (and complete with the expected technical issues), live broadcast of the HR Happy Hour show, and capped off by an enjoyable tweet-up sponsored by Aquire Software.

The most interesting session I attended was presented by Adele Lynn, and centered on Emotional Intelligence, and how in the interview process the recruiter/hiring manager/HR Professional can learn how to look for and assess the 'Emotional Intelligence' of a given candidate.  

Ms. Lynn defines 'Emotional Intelligence' as the 'ability to manage your relationships with others so that you can live your intentions and values'.

In the application of the Emotional Intelligence model to recruiting and interviewing, the interviewer attempts to take the widely practiced 'Behavioral Interviewing' method ' 'Tell me about a time when...' and extend it with questions that gauge the emotional intelligence of the candidate - 'How did it feel when...' and 'What did you learn about the experience?' and 'How were you changed by the experience?'

The theory being by supplementing behavioral based questions with emotional based questions, the interviewer can get a fuller, truer picture of the candidate, how the candidate will respond in challenging situations, and even the ability and potential of the candidate to grow and develop with experience.

Ms. Lynn was an engaging speaker, and throughout the presentation gave practical examples (many using recorded interviews) to illustrate the key points, and challenge the audience to think more deeply about the EI approach.  You can learn more about EI from her many books on the subject.

I like the idea of the EI approach, at least from the organizational side.  Any technique that leads to better, more aligned hires is valuable. If I were a candidate, I would not be so sure. 

It's hard enough to craft a solid resume, negotiate an ATS and labyrinth application process to get in the door.

Now I have to talk about my feelings too? Crap.

HR Southwest - Morning Day 1

HR Conferences start early in Texas.  It was pitch dark this morning on the short walk from the hotel over to the HR Southwest conference at the massive Fort Worth Conference center.  

An early start was needed to be able to attend one of the opening sessions that all kicked off at 7:00AM. 

Fortunately, for those of us that shook off the BBQ cobwebs from Sunday night, the HR Southwest organizers had supplied us well with piping hot Starbucks coffee.  

I don't care what anyone says, conferences that get the coffee right get a leg up on the entire event.

The early session I attended, with about 50 or so other early risers, was called 'Creativity Boot Camp for Leaders and Trainers', presented by Candy Whirley. Candy did a good job of engaging the attendees at such an early hour with a series of exercises that can be incorporated in various training and team building environments, (identifying your personal approach to creative thinking, building and branding a new team identity using games and props, and organizing the group along behavioral styles).

I think at that early hour, the group did appreciate the interactive nature of the session (an activity called 'Go Fish' was used to illustrate the importance of inclusion and incorporation of diverse thought). Again, the 50 or so attendees seemed to enjoy and identify with the lessons, and Candy was active and lively throughout.

The final activity required the attendees to self-identify into one of four 'animal' groups, Chameleons, Lions, Lambs, and Owls.  I won't get into all the definitions of each group, save to say that about half the attendees, all HR professionals, classified themselves as 'Lambs'. 

That seemed a bit scary to me, about half the room identifying with the 'Lamb' archetype, which from Candy's own book are often successful in occupations like Nurse, Receptionist, and Social Worker.

Which one are you do you think?  Lion, Chameleon, Lamb?

Or something else entirely?

First.

Sharpen your axe

The best piece of writing I read this week was not in a book, in a blog, a magazine, or in some kind of other forum we'd associate with 'good writing'.Famous Red

It was the instruction manual for a product that I don't even own, an Axe from the Best Made Company. 

Sure, I get what you're thinking, does a tool as simple as an axe really need a complex or lengthy instruction manual?

No, it really doesn't.  And the folks from Best Made realize that as well, in fact they offer an abbreviated version of the already compact set of axe instuctions as follows: 

Note: This manual consists of a short version and a long one. The short one goes like this: Keep your blade sharp, your helve moist, and everything clean.

The manual then does offer a 'long' version, no more that a few hundred words along with color illustrations that simply, clearly, and in a straightforward and easy style take the reader through more details regarding safety, cleaning, and maintenance of the tool.  What a superb idea, to provide the simplest possible set of instructions for those for whom that will suffice, supplemented with more detailed information for beginners or casual axe-wielders.

The axe manual makes the necessary points and covers the essentials without being superfluous, unnecessarily confusing, and by connecting 'what' the axe owner should do with the 'why' of the recommendations.  If your axe blade is dull, it will be harder to chop, take longer to restore the edge, and you or someone are more likely to get hurt.

The manual even advises against loaning the axe to friends and family: 

They may even ask if they can borrow yours. By all means, do not say yes. It has been our experience that once an item is lent to someone else—even a family member—it never returns in the same condition, if it returns at all. So when someone asks if they can borrow your Best Made axe to take to the cabin, it’s best to politely decline and inform them that they can purchase their very own from Best Made Co. This will help lessen the tension at family and social gatherings, because, admit it, there’s enough tension already.

Funny stuff.  And it also helps to connect the owner to the product and cement the ownership experience.  

Why am I blogging about the owner's manual for an axe?  

Because to me this is an example of what I personally need to strive for more often in writing - it's engaging, contains important information without being too self-important, makes the connections simply and effectively, refers the reader to useful resources outside the company, and finally does not drone on and on boring everyone to tears. 

The full PDF of the axe manual is here - even if you don't own an axe, don't intend on ever owning an axe, you might find the manual useful, I did.