Have a Layout That Lets Employees Succeed

The secretaries had just completed customer service training, and they were excited. The company had invested in them, and they had learned some great tips on how to effectively manage calls and walk-in visitors.

They had learned great techniques for diffusing upset and irate customers. They learned how to be more proactive in their communications to have fewer complaining customers as well.

Just as exciting to them was that on Monday they were going to walk into a newly renovated office! The secretaries had been operating out of a makeshift office for the past four weeks, and they were thrilled to be getting rid of their tiny temporary quarters and get into a more professional and well-decorated environment.

As they entered the new offices on Monday morning, their excitement and smiles quickly turned to frowns. The new computers were setup facing the far walls, so that as customers entered the offices, the employees would have their backs to them. How would the secretaries know when a customer entered? Would the secretaries have to turn around from their computers every 10 seconds to see if anyone was standing there?

And the telephones were located on the back wall. So if the secretary was helping a walk-in customer, she'd have to turn around, and go to the back wall to answer the phone. The rack that holds the office forms was located at the desk where the computers sat, so the secretaries would have to walk over to the computers to get the forms for the walk-in customers to serve them.
Who designed this office?

It surely wasn't somebody who was focused on delivering great customer service. The employees had been excited about their new knowledge and skills learned in training, but now they had an office setup that was setting them up for failure.

Delivering stellar customer service requires more than smiling and making eye contact. It requires a company with a "systems" mindset for service. What is the entire service process or system like? What's the most efficient and customer-friendly way to serve a customer?

Organizations that truly want to be great at customer service will design their facilities to make it easy on the employee to be organized, efficient, and customer-focused.
Assess your facility for its service shortcomings. Then change the layout to let your employees succeed.

You're Invited

A Message of Thanks from Jerry Pinkard

The IST 2007 Balanced Scorecard is now available for your review. IST improved its Scorecard results dramatically over 2006. 10 measures were exemplary, four were successful and one needs improvement.
These are great scores and you all should be proud of our accomplishments. IST continues to achieve exemplary in the key Customer Satisfaction measure, and was greatly improved in employee measures.
Another key measure is the Technology Resources satisfaction from the Employee Climate Survey. IST has countywide responsibility for that measure and it was also exemplary.
Achieving this level of success is a team effort that required significant contributions by every team and every person in the department. I want to thank everyone in IST for contributing to our success in 2007.
Please visit http://newmeckweb/C6/ISTADMIN/Lists/Announcements/Attachments/13/FY07BSC%200607%20Final.xls to review the Balanced Scorecard results.

Customers Praise IST Employees

Take a look at some of the e-mails sent to our IST-Praise mailbox:

"Just wanted to say what a wonderful job Brandon Smith did today helping me with a document that I was struggling with. He was helpful and did not make me feel like an idiot for asking the questions that I asked."

"I would like to nominate Wendy Smith for a Star Perks Card.
Unfortunately, because Wendy and I are at different locations, I do not get the opportunity to work with her often, but when I do, it is a wonderful experience. She is always pleasant to deal with it and takes care of issues quickly and efficiently. She has been particularly helpful in helping me with invitations for the new Help Desk location at the HMA. I have asked Wendy to take care of several issues for me over the last several weeks and she has done so quickly, with a smile and has asked if there is anything else she can do to help.
THAT is excellent customer service.
Thank you, Wendy."

"Congratulations are in order for Candice Broadie, who is moving on to a new position with Mecklenburg County in project management with County Finance and IT. Candice has been a terrific asset to AMH over the past couple of years as she managed three significant IT projects successfully. We wish her well and appreciate all that she has done for AMH. Of her many contributions perhaps the most significant was that of teaching AMH staff the detail of the RFP process and, through project management and facilitation, enabling those teams to take ownership of the replacement process and thereby setting the stage for confidently selecting our next software packages."

IST Celebration Scheduled for Wednesday!

Come celebrate our outstanding Balanced Scorecard, Customer Satisfaction and Employee Climate Results on Wednesday, August 29. A lunch of hamburgers, veggie burgers, hotdogs, side dishes, drinks and desserts will be served at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The 265 acre park has six tennis courts, two basketball courts, five soccer fields, horseshoe pits, boats, a stocked fishing lake and a trail for walking or biking.