People vs Process

Poor customer service is a plague that afflicts many companies, frustrating customers and hurting the bottom line. While it's tempting to blame inadequate policies and procedures, the real culprit is usually a weak corporate culture.

Imagine a company with meticulously documented customer service protocols - detailed scripts, escalation paths, and service level agreements. Yet when customers call, they encounter disinterested agents who don't buy into the company's service vision. Worse still, when there are big issues requiring proactive communication, sometimes that doesn't happen at all.

At the end of last week, a big bank moved its entire online banking platform to a new address without telling customers. Worse still, customers calling to enquire about the problem were misinformed: "The platform is down, but it should be back up first thing on Saturday.”

Customers who tried to access the platform all day on Saturday could not get their money or do business. On Sunday morning, the most persistent among them were finally directed to a new URL. There was a service delivery gap of three days without adequate communication.

Now, unless the bank's IT Department was acting alone (a not unknown occurrence), a protocol associated with the change would have been pre-agreed. So, it would be reasonable to conclude that customer-facing staff were either unaware or uninterested. And so it came to pass that the best-laid plans were once again frustrated by employee behaviour.

I’m sure the bank in question, like all banks, has a wonderful set of corporate values carefully worded by a team of senior professionals. But when it comes to action, particularly in times of crisis, worthy corporate values don't seem to help.

Leadership is responsible for setting the parameters of company culture. But once they have set them, they must equip employees for success. Careful recruiting and onboarding can help, hiring not just for skills but for cultural fit. A customer-obsessed culture requires staff who genuinely care about people. No amount of training can instill that passion if it's not already there.

Policies and procedures are important guardrails, but they shouldn't handcuff employees. The best companies give frontline staff the autonomy to resolve issues creatively. Customer-facing staff who feel trusted and empowered will likely go the extra mile for customers.

And if you have an inspiring corporate brand with a clear promise and a well-articulated personality, why not try to bring that to life in both internal and external communication?

The bank in question has a brand that encourages customers to ‘Go For It.’  

But it’s hard for them to do that when they don’t know where to go.