My neighbors have an interesting note taped inside their mailbox. It reads, “Attention Letter Carrier: Please double check addresses for accuracy.” They didn’t put that note there. Their current mail carrier’s supervisor did. My neighbors had called the post office to complain that they were receiving a lot of other people’s mail. Their problem wasn’t unique. I get 4-6 pieces of incorrect mail each month. It makes me wonder who might be getting my important mail. The note inside the mailbox was the solution.
While my neighbor appreciated the supervisor’s efforts to correct the problem, something struck me as odd. Putting the correct mail in the correct mail box is the primary role of a mail carrier. Why do they need a note? It’s one thing to remind someone about a secondary or tertiary responsibility that they have. But reminding a mail carrier to deliver mail to the right house is sort of like telling a cashier to ring up the right products or reminding a lawyer to base his or her decisions on the law. Why does someone have to be reminded or prompted to execute their job?
It’s been almost thirty years since Tom Peters wrote his book, In Search of Excellence. In that time a lot has changed. Global competition has erupted. The internet has fundamentally changed the way customers interact with companies, and cost management, quarterly analyst updates, and stagnated economic growth have forced many companies to try to do more with less. There has also been a major decline in employee engagement. A recent Gallup study[1] found overall employee engagement in the U.S. to be around 30% and, more troubling, the number of employees who are actively disengaged to be 20%.
Yet, companies are still talking about excellence. Many are staking their competitive advantage and their future on excellence, especially with regard to customer experience.
Before a company can be excellent it must be competent. Over the past ten years, I’ve seen a general decline in employees’ abilities to successfully deliver the most basic services, let alone excellent service. I’ve seen this in my role as a consumer as well as in my role as a consultant working with organizations to improve employee performance.
I’m amazed at how often I can’t find help in a store and when I do find someone, he or she usually can’t answer my questions. I’ve given up calling most technical support lines as it seems like any problem requiring more than turning the device off and back on leaves them just as puzzled as me. I rarely use the drive-thru at fast food restaurants anymore since about a third of the time I find myself having to park and go inside to get my order fixed. Across the board, I’ve seen a major decline in the accuracy and quality of filling orders or completing work products. Sadly, the people performing those jobs don’t seem to care that they aren’t doing them correctly. We’ve become a culture that is satisfied just going through the motions.
As customers, instead of getting mad we’ve become conditioned and trained to accept this reality. What was once considered basic customer service (a friendly greeting, quick and informed answers, and getting the right product the first time around) is now considered an excellent user experience. So long as our interactions or transactions don’t get screwed up too badly, we feel like we are being served properly.
I don’t know if it is lack of investment, lack of resources, poor engagement, or lack of people, but many organizations struggle to deliver basic service, let alone excellent service.
Before embarking on your journey to excellence, take a critical look at your workforce. Are they able to satisfactorily do their job? If not, perhaps that is a better place upon which to focus your energy.
Brad Kolar is an executive consultant, speaker, and author. He can be reached at brad.kolar@kolarassociates.com.
[1]Gallup, State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights
for U.S. Business Leaders, 2013
