Comments

Tom:

On a recent plane flight I had a very engaging discussion with a retired IBM engineer who started their internal executive coaching program. Our discussion of various coaching practices included a very compelling observation that he had made after 33 years in the company. He said that "there is really no such thing as a problem in the abstract - there are only threatened commitments." It may be that you have committed to saving 10% on your overall budget or that you promised someone that a project would be completed by a certain time, or that you would only approach problem solving in a particular way. It may simply be that the commitment was a commitment to a certain idea. These commitments can also be policies and procedures, biases and all manner of stereotypical thinking.

The bottom line was that the key to resolving "problems" was in discovering what "commitment" had been made.

I think that the observation is particularly compelling. Oftentimes, our ability to solve problems is limited only by our ability to reframe our thinking in the midst of the encounter. Once we are committed to a certain mindset it is very difficult to create any sort of innovative solution.

I thought it rather interesting that the whole notion of reframing a problem as a threatened commitment was in itself an excellent example of the concept.

Posted by walter white at June 7, 2006 4:18 PM

Walter, brings to mind two superb books I endorsed: Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations.

Posted by tom peters at June 7, 2006 4:59 PM

I think you make a really good point Walter.Perhaps for staff at the front line in many organisations they are scared that if they reframe the situation to place the needs of the customer over and above the organisation's threatened commitment (to a particular performance target, for instance) they will not be rewarded for being spontaneous, human and innovative but may well be taken to task for breaking the rules. See Timpsons (UK shoe people)
for a great example of a company giving power to front line staff to decide how best to resolve the issues of individual customers (including a generous 'problem-solving' budget)

Jan Carlzon's (Scandinavian Airlines) book 'Moments of Truth' is really good on the primacy of the front-line worker.

Posted by tomjam at June 8, 2006 4:37 AM

Brilliant Tomjam and Walter - my 3 Simplicity principles are listed below. I have been promoting these since Adam was a boy .. maybe it is getting through at last.

Simplicity Tip Number 1 - Staff at the front line know ALL the answers ALL the time.

Simplicity Tip Number 2 - If managers have a job at all in 2006 it is to make it easy for front line staff to do their job with freedom.

Simplicity Tip Number 3 - Give all the money – YES ALL THE MONEY to front line staff

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 8, 2006 5:14 AM

The critical point is the human touch, too often as problems develop "confetti" is thrown in the form of multiple e-mails covering your/their position when a 5 minute telephone call trying to understand and rephrase or reframe the problem would achieve much better results.

Posted by Gordon Inglis at June 8, 2006 4:28 PM

Trevor - 3 great tips, especially for the hospitality industry. Even if the front desk doesn't know if I can acquire last minute tix to the completely sold-out show for U2 in Chicago (past-tense), at least they know who can get me tix (i.e., Concierge, other resource). Bottom line, my buddy still got tix...and great customer service.

Some companies get it (West Paces Hotel Group) and others don't.

Posted by tango5 at June 9, 2006 7:38 AM

Great story tango - we should always highlight excellence in customer care to embarrass those who just don’t get it!!

I am delighted to say I experience superb customer care as well as crap. Don’t you think it is just wonderful to see staff members who really CARE about what they do and CARE about their commitment to pleasing their customer.

My question is ….Why then do so many companies just simply not ‘get it’?

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 9, 2006 10:22 AM

Question: why does poor service from a Front Desk Manager prompt a rant whilst a siezed wheel bearing on a roller case is turned into a Good Thing? (See, "It Adds Up" above.)

I agree that the problem is usually the response. No reflection on the current incident (I don't have both sides of the story) but I wonder sometimes if the problematic response comes from the complainer or complainee. If a product or service is marketed with a promise of excellence, you can expect it and should complain if you don't get it. But, desireable as it may be, isn't it a touch naive (or even arrogant) to expect top quality from every single transaction?

I wonder sometimes at the practicality of expecting consistently and uniformly high standards from everyone in an organisation. I don't for 1 nano-second say it shouldn't be the goal. But sometimes, "less good" people get into the system and sometimes even good 'uns have bad days. I guess it's further proof that, "It's all personal."

Posted by Mark JF at June 12, 2006 7:15 AM

Is it a bit arrogant, MarkJF...maybe. But what's wrong with wanting great customer service...when your PAYING for it??? People do have good and bad days. I sure do. But it's far beyond that when an organization gets a reputation for having bad customer service.

Trev - the problem, in my opinion, is bad parenting. Raise kids who care about doing a great job and they turn into adults who care about doing a great job.

There's a verse in the Bible that says (essentially) "Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for God rather than for men." If you are working hard as to be pleasing to God...I'm thinking mortal man is likely to be pleased with the job you do too. : )

Posted by tango5 at June 14, 2006 10:56 PM