ServiceMark Assessment strategic and operational service delivery
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ServiceMark Assessment
The independant assessment is the final stage of the ServiceMark accreditation process leading to your organisation being recognised for delivering world class service. The Institute of Customer Service ServiceMark Assessment is an holistic organisational assessment rather than a ‘tick box’ approach, which means looking at and discussing the organisation’s service delivery at the actual place of business from both a strategic and operational viewpoint without going into procedural detail. The Visit: purpose and principles
The importance your organisation places on developing and implementing action plans is a key measure of commitment to customer service. From the ServCheck online report and the customer satisfaction measurement results the organisation will develop action plans that the assessor will review prior to the assessment as ‘fit for purpose’ and deployment.
• t he purpose of the visit is to provide an objective assessment of your organisational improvement plans in terms of ‘fit for purpose’ and implementation • t he principle is to gather evidence on the requirements as appropriate and the techniques employed will include:
o questioning of groups and individuals
o n ote taking; notes will be used to produce a report on completion of the assessment just because the assessor is writing notes in response to what has been seen or heard does not mean there is a problem.
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The Visit: preparing for the assessment
Preparing for the assessment
The opening meeting
Meeting the teams
Post assessment & accreditation decision
The closing meeting
Prior to the assessment visit the business needs to take the following actions: • completion and review of the results of the Institutes ServCheck and customer satisfaction surveys • development and implementation of an action plan based on the ServCheck results • development and implementation of an action plan based on the customer satisfaction results.
It’s important to appoint a lead host or co-ordinator for the duration of the assessment. Their duties prior to and during the assessment should include: • co-ordinate with the assessor to agree the various attendees of the assessment and help to identify other relevant members of staff on the day of the visit who the assessor may wish to add to the discussions • escorting the assessor through the business to complete the assessment • ensure senior managers are available for the opening and closing meetings • individuals or groups are available for the question sessions • any changes to the visit are communicated to all relevant people. It’s important also to provide a reminder of the business plans and intention to achieve the ServiceMark accreditation and to remind everyone involved of the stages already completed, it may be relevant to hand out copies of this guide to make colleagues aware of the process. The number of assessor days will relate to the size and diversification of an organisation. The on-site assessment will take a minimum of two days in addition to one day spent in preparation for the assessment and production of the final report. A quotation will be provided and this will include the maximum number of days to be invoiced; this cost is not part of membership benefits and should be considered as part of the overall need to achieve ServiceMark. A guide to the number of days required according to number of sites and number of employees is shown below.
Number of staff
Sites
1 – 5
<80
3
80 – 500
4
5
501 – 1,000
5
6
7
1,001 – 5,000
6
7
5,001 – 10,000
7
8
>10,000
Contact the Institute of Customer Service
6 – 15
16 – 30
31 – 50
> 50
8
9
9
9
9
11
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ServiceMark Assessment
The Visit: the opening meeting
Preparing for the assessment
The opening meeting
Meeting the teams
The closing meeting
Post assessment & accreditation decision
The Institute of Customer Service requires that the assessment visit starts with an opening meeting between the assessor, the lead host and senior management. This serves to introduce the participants, confirm the practical arrangements and deal with any queries. This meeting provides a valuable start point to impress upon an assessor the organisation’s service philosophy and practice. A key element of this meeting is to establish and understand the organisation’s vision and mission and how this is communicated. The meeting will be based on a professional discussion to establish and confirm that: • the organisation understands the assessment plan • the organisation understands the holistic nature of the assessment • the assessor’s decision will be based on objective evidence obtained during the assessment. When preparing for the assessment the assessor will review all relevant sources of information with your organisation. After the opening meeting there may be points that they have identified, e.g. your organisational priorities – what is important to your management team – process control or service problems, etc. which may cause them to re-appraise the assessment plan. During the assessment the assessor will keep everyone informed of what is happening – this is especially important if changes have to be made to the planned programme. This will be communicated via the lead host or co-ordinator.
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The Visit: meeting the teams
Preparing for the assessment
The opening meeting
Meeting the teams
The closing meeting
Post assessment & accreditation decision
The main part of the assessment will be a combination of meetings of various types. At the opening meeting it will be confirmed that all the later interviewees will be present and that they are aware of the assessment and timetable. The assessor may choose to hold one-to-ones, group meetings or observation of individuals. It is important to assess a vertical slice of the organisation and a variety of meetings will provide a wealth of information. This approach does not advocate the use of a prescribed set of questions nor does it promote a tick box approach. The ServiceMark assessor will therefore use their experience to elicit the information required in the most suitable way, ensuring they cover the whole standard. During the assessment visit the assessor will: • assess the ServCheck and customer satisfaction action plans to ensure they meet the benchmarks required, assess whether they are ‘fit for purpose’ based on the results and to identify areas for improvement • speak with a selection of people throughout your organisation; an experienced assessor will combine effective questioning techniques, listening, group facilitation, observation of individuals and one-to-one interviewing to discover more about the organisation. In addition, they will identify potential actions from the online reports. They will be able to identify whether the organisation is putting in place effective strategies to improve • seek evidence that requirements are being embraced holistically • identify areas they may want to assess during the visit. Some areas may have such outstanding results that they will wish to test them independently. Alternatively there may be an area where they want to establish what actions have been taken to improve.
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ServiceMark Assessment
The Visit: the closing meeting
Preparing for the assessment
The opening meeting
Meeting the teams
The closing meeting
Post assessment & accreditation decision
Prior to the closing meeting it may be necessary for the assessor to ask for some time and a quiet area to review their notes. The Institute of Customer Service then requires that the assessment visit closes formally with a meeting between the assessor, the lead host and senior management. This is an opportunity for the assessor to provide verbal feedback to your organisation and discussions may allude to areas of concern but generally will aim to highlight the positive aspects of the businesses action planning. During this meeting the assessor will provide a recommendation but this will not indicate acceptance or rejection of the ServiceMark accreditation at this stage. The meeting will normally end with a brief summary to confirm future actions.
Post Assessment
Preparing for the assessment
The opening meeting
Meeting the teams
The closing meeting
Post assessment & accreditation decision
The assessor’s report and recommendation will be sent to the Institute of Customer Service within seven working days. The Institute will review the report and issue a decision to the organisation within a further seven working days. The report does not cross into consultancy which involves giving specific advice or recommendations to an organisation but will provide any areas of concern or shortfall for the organisation to implement. When ServiceMark is achieved this is an excellent opportunity for publicity and celebration of success across your organisation. You will receive: • time dated plaque • approval to promote the mark of service excellence for the period of accreditation • bespoke written report of the impartial assessors findings with appropriate recommendations for improvement •
the award for a period of 3 years; your organisation will be expected to revisit the ServCheck survey and customer satisfaction measures during year two to demonstrate ongoing commitment and, prior to the third year anniversary and in order to maintain the ServiceMark accreditation, your organisation will need to undertake the year two surveys in addition to the assessment visits.
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Frequently Asked Questions
.
1. The assessor has informed us that we don’t have sufficient evidence to support being awarded the ServiceMark accreditation, what can we do?
2. Our organisation didn’t achieve the ServiceMark accreditation, is there an appeal process? Every organisation has the right to appeal against an assessment decision, i.e. a ‘no’ decision. Within 14 days of receiving their written report, the lead host should firstly discuss any concerns with the assessor.
There may be times when the assessor considers that insufficient evidence has been gathered to award the Institutes ServiceMark accreditation, but, that it may be gathered given more time. In this case this will be discussed with the lead host in the closing meeting with an agreed proposal of how to proceed; there might be the requirement for a re-visit, there will be a discussion for potential cost implications and the assessor should confirm the scope of a limited reassessment. Your organisation will be given reasonable timescales to correct any areas of nonconformance and although a follow-up visit might be required, it may be more practical to accept written evidence.
Within seven days of receipt of the informal appeal, the assessor will report to the Institute including any change in recommendation. Within seven days of receipt of the assessor report the Institute will communicate the decision to the applicant. If the outcome of the informal discussion remains that the organisation wishes to appeal further against the decision, the lead host should write to The Institute of Customer Service, 2 Castle Court, St Peter’s Street, Colchester, CO1 1EW; the concerns should be clearly expressed and the details should include the name of the assessor, date of assessment and reasons for the appeal. The appeal should include the organisations understanding of the ‘no’ decision and why they feel it is unjustified. It should also include the organisation’s expectations of the way forward. If the lead host also wishes to express their dissatisfaction against the Institutes assessor, the lead host should write to the Institute’s head office with the name of the assessor, the date and time of the assessment and details of their complaint. In either of these cases of formal proceedings, the Institute will respond directly to the organisation within 14 days of the appeal, having first discussed with the assessor and the organisation. The decision will be final.
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contact us at: Institute of Customer Service 2 Castle Court, St Peterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Street, Colchester, Essex CO1 1 EW 01206 571 716 enquiries@icsmail.co.uk instituteofcustomerservice.com
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