Stakeholder Magazine - 2006

Creating value for customers, employees and shareholders

Intouch with Stakeholders at Irish Life SUPERQUINN ON GIVING CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT BJ CUNNINGHAM ON BRAND A PUBLIC SECTOR MALCOLM BALDRIGE WINNER SETTING TARGETS

PLUS NEWS BOOK REVIEW DIARY DATES

December 2006 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3 £4.50

Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Level 1

Level 2

A practical one day course that will take you step-by-step through the process of accurately measuring your customers’ satisfaction.

This course examines the more advanced research techniques relevant to customer satisfaction measurement and is suitable for people wanting to develop or critically assess their existing process.

The day covers

The day covers

Questionnaire design Sampling Methodology Analysing & reporting How to calculate a Satisfaction Index Pitfalls to avoid Dates 30th January

London

21st February

Manchester

5th December

Leeds

6th February

Bristol

7th February

Birmingham

A robust measurement for tracking Measuring importance Sample reliability Measuring the customer experience How different measures can affect results Understanding what’s important to customers Timing and frequency Dates 22nd February 28th February

Manchester London

Cost: £325 excl VAT

Cost: £295 excl VAT

Over 5000 delegates have attended worldwide Presenters are authors of leading books in the area of customer satisfaction & loyalty

ed

r

mit i l e

Pl

sa e c a

For more information and a detailed agenda: CALL RUTH COLLETON on

01484 467000 Book online at

www.leadershipfactor.com

6

Diary Dates

Training courses and Conferences from around the country

December 2006 31 Employee Switching on your people

7 News Local and Central Government have worst customer service levels

8 Case Study Irish Life intouch with Stakeholders

35 Customer Meeting SLAs but complaints are on the rise?

37 Fast Guide Fast guide to setting targets for satisfaction

15 Brand

38 Book Review

BJ Cunningham’s:

In this issue...

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 3

20 Customer Institute of Customer Service Annual Conference

24 Case Study

39 Training Directory

How Ohio Department of Transportation won a top Malcolm Baldrige award Stakeholder December 2006

3

design

To get eye catching design and high quality print you need to pay high prices right?

- Wrong!

Call us on 01484 467016 for top quality design and print at shoestring prices

Charlotte Ratcliffe editor

According to BJ Cunningham (page 15), the two key secrets to a successful brand in the 21st century are: Being who you really are – not pretending to be (or offer) something else that you think customers want.

Simplicity and clarity – just telling it how it is in words that everyone can understand.

Interestingly, that’s just what the Plain English Society say, and formalise in their ‘Crystal’ and ‘Honesty’ marks, which leads us neatly into this issue’s first case study. Stephen Hampshire tells us from page 8 how Irish Life have been awarded the Crystal Mark for use of plain English in their literature and communications, and currently have more Honesty Marks than any other organisation. In fact, their entire programme to improve customer satisfaction has been based on doing simple, often obvious things that motivate employees to deliver the basic service quality results that customers want.

Just like our second case study.

Superquinn supermarkets have been service leaders in Ireland for many years and are fast becoming a legend further afield – despite, or is it because of, not doing anything particularly clever, sophisticated or special. As Nigel Hill tells us from page 20, all they do is listen to customers and then do what customers want. They do it even if it’s financially detrimental, like removing sweets and chocolate from the checkout aisles. Their belief is that the easily quantifiable lost revenue will be more than offset in the long run by enhanced customer loyalty – even if they can’t actually prove it.

Perhaps you’ve noticed. Both these companies are Irish. However, to redress the balance somewhat, and prove that public sector organisations can deliver results to customers and employees, Bill Self explains from page 24 how an the Ohio Department of Transportation has become one of the most successful Malcolm Baldrige award winners, public or private sector.

Stakeholder Satisfaction is the magazine for people who want their organisation to deliver results to employees, customers and any other stakeholders as part of a coherent strategy to create value for shareholders. We publish serious articles designed to inform, stimulate debate and sometimes to provoke.

We aim to be thought leaders in the field of managing relationships with all stakeholder groups.

Editor: Assistant Editor: Contributors

Charlotte Ratcliffe Lucy Rogers Nigel Hill Stephen Hampshire BJ Cunningham Bill Self Nigel Cook Alison Widdup Rob Ward Designer: Creative Director: Rob Egan Louise Martin Advertising: Editorial Director: Janet Hill

Printers of Stakeholder Satisfaction info@stakeholdermagazine.com Stakeholder Satisfaction PO BOX 1426 Huddersfield HD1 9AW Tel: 0870 240 7885 NB: Stakeholder Satisfaction does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in the articles by contributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent of the publisher.

Copyright © STAKEHOLDER SATISFACTION 2004

ISSN 1749-088X Stakeholder December 2006

5

Diary Dates

Diary dates DECEMBER

COMING UP IN 2007

Customer Satisfaction Measurement – Level 1

“Creating a High Engagement, High Performance Culture” – One Day Briefing

Tuesday 5th December 2006 www.leadershipfactor.com

01484 467000 This one day training course takes delegates set-by-step through the process of using customer surveys to accurately measure customer satisfaction. It includes instruction on relevant research techniques, group exercises and opportunities to ask questions relating to your organisation’s customer satisfaction practices.

Tuesday 16th January 2007 – Edinburgh Wednesday 24th January 2007 – London www.strategicreward.com These one day briefings are presented by Raymond Robertson – The briefings cover World-class case studies taken from Ray’s new book and they give delegates the opportunity to share and benchmark practices and learn practical tools to take back to the workplace.

The CIPD Managing Change at Work Conference will review the latest thinking and best practice in managing change in the workplace. The conference will explore what influences behaviour, what motivates people and the contribution of HR in initiating and managing change.

Thursday 15th February 2007 London IQA www.leadershipfactor.com

01484 467000 When preparing a focus group there are many pitfalls to avoid. This one day course will take delegates through preparing and moderating a successful focus group. It covers topics such as preparing, and running the group effectively but also dealing with the unexpected, plus techniques to probe further and obtain the most effective information.

Stress and the Role of Line Managers

Managing Change at Work Conference 5-6th December 2006 www.cipd.co.uk

Facilitating Focus Groups

Complaints Management Wednesday 31st January 2007 London IQA www.leadershipfactor.com

01484 467000 There is growing evidence that complaints that are well handled can result in higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

This one day training course explores best practice in managing a complaints system as well as understanding the customer experience of the complaints process.

Wednesday 21st March 2007 www.cipd.co.uk About half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill. Based on new research commissioned by the CIPD and HSE, this conference will explore the vital role of line managers in preventing and managing stress at work and highlight the key behaviours that managers need to adopt to tackle stress.

Questionnaire Design Annual Reward Conference 6 - 8th February 2007 London www.cipd.co.uk Successful organisations know that reward is more than just about pay. The conference will cover the key developments in HR and include case studies from some of the best public and private sector organisations. The event is also the perfect environment for networking.

6

Stakeholder December 2006

Wednesday 28th March 2007 Manchester JPD www.leadershipfactor.com

01484 467000 This one training course covers the rules of questionnaire design and includes many group and individual exercises. The questionnaire design is perhaps the most crucial part of effective survey research and yet it is often poorly executed. The course will cover topics such as sampling, question wording and satisfaction and loyalty research.

News

news

Local and Central Government have worst customer service levels In a national study carried out by leading customer satisfaction research agency The Leadership Factor on behalf of the Institute of Customer Service, it was revealed that the public sector are amongst the worst providers of customer service and that its customers, the general public, feel they are being taken for granted.

At South Staffordshire Council they marked the occasion in its face-to-face customer contact centre “solutions” by launching its customer satisfaction survey and suggestion scheme.

This included a new incentive of a quarterly prize draw to encourage feedback. The first draw will be held in January 2007 and the results will be published for customers to see.

RAC’s success recognised at recent Customer Service Awards

The overriding message emerging from the research was that customers feel that many organisations take them for granted.

Nigel Hill, founder and director of the Leadership Factor, said “What makes customers feel good is personal service and being treated as an individual.” Retailers, the wider service sector, leisure providers and financial services were perceived as being better at treating people as individuals and addressing their issues quickly and efficiently.

Customer Service Week 2006

During this year’s Customer Service week, which ran from 2-6 October 2006, various initiatives were carried out in local councils across the country. Examples of some of these include, people in charge of services at Thanet Council going “back to the floor” to find out what life is like for the team of officers at the sharp end and the councillors taking the opportunity to highlight the levels of service that customers should expect. These standards include a commitment to respond to voicemail messages within 24 hours and letters or emails being acknowledged within 3 working days.

The RAC’s highest levels of service and the support they give to their customers in the event of a breakdown was rewarded at the recent ceremony. Some of the accolades they scooped included ‘Customer Service Complaints Team of the Year’ for the Birmingham based service delivery centre and ‘Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year’ for the RAC patrol team based in Cambridge. In addition to commendations for individual team members they also won the SOCAP award for innovation in Customer Service in 2005 and the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service in 2004.

RAC managing director, Debbie Hewitt, says “We’re enjoying a third year running of customer service awards, which is a significant testament to the hard work and commitment of RAC colleagues who provide a fantastic service to our members when they call us for assistance.”

AOL Retention Manual Uncovered In 2005, AOL received a fine of $1.25 million over numerous complaints about how arduous they made it to cancel their service. In addition to the fine AOL agreed to streamline the cancel-

lation process and submit all calls for third-party review. In June 2006, a customer posted a recording he made of his attempt to cancel his service. In order for the call centre employee to have deployed the retention tactics used it was concluded that he must have been well trained and that AOL had not learned the error of their ways. An eighty one page document was discovered titled “Enhanced Sales Training for AOL Retention Consultants.”

One thing quickly becomes evident after reading the pages of tips and tactics to avoid allowing an individual to cancel - that customers are not viewed as consumers but solely as prospects.

Instead of investing in a system that people actually wanted to use, AOL created a system for duping customers into not exercising their right to leave for cheaper, higher-quality services. Behind phrases like "Member Services" and "World Class Value" are bosses that see their members as numbers. CEO John Miller's proposal is to overhaul all of AOL's services.

Included in the proposition are said to be plans to eliminate retention consultants entirely.

Phone waits anger customers A recent survey of over 1,000 adults, carried out by management consultancy Accenture, found that on average consumers spent six minutes on hold each time they call a company.

Banks, utility and phone companies seem to anger consumers most with complaints about the inability of customer service staff to answer questions or offer helpful advice, along with the need of consumers to have to often repeat the same information to different members of staff. UK Business has been warned by the National Consumer Council, that it risks losing business to foreign competitors if it does not improve its levels of service.

Stakeholder December 2006

7

Case Study

with

8

Stakeholders

Irish Life’s successful programme of improvements in customer satisfaction showcases a number of valuable lessons: senior management must be on side; employees must be engaged and excited about the process; improving customer satisfaction is a long term game. None of these things are spectacular revelations, but Irish Life have shown that sustained commitment in the right areas will deliver an improved customer perception.

ing ideas and driving through change.

Communicating to customers is also important, of course, but it is internal communication that emerges as the main success. The playfulness and wit of the conversation that the intouch team built up with staff is a real strength, and I suspect has made all the difference in terms of getting staff excited about the process.

You’ll see examples scattered throughout this article.

Most tellingly, Irish Life’s experience has shown the importance of communication as a way of engaging employees, gather-

A bit of background

Stakeholder December 2006

Irish Life is Ireland’s largest life assurance

company, also dealing in pensions and investment products. Irish Life products are available directly, through brokers and in branches of Permanent TSB, the retail bank which is the other part of the Irish Life and Permanent group.

The Irish Life logo features a man touching a fish at his feet and a bird in the sky.

This represents the company’s breadth of products: those that provide for basic needs to those that help people realise their dreams. It symbolises the company’s strong customer focus, and is also characteristic of a brand which has success-

Case Study

fully balanced a strong Irish heritage with very modern sensibilities.

This awareness of the importance of branding and symbolism in communications is obvious in the company’s approach to improving customer satisfaction, using a dedicated and branded team to deliver a programme of specific actions that would lead to improvement. This intouch team included people from marketing, customer service, HR, and sales, ensuring all the main internal stakeholders were represented. The intouch branding has been carried through the whole programme.

The distinctive imagery featured Freddy the Frog, which was felt to be great for showing movement—hopping from lily pad to lily pad, “leaping forward” until 100 ideas had been generated. Now that the company has entered a more stable point this metaphor is not so relevant, so they’ve shifted to Top Dog with the aim of refreshing the programme and moving things on again.

The striking thing about this communication is how informal it is. This light-hearted tone, and the short, catchy messages on each poster, have been very valuable in engaging staff and, I suspect, in making them feel positive about the programme rather than got at for their failures. The message of service improvement must be sold very carefully in order to avoid giving the message that staff are in trouble for not being good enough, with demoralisation the inevitable counter-productive result.

First steps - involving senior management and staff

was to send a strong message that this programme was being taken seriously, and was here to stay. There could be no question that this was just a fad that would go away if it was ignored for long enough.

The launch of the intouch programme and the appearance of Freddy the Frog helped to get attention.

COMMUNICATION WAS CRITICAL. WE WANTED TO GET EARLY BUY-IN, ENGAGEMENT AND SUPPORT FROM STAFF. FROM THE OUTSET WE DECIDED WE WOULD ALWAYS COMMUNICATE INTOUCH IN A VERY DISTINCTIVE VOICE, DIFFERENT TO ANYTHING ELSE STAFF WOULD HAVE SEEN. The workshop itself was designed to strike a new note. The room was set up differently—physical cues like this are very valuable to hammer home a subconscious message of change—and decorated with boards full of customer comments and details from the research.

A key factor has undoubtedly been strong support from the highest level, focused on getting the improvement process off to a flying start. It kicked off with an enormous, and closely planned, day consisting of sessions to which all staff were invited, steered by the Chief Executive. The aim

Stakeholder December 2006

9

Case Study

A video featuring the Irish rugby team was also used to stress teamwork (not sure this would work in England at the moment!).

STAFF WERE USED TO ATTENDING HALF YEARLY TEAM BRIEFS WITH THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE. TYPICALLY THE ROOM WAS ARRANGED THEATRE STYLE AND THE CEO STOOD AT A PODIUM AND UPDATED STAFF ON NUMBERS. EXPECTING THIS AGAIN, STAFF WALKED INTO THE ROOM WITH THE SEATING ARRANGED IN A SEMI-CIRCLE FORMAT, LARGE COLOURFUL SPEECH BUBBLES OF CUSTOMER QUOTES ARRANGED AROUND THE ROOM, MUSIC BLARING AND THE CEO ABOUT TO MAKE A PRESENTATION WITH PICTURES OF FROGS BEHIND HIM...

Finally he launched a scheme offering a £200 voucher to the first 100 people to suggest a good idea for improvement.

This got an immediate response, with three people standing up there and then to claim their vouchers. The fact that the Chief Executive literally handed them out on the spot ensured that word spread like wildfire and there was genuine excitement. As well as an effective means of gathering ideas, this approach is a brilliant way to make staff interested in the process.

On another occasion the incentive was four pairs of tickets to a sold-out U2 concert in Dublin, tickets that you could not get hold of for love nor money. Again it was the Chief Executive who offered the tickets to staff in exchange for good ideas. This announcement was made the week before the concert so there was lots of urgency to come up with the ideas—a better plan than leaving months of thinking time during which the excitement can peter out. The personal touch that the Chief Executive physically gives people their reward is very important as well. Often this kind of recognition has a more lasting benefit than the value of the prize itself.

This top-level involvement is not just a gimmick. On an ongoing basis, the Chief Executive and steering group are updated monthly. The intouch team report on their plans and outline what they’re doing, receiving advice and input back.

10

Stakeholder December 2006

Using ideas and planning improvements In the Irish Life programme there is a clear chain from research to implementation, which is often the most difficult part of the journey for companies to make happen.

The key outcome of the research programme was a small number of priorities for improvement (PFIs), recommended by The Leadership Factor as the areas where improvements would deliver most benefit to the overall customer experience.

At the end of each workshop a customer champion was drawn to represent their team, and to represent intouch within their team. This is an excellent way to disseminate ideas and to communicate up and down the line. The appointment of a Customer Satisfaction Manager will enable even more use to be made of these customer champions in the future.

Now Irish Life are looking across teams at where interdependencies and blockages are. Rather than looking at whether my team met its Service Level Agreement, it’s a case of looking at the end customer and seeing how the sum of all the internal processes impacts on them. Each team has its own charter designed to feed together so that all deliver their bit in contributing to the end result for the customer - the aim being to “get it right first time within 24 hours”.

Training Staff workshops took these PFIs, looked in detail at the research and the comments customers had made in relation to each, and came up with a host of very specific actions that would contribute to them.

The intouch programme delivered 100 ideas, all of them kept on the intranet in a file updated each week with details of what was happening to each one. The progress on each idea was also fed back to the originator of the idea, even if it turned out to be impractical to implement for some reason. Another consideration was to get someone to take ownership of each idea, someone who was in a position to do something about it, which is not necessarily (or even often) the same as the person who came up with it in the first place.

Workshops for all staff were run by HR to go through the research, get teams talking about how it related to them and where the blockages might be that stop it working right. It was a chance for staff to unburden and for teams to sit around out of work in an ice cream parlour, and let them just talk for half day.

IT WAS A HEAVY INVESTMENT BY THE COMPANY, BUT WELL WORTH WHAT WE GOT OUT OF IT

Three major pieces of training have been used to approach customer service improvement in a more typical way.

“Sense and respond” was about how staff respond to each customer and have the ability to deal with them in the appropriate way for that individual. Empathy is the key here—being businesslike when the situation demands it, but more friendly with other types of customer.

Case Study

Another major focus was complaints—an area in which many organisations struggle with definitions. A lot of training here was geared towards encouraging staff to record any incidents where customers had a concern, or just sounded unhappy on the phone. This flowed from the discovery that customers who where talking about a complaint during the satisfaction survey often had no complaints logged in the system. There is often a colossal gap here between organisations’ perceptions and those of their customers—how do you define a “complaint”?

Increasingly, successful organisations, like Irish Life, are realising that even encouraging customers to complain is not enough. What is needed is staff who are self-motivated enough to recognise that a customer is unhappy and act on their behalf to log a complaint about their issue. The notion of acting as a champion for the customer should capture this very neatly—but how often does it really happen in practice? The result for Irish Life has been an ever-increasing number of complaints, which is a strange measure of success. That’s customer-focused management for you!

The third significant piece of training revolved around letter writing. Irish Life have a very firm commitment to using plain English—all their communications carry the crystal mark, and they’ve been working with the Plain English campaign since 1998. They’re also proud of the fact that they have more “Honesty Marks” than any other company in the world. An example of the kind of idea that Irish Life have used to communicate the terms of their products clearly is the “product snapshot”, modelled on the boxes of nutritional information you would find on the side of a packet of cereal.

Honesty Marks http://www.plainenglish.co.uk explains what the Honesty Mark represents: Every customer survey shows that one of the most important things to buyers is trust. Plain English can help give consumers an informed choice, but we need all the facts at our fingertips.

Plain English Campaign’s solution is the Honesty Mark. This is a free logo available to any Crystal Mark document, as long as the organisation is prepared to sign our declaration.

This declaration guarantees that everything in the document is true and is not contradicted by any other document that the reader will not have seen. In other words, what you see is what you get.

Rewarding and encouraging staff As well as rewarding ideas for improvement, a larger annual incentive scheme is in place for members of staff who have gone beyond the call of duty for the customer. An example of the kind of behaviour Irish Life were looking for was when a broker’s customer needed some papers by 5 o’clock. The member of staff left work (!) and cycled across Dublin in order to make sure the papers got there in time.

Anyone could be nominated for the prize, with the competition judged by staff representatives. This year there were 223 nominations, with the 22 winners jetting off to Barcelona on a holiday to reward and celebrate their efforts.

When the winners had been chosen they were informed by personal email from the Chief Executive. They were also invited to have a meal (in a very posh restaurant) with him before they jetted off. This kind of recognition is incredibly good for morale, and the intouch team made sure that everyone knows what a good time the 22 lucky ones had in Barcelona. As important as the prize itself is the manner in which it was done—it really was a no expense spared treat in Barcelona—and the personal involvement of the Chief Executive.

In more formal terms customer satisfaction has been made part of the bonus scheme for everyone in the company.

The Chief Executive made this decision despite concerns that that this was rushing customer satisfaction into performance assessment too quickly, before anyone had had time to improve. The scheme is based on hitting targets for profit (60%), market share (20%) and, now, customer satisfaction (20%).

WE WERE VERY NERVOUS ABOUT THAT, BUT IT WAS THE BEST THING WE EVER DID. WE’VE BEATEN OUR TARGET TWO YEARS IN A ROW NOW.

In the event Irish Life beat their “superstretch” target for improving customer satisfaction, meaning that all employees got a bonus of roughly a month’s salary. In line with the rest of their internal communications, this was proudly and wittily celebrated with posters of posh shoes and other treats asking “what are you doing with your extra cash?”.

An important part of motivating staff is building and maintaining good morale. It’s very easy to focus entirely on the negatives—where are we going wrong?

Realising that demoralised staff are no good for customers, Irish Life celebrated the positives by posting a compliments board, updated monthly, in the restaurant.

Stakeholder December 2006

11

Case Study

Ongoing communication with staff As well as a regularly updated intranet, the main means of communication with Irish Life staff are posters in and around the lifts, which are unofficially owned by the intouch team.

can be attached to them in speech bubbles, with the idea that the quotes can be brought to life. It’s an effective way to highlight the fact that behind the scores, behind all the reams of verbatim comments, there are real people with individual concerns. As there are fewer and fewer large scale problems to fix this kind of individual focus is the last area where staff can really make a difference to customers.

Communication with customers Irish Life found themselves in an interesting position relative to their customers. Unlike many financial companies the relationship tends to be remote, with relatively few opportunities for contact. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that about a third of their business comes through brokers.

WE ARE A MULTICHANNEL BUSINESS AND HAVE TO KEEP EVERYONE INFORMED ABOUT WHAT WE’RE DOING. Direct communication, then, was the only option if customers were to be informed about, notice and understand the changes that were being made. But using newsletters in this way was a new idea.

Did customers even want communication? If so, what were they interested in?

THAT WAS A PROBLEM FOR US - HOW DO WE, ALL OF A SUDDEN, START WRITING TO SOMEBODY WHO’S BEEN A CUSTOMER FOR MAYBE 15/20 YEARS? WE WERE QUITE NERVOUS ABOUT THAT. Involving staff early on, and then keeping them updated, informed and involved has tremendous benefits in terms of the way the programme is seen internally:

HR HAVE BEEN DOING SOME CULTURAL WORK, AND WHAT'S COME THROUGH VERY STRONGLY FROM THAT IS HOW STAFF HAVE A REAL OWNERSHIP OF THE INTOUCH PROGRAMME. THEY FEEL THAT THEY'RE VERY MUCH PART OF IT, AND THAT IT'S NOT ANOTHER MANAGEMENT-DRIVEN PROGRAMME. THIS IS FANTASTIC FEEDBACK FOR THE INTOUCH TEAM CONSIDERING IT WAS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE WHO STOOD UP AND SAID 'HERE'S WHAT WE'RE DOING...

Perhaps the most striking piece of communication you see as you walk through the Irish Life building is the life-size cardboard cut-outs. These are designed so that customer comments (good and bad)

12

Stakeholder December 2006

Case Study

It had to be carefully managed, but soon the newsletter was going out to customers at every opportunity. Last year 405,000 newsletters were sent out.

The first few provided a detailed run-down on the results of the survey, complete with graphs and comments. But the feedback soon came through that customers were more interested in what Irish Life were doing to improve rather than in what the detailed satisfaction scores were for each attribute. The result was a newsletter that pulled back to just a view of the overall result, the key areas for improvement and what was being done.

Conclusions One of the unique things about the approach Irish Life have taken is that it was seen as a three year project for the intouch team, which is now coming to an end. This doesn’t mean that they think the journey is over—the research will continue and so will improvements. But now Customer Service, the Customer Satisfaction Manager and Customer Champions are all in place and geared up to manage the process into the future.

The mechanisms are set up, the intouch team has done its job and can be disbanded.

A crucial point about the way Irish Life managed communication is that these newsletters were completely open. Many organisations worry that putting information like this into the public domain is very dangerous, opening the possibility of negative publicity or of giving sensitive information to competitors. This need not be the case, but what it does do is commit the business, very publicly, to doing something about it. If this kind of communication is accompanied by genuine and serious effort then it sends a very positive message—this is where we are now, this is what we’re going to do to improve— that looks transparent, honest and positive.

Interestingly, this approach conforms very closely to the model recommended for driving innovation—a small team drawn from across the organisation focused on a specific goal, and with a limited period of operation. It has clearly been very successful, and would serve as a good model for any organisation looking to kick-start a genuine “leap forward” in customer service.

Low-hanging fruit and pyramid building

WHAT WAS KEY FOR US WAS THE SUPPORT OF OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE. HE WAS FANTASTIC, AND FROM THE OUTSET HE SUPPORTED US JUST DOING WHAT WE HAD TO DO TO DRIVE SATISFACTION UP.

Some of the issues proved to be “low hanging fruit” that were relatively quick and easy to sort out, but then Irish Life found itself dealing with what might be termed “pyramids”—they take a lot of people pulling in the same direction a long time to achieve. Maintaining the momentum to achieve movement on these issues is a real test of the mechanisms that have been put in place, and of the commitment of staff to the process.

It is also a much more difficult message to lay out in a newsletter, and the intouch team found that, although there was a newsletter every quarter, because the look of it didn’t change customers thought they were getting the same one again. They’re now planning to change the look of it quite substantially between quarters, as well as changing the style to an even more customer-friendly tone, with less information crammed in.

Of course this team couldn’t work without support from the top, and that was present in abundance.

CUSTOMERS DON’T COME FIRST. EMPLOYEES COME FIRST. IF EMPLOYEES ARE TREATED RIGHT THEN SERVICE WILL FOLLOW.

Staff were not only involved and mined for ideas, they were able to feel that they had some ownership over the programme.

The unique voice of the communication was a key part in achieving this relationship.

But don’t let the informality fool you.

Everything flowed from a very robust customer survey, and every step in the process was evaluated and revisited as necessary.

Communications were researched to check their effectiveness, and changed to reflect feedback from customers and employees.

The next step for Irish Life will be to focus even more on the idea of treating each customer as an individual. Increasingly this seems to be the direction that customer service is taking, and it’s bound up with an enthusiastic and empowered staff.

Staff that can act, and want to act, on behalf of the customer will be a real differentiator for years to come. By definition this kind of service cannot be centrally controlled, but it must be systematically supported, enabled and encouraged.

Managing this paradox is the key challenge facing service-based businesses today. S

The flipside of this commitment was being prepared to swallow major investments in training, setting aside time for workshops and so on. Improving customer service is neither easy nor cheap, but it can be done if there is enough will within the business to drive it forward.

But even the most committed Chief Executives cannot make improvements on their own. Engaging and enthusing staff is a necessary precursor to improving service. Indeed the Irish Life story is notable for the relatively secondary position of customers in terms of deciding how improvements should happen. It all flows from the staff, reflecting the words of Richard Branson:

Stephen Hampshire Development Manager The Leadership Factor

If you have any thoughts about this article you can contact Stephen at: stephenhampshire@leadershipfactor.com

Stakeholder December 2006

13

Improving Customer Satisfaction One day training course £295 (excluding VAT)

Many organisations find it very difficult to improve customer satisfaction. This course explains why some succeed and others fail.

· · · · · · ·

Taking action The 3Rs of customer value Managing customer perceptions Motivating employees Moments of truth Delivering results Maintaining the focus

Manchester

Thursday 15th February

Manchester

Wednesday 16th May

London

Wednesday 23rd May

London

Thursday 30th August

Visit our website for information on more courses

www.leadershipfactor.com

For a detailed agenda please contact Ruth Colleton on 01484 467000 or email ruthcolleton@leadershipfactor.com

The

F A C T O R L E A D E R S I N S AT I S F AC T I O N M E A S U R E M E N T

The Leadership Factor Taylor Hill Mill Huddersfield HD4 6JA

Tel: 01484 517575 Fax: 01484 517676

Email: info@leadershipfactor.com Web site: www.leadershipfactor.com

Brand

The eward

riefing

January 2007 Edinburgh: Tuesday 16th January 2007 London: Wednesday 24th January 2007

motivating, inspirational and educational...

BJ Cunningham is presenting his one day masterclass - Brand Evolution for the first time.

This charismatic speaker and acknowledged thought leader in the field of branding, brand marketing and communications, will show you how to clarify your brand promise to unify the internal company culture with the external market, creating an unstoppable organisation.

BJ’s Masterclass in brand creation and communication will teach you:

How to give employees a brand they can use practically every day How to create a seamless brandscape How to create brand architecture, strategy and implementation How to align brand strategy with corporate strategy How to apply all this to your organisation

Creating a High Engagement, High Performance Culture

Presented by Raymond Robertson, author of a major new book "The Together Company" which examines the key role of reward strategies in business performance (to be published in March 2007) ¡ Total Reward and a high performance culture World-class case studies from Ray's new book Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Starbucks Coffee, David Lloyd Leisure BAA and Manchester United

Results of research among delegates share and benchmark your practices Practical tools to take back to the workplace

To register your interest please contact Charlotte Ratcliffe at The Leadership Factor on

01484 467004 or email charlotteratcliffe@leadershipfactor.com

Contact us for details of full programme The Strategic Reward Consultancy 3 Glebe Field, Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4DL Tel: 01454 618995 Fax: 01454 617614 email: team@strategicreward.com www.strategicreward.com

Stakeholder December 2006

19

Customer

ast October the Institute of Customer Service held its annual conference at Heathrow and on the second morning the 400 delegates were treated to a wonderful talk by Feargal Quinn, founder of Superquinn and more latterly Chairman of An Post, author and independent Irish senator. Fergal’s not one of those hyped-up conference speakers promoting his own flavour-of-themonth consultancy, he’s quiet and modest despite the fact that he’s been there and done it, and he’s very amusing too. From his first shop with 8 employees in 1960, the company now has 21 supermarkets around Ireland and owns several shopping centres. But the story starts before Superquinn.

L

Go camod m pe orn rs ing

Feargal’s dad, Eamonn Quinn owned Red Island Holiday Camp north of Dublin and that’s where the teenage Feargal had his first taste of business, spending his school holidays working as waiter, page boy, bingo caller or photographer as required. But it was more than work experience and some pocket money; it was an indoctrination into a business philosophy.

Red Island was very innovative at the time.

It was a holiday camp where you didn’t

20

Stakeholder December 2006

Customer

have to pay for anything. Travel, accommodation, meals, entertainment were all included in the original booking fee. That was good for the customers when money was tight but it meant that the company couldn’t judge its success by money rattling through the tills, so it used a different yardstick: customers coming back. If guests had a great time they paid a deposit for the next year’s holiday on departure and this became the scorecard used by Red Island to judge its performance. So the young Feargal’s education was all about the value of customer loyalty.

m The boole princip erang

After graduating in commerce from University College Dublin, Feargal decided on a

career in retailing. One of his lessons as a young trainee was that if the customer asked for 8oz of bacon (or whatever), you would always weigh it ‘just over’, 9oz or 10, on the grounds that “you have to get as much money as you can off customers because you might never see them again”! Not that this was at all unusual. It was how everybody operated at the time: except Feargal. When he opened his first store in 1960 he told his staff to weigh exactly the amount the customer asked for. Although you could almost always get more money on that sale by weighing ‘just over’, because most customers wouldn’t like to appear penny pinching by asking for some to be taken off, it wouldn’t be good business in the long run because the customer might not come back. Like his dad, Feargal built his business on customers coming back. He calls it the boomerang principle. Another example is

the ‘playhouse’ for customers’ small children, that is found in every Superquinn.

With the loss of valuable sales footage, the cost of qualified staff, equipment and insurance, there was no way that Feargal could convince his accountants that it would be anything but a profit reducer in the short term, but he knew it would encourage mothers to come back. As would removing sweets from the checkout aisles, which Superquinn did 30 years ago. Even more telling, is Superquinn’s policy of employing more staff than most competitors based on Feargal’s belief that customers want personal service and if you provide it they’ll come back.

Interestingly, the Customer Priorities study recently conducted by The Leadership Factor for the Institute of Customer Service’s Breakthrough Research programme proved that he’s right1.

‘Helpfulness of staff’ is the customers’

Stakeholder December 2006

21

Customer

Stakeholder December 2006

cu st om er Ha pp y

cu st om er Ha pp y

cu st om er Ha pp y

Ha pp y

cu st om er

cu st om er Ha pp y 22

o g t er nin om te ust Lis e c th

One of the acid tests of a food retailer is the quality of its fresh produce.

Superquinn decided that it would make this challenging category its speciality.

Soon after starting the company Feargal had noticed that, driven on by the trade union, Dublin bakers had abandoned the age-old industry practice of crack of dawn starts to provide customers with fresh bread in the mornings. The move to working conventional hours meant that customers could buy fresh bread in the afternoon or yesterday’s bread in the morning.

Superquinn pioneered in-store bakeries

By the same token the fresh vegetables are ‘picked this morning’ and carry a label to prove it, specifying where they were grown, the time they were picked and even the name of the farmer that picked them! Fresh meat gets the same tlc. Long before traceability and food miles were topical, Superquinn was telling customers exactly where their meat had come from.

Consequently, it was the only supermarket to actually increase sales of beef during the BSE crisis!

cu st om er

Fresh prod uce

In addition to common methods such as formal market research, customer comment cards and in-store customer service desks, Superquinn has always implemented policies to ensure that its managers stay close to customers – in many cases quite literally. For example, Feargal would often walk round a store whilst holding a meeting. A great way of making store managers stay close to customers was to give them an open office within the store itself! All managers must put themselves into the customer’s shoes by doing their own shopping within the store – in particular, male managers cannot delegate the task to their partners, and they must work on the shop floor at least once a week.

Superquinn also holds fortnightly customer panels with senior managers, including Feargal himself, regularly attending. Many of the best boomerang ideas were generated by panels including the playhouse and the removal of sweets from checkouts.

and gave customers what they wanted – fresh bread all day. In fact, their pledge is now that no loaf on display will have been baked longer than four hours ago.

Ha pp y

second most important requirement, and retail is one of the worst sectors at providing it.

Customer

Telling customers that you listen

One of the most under-exploited opportunities for improving customer satisfaction is to simply communicate with customers, tell them that you listen and explain what actions you have taken to act on customer feedback. Not an opportunity neglected

by Superquinn! Following a trip to the USA, Feargal introduced a ‘no more than 2 customers at the checkout’ pledge communicated by huge in-store banners.

The company has also gone one step further with its ‘goofs’ scheme, effectively penalising itself when it has failed to address customers’ concerns. As shown in the picture, customers with a wobbly

trolley could claim an extra 200 loyalty points. The scheme has now changed to charity donations, but putting the company’s money where its mouth is sends a very powerful message that it is listening to customers and is genuinely committed to acting on their feedback.

renew his subscription which was soon to expire. Feargal said he would since he found it to be a very informative publication and he’d been very pleased to notice recently that there was a 55% discount.

Unfortunately not, said the caller. That offer was for new customers only. As a lifelong believer in rewarding the loyalty of existing customers rather than ‘bribing new customers’, Feargal didn’t renew his subscription! He knows that rewarding non-customers is likely to offend existing ones as well as often attracting new customers that don’t come back. Superquinn was first into loyalty cards, although Feargal sees them less as a technique to keep customers coming back but more as a mechanism to recognise and reward good customers’ loyalty and as a valuable source of intelligence. One handy by-

product of this intelligence is that at the tills, swiping the loyalty card flashes up the customer’s name on the employees’ display enabling them to address the customer personally! S

Nigel Hill Chairman The Leadership Factor

Rewarding loyalty

At the conference Feargal told a story about the Economist magazine calling him at home to ask him if he would like to

References “Customer Priorities: What customers really want.” Institute of Customer Service, 2006

www.leadershipfactor.com email: info@leadershipfactor.com

Stakeholder December 2006

23

Case Study

In the USA, the traditional perception of government agencies as bureaucratic, non-responsive and mired in red tape is rapidly being replaced by high-performing teams whose goal is to deliver customer satisfaction and continuous improvement in performance.

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 12 is a premier example. In 2005, The Ohio Partnership for Excellence (OPE) Board of Trustees announced that ODOT, District 12 was awarded Tier IV recognition.

Tier IV recognition is defined as "the highest level of recognition for organizations that have demonstrated, through practices and superior results, the highest level of excellence. These organizations are outstanding examples of excellence in Ohio exhibiting “world class� processes that serve as role models for others." No other state (government) agency has ever received this level of recognition. District 12 joins seven other non-government award winners, representing businesses, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions, who have achieved this honor since 2000.

24

Stakeholder December 2006

Baldrige criteria were developed as part of a national quality award named in honor of the Department of Commerce Secretary, Malcolm Baldrige, in 1987 to help US businesses improve their competitiveness in the global marketplace. During the 1980s US businesses suffered losses in the marketplace due to stronger international competition. Japanese business leaders were able to improve the performance of their organizations after the devastation of World War II by following the teachings of W. Edwards Deming using the Deming Prize Criteria. Congress hoped that the Baldrige criteria would help US business leaders focus on the systems and processes that would lead them to a recovery much like the Deming Prize Criteria helped the Japanese.

Five-year journey District 12 has utilized the OPE award criteria, modeled after the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, since 1999.

The agency received Tier I recognition in 2001, Tier II recognition in 2002, and Tier III recognition in 2004. Tier IV, achieved in 2005, represents the highest level of

recognition that the District can receive at the state level.

When the process began, senior leadership’s approach for communicating and deploying their Organizational Performance Index (OPI) goals and objectives was not developed throughout all levels of the organization. However, they built a disciplined process for sharing desired performance outcomes and empowering employees to create and carry out their own work plans that would contribute to overall improvement and customer satisfaction.

Now, District 12 has a systematic approach for setting organizational values, directions, and expectations that includes a ten-year Capital Work Plan and External Customer Survey. District 12 communicates those values and directions to employees through its Communication Continuum and ensures two-way communication on these topics through Quality Services through Partnership (QStP). Its strategic planning addresses the key factors for success and it has a clear method for collecting and

Case Studyr

analyzing the relevant data and information to address these key factors In 2005, District 12 placed in OPE’s scoring band seven, 75% to 88%, indicating that “the organization demonstrated refined approaches, innovation, excellent deployment, and good to excellent performance improvement and levels in most areas. Good to excellent integration and alignment are evident, with organizational analysis, learning, and sharing of best practices as key management strategies.

Industry leadership, and some benchmark leadership, is demonstrated in results that address most key customer/stakeholder, market, process, and action plan requirements.” In 2004 District 12 had only achieved scoring band four, 45 to 55 percent.

The following areas of strengths were identified by the OPE examiners:

Strengths · Positive relationship between Bargaining Unit and Exempt employees. · Alignment of goals to annual work plans. · Management by fact. · Communication Continuum.

In May 2007, an 80 member Quality Action Planning Team, comprised of the QStP Steering Committee, Safety and Health Committee, Senior Leadership, and Union Leadership completed its seventh Quality Action Plan.

Best Practices The District was recognized from the Ohio Partnership for Excellence with a best practice for their "Communication Continuum". This represents how the District deploys information throughout the workforce. Information, which starts at the statewide Leadership Meeting, flows to the District Executive Leadership Team. Administrators then distribute the information to their own work locations.

In addition, they have monthly Quality Services through Partnership meetings that are comprised of half bargaining

unit/half management to monitor the District's quality processes, bimonthly labor-management meetings, Focus 2015 meetings quarterly where the leadership team travels to each work unit to share information about the District's strategic plan, along with the intranet and monthly newsletters. Also recognized by the OPE was the District's annual work plan where front line employees identify the work that needs to be completed in the upcoming fiscal year and create the plan.

From the chat response District 12 develops "quick fixes" which are intended to be an immediate answer to a question brought up by employees and Problem Solving Process (PSP) teams, which are formed to improve processes based on input provided by employees. In FY 06 District 12 had 109 quick fixes and 19 PSP teams and in FY 07 they have already had 20 quick fixes and 5 PSP teams.

Annual Work Plan Structured communication. Dave Coyle, District 12’s Deputy Director, has a "Chats" process with every employee on an annual basis. He begins in January each year and sends out to the work force 2 to 4 questions in advance and meets with all 450 employees in every work location from January to March. As the process has matured, the questions have become more strategic to the mission of the agency. For example, the 2006 Questions were: Which one of the five Strategic Initiatives (listed below) will have the greatest impact on you as a District 12 team member and why? · Deliver the Jobs & Progress Plan · Respond to Ohio's High Crash Locations · Complete the Highway Technician Program · Improve County Operations by Using Business Tools · Improve the Pavement Management Process

The flowchart seen on the next page illustrates the annual work plan process that employees develop. This started in District 12 and was adopted as a statewide best practice and is now utilized in all 12 Districts, resulting in stronger employee involvement in focusing on customers’ needs.

Team Up ODOT. A mechanic from Lake County invented a vegetation sprayer that can be added to the current equipment used by Highway Maintenance. The sprayer was made to spray on both sides of the guardrail at the same time instead of doing one side at a time. District 12 took this piece of equipment to Team Up ODOT, which is an annual showcase for statewide best practices. Other Districts have expressed interest in the innovative sprayer for their operations.

The Team Up ODOT event also presents awards for outstanding efforts throughout the organization. This year, District 12 sent five teams displaying ideas that District 12 had developed or improved upon:

The 2005 Questions were more tactical: 1. What process improvements would you suggest to increase productivity, reduce cycle time, and/or reduce costs which would improve our efficiencies here at D-12?

2. What has changed or improved as a result of these chats?

3. What makes you feel good about working for ODOT D-12?

· The Highway Attribute Data Team which developed and deployed a methodology for utilizing data through GPS technologies.

Stakeholder December 2006

25

Case Study

THE FLOWCHART WAS ADOPTED AS A STATEWIDE BEST PRACTICE RESULTING IN STRONGER EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN FOCUSING ON CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS

26

Stakeholder December 2006

Case Study

· The Incident Response Team which developed a plan and equipment to enable the District to respond to incidents. · County Annual Work Plan (AWP) Team which developed a system for involving highway technicians in the AWP Process. · District 12’s Health and Safety Team which developed multiple methods to reduce accidents. · The Spall Forming (concrete deterioration) Removal Team which developed a tool for county managers to track work orders for removal of concrete when it breaks apart.

Some of the other benchmarking ideas from other Districts included new solutions to common snow and ice problems, several Strategic Planning Teams, and multiple county operations teams.

Since the inception of the Total ODOT Performance Awards in 2001 District 12 has been the recipient of 16 awards, the most of any District in Ohio.

Customer and Employee Measurement The Baldrige Award expects its candidates to demonstrate a high degree of measurement in their operations in order to monitor performance trends. The criteria also include elements concentrating on Human Resource Management and Customer Focus.

During 2004, District 12 selected The Leadership Factor to implement a worldclass process for the measurement of employee satisfaction and commitment. It trained 40 management and hourly employees in the techniques and actually conducted the survey of all employees, achieving a 98% response rate. D-12 is continuing this employee commitment measure again in 2006.

D-12’s Customer Complaint System was developed by its CUST team using QStP. D-12 ensures that complaints are resolved effectively and promptly and used for improvement throughout the organization. Analysts review trends in the complaint system as well and work

with maintenance managers to be proactive.

In addition, during 2005, ODOT District 12 also commissioned The Leadership Factor to conduct its biennial satisfaction survey of the general public who use the state highways.

Benefits Customers have benefited from External Customer Surveys. Some examples include D-12’s Maintenance of Traffic Policy. Customers told the District that they would prefer ODOT to do work on nights and weekends to lessen the delays to motorists. D-12 developed a policy that outlines each lane mile of interstate highway and what time of day each lane is allowed to be closed. Contractors must get any deviation to this policy approved by the District. This policy was adopted as a statewide best practice.

Also, the Customer Complaint system was improved upon after the last survey results. ODOT now surveys customers after the complaint has been handled to determine relative levels of satisfaction.

One other improvement is the Road Crewzer Program. Road Crewzers drive around the interstate from 6 am to 8 pm and offer help to stranded motorists.

They let motorists use a cell phone, give them gas, help change tires and provide protection against oncoming traffic.

Employees have also noticed improvements based on the satisfaction surveys since 2004. Interview Panels for job promotions were instituted as a result of surveys. Interview Panels are comprised of half bargaining unit/half management and come to consensus on the top candidates. D-12 has even had panels consisting of only bargaining unit employees review candidates for management positions. This was in response to a Priority for Improvement "promotions are based on qualifications". Each work unit also formed a PSP team to determine reward and recognition processes within their work units that are within the limitations of the Ohio Revised Code. The communication continuum that was described ear-

lier was developed in response to poor scores in communication from management.

Links through Measurement Quality began in the District in 1993 when the State Office of Quality was created.

Ohio’s answer to the quality question was to utilize Quality Services through Partnership (QStP) to engage management and the union to meet and/or exceed customers’ expectations. As the District realized notable improvements that resulted from employee Problem Solving Process (PSP) teams, the decision was made to align the random acts of improvements and measure the organization’s journey towards quality using the Ohio Partnership for Excellence, which is based of the Baldrige criteria. After the QStP Steering Committee completed an initial self-assessment using the criteria, the District made its first application to the OPE in 2000.

The Project Development Process (PDP) was developed so that priorities could be assigned without conflict and all key performances are noted under one integral set of metrics, called OPI, which permits the District to meet key requirements, reduce cycle time, increase productivity, and transfer knowledge throughout the organization. A standing, cross-functional team, TPDT, meets monthly. It monitors process requirements and results and incorporates their organizational knowledge into final outcomes through ongoing dialogue and joint problem solving issues.

D-12 ensures high-performance work and a customer and agency focus by aligning its process for leadership effectiveness, strategic planning, performance measurement, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, human resources, and service planning and delivery into one process. Key components include establishing both breakthrough and maintenance goals, feedback to employees on a quarterly basis, peer feedback and reward and recognition ensure a comprehensive performance management system that includes bargaining unit and exempt employees.

Stakeholder December 2006

27

Case Study

The District has traveled to a point in its quality journey, which has reached a higher maturity, which will necessitate better coordination for improvements to be effective. Each department incorporated quality principles into its processes, but there was no contact person to ensure that plans were aligned, executed and yielded expected results. Random acts of improvement were happening all across the District but weren’t aggregated and aligned to overall organizational strategy.

Teams developed effective action plans, but implementation wasn’t systematic and successes weren’t shared throughout the District. The Quality Office will coordinate action plans, performance measures, and follow up to ensure the acts of improvement are aligned with overall organizational strategy.

Using the Baldrige Integrated Management System, which has been a catalyst for high performance in world industry for the past 50 years, the District has been able to define its Strategic Planning Process based on customer, employee and organizational results and align departmental action plans to the strategic plan. Goals defined in the Strategic Planning Process have measurable outcomes, which become the District’s scorecard for success. Quality Assurance Reviews and monitoring action plans and measures will allow the District to remain flexible and make mid-term adjustments to attain goals.

Lessons Learned · Feedback is only as good as the effort put in by the applicant · Involve union membership from beginning · Make sure that the alignment of the OPI to daily operations is understood by all work groups. · Sign up as many employees to be examiners as possible, union and exempt · All inclusive action planning team · Celebrate success

28

Stakeholder December 2006

Conclusion ODOT, District 12, has transformed itself from a poorly performing government agency into an agile, customer-focused organization with dynamic performance measures. Many examples of how its teamwork has created performance excellence can be found at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/dist12/ Most change-minded business people look at government and wonder, “Why can’t government run more like a business?” ODOT has proven that it can and that the benefits are enormous. Quality Officer, Billie Jo David said it best, “The quality processes that have been established are engrained throughout the organization from the top down. Our success is a source of organizational pride for everyone.”

The Ohio Performance Excellence award cited District 12, saying, “Good to excellent integration and alignment are evident, with organizational analysis, learning, and sharing of best practices as key management strategies. Industry leadership and some benchmark leadership are demonstrated in results that address most key customer/stakeholder, market, process and action plan requirements.”

Like many entities throughout the world, both public and private, ODOT is using the Baldrige Criteria as a framework for their continuous improvement process. In order to exceed expectations the department must first find out what customers’ expectations are, then improve the processes used to plan, deliver and measure the services that the organization provides.

The Baldrige criteria offer the best that is known about organizational effectiveness based on more than 50 years of success in nearly every world industry by clarifying current processes in simple terms and providing assurance that the approach that is being used will work effectively.

ODOT District 12 continues to demonstrate that government agencies can achieve world-class results that have previously been associated with the business world.

The Seven Baldrige Award Criteria for performance excellence · · · ·

LEADERSHIP Strategic Planning Customer and Market Focus Measurements, Analysis, and Knowledge Management · Human Resource Focus · Process Management · Business Results S

Bill Self President The Leadership Factor Inc, USA

If you have any thoughts about this article you can contact Bill at: billself@leadershipfactor.com

d 2n

Socap in Europe

on iti Ed

Join the fastest growing membership organisation for senior managers and directors. For people who influence the delivery of customer service

Handbook of Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty Measurement Written by Nigel Hill & Jim Alexander

JOIN S OCAP

TODAY !

Our International Network includes both companies and individuals

Our members include: Boots The Chemists, John Lewis, Lloyds TSB, Nestlé, Avis Europe PLC, One Railway, B&Q, Kellogg’s, Philip Morris, Procter and Gamble, Habitat, Early Learning Centre Here are just some of the benefits of SOCAP Membership:

INFORMATION AND PUBLICATIONS · NEW! Stakeholder Satisfaction - free subscription published four times a year · Customer Management - free subscription - published six times a year · SOCAP News - a weekly electronic newsletter distributed by e-mail. · Inspirational Email - a weekly email specifically designed to inspire customer service professionals · Information Directory - the SOCAP web site provides access to a wealth of articles and publications relating to Consumer Affairs as well as links to other helpful sites · NEW! The SOCAP Journal - Free subscription published four times a year 15% DIS COUNT

Membership options:

for Stakeholde r Satisfaction readers!

· Personal Membership £235 (excluding VAT) · Standard Corporate Membership £945 (excluding VAT) · Foundation Corporate Membership £1,970 (excluding VAT)

£37.50 50% off .19) P (+ &P £5

This book presents a thorough examination of how to use research to understand customer satisfaction and loyalty.

It takes the reader step-by-step through the process of designing and conducting a survey to generate accurate measures of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Chapters include: · Why measure customer satisfaction? · · Loyalty · · The satisfaction-profit chain · · Survey objectives · · Understanding customer behavior · · Exploratory research · · Sampling · · Survey options · · Questionnaires design · · Interviewing skills · · Analysis and reporting · · PR aspects · · Measuring loyalty · · Modelling & forecasting · · Maximising the benefits · To order Buy online at: http://www.leadershipfactor.com/products/books.html or email ruthcolleton@leadershipfactor.com to request your copy or call Ruth Colleton on

Please contact Anne-Marie Lose on 01438 310021 or visit our website at www.socapineurope.org for further information

01484 467000 Stakeholder December 2006

29

On the Stakeholder Satisfaction website you can now:

Download your favourite articles from past issues of Stakeholder Satisfaction Subscribe to Stakeholder Satisfaction

AND MUCH MORE TO COME...

Visit: www.stakeholdermagazine.com now and register for access to all this information

Employee

Stakeholder December 2006

31

Employee

Enlightened organisations understand the need to really listen to their customers and not only provide what they want, but to exceed their expectations. They understand it’s the customer’s perception of how well, or badly, they feel they were treated which counts.

How do organisations ensure front line staff deliver a “top notch” experience, outshining the competition and separating them from the “herd”?

This article sets out the tried and tested methodology for making this happen.

Putting yourself in your customers’ shoes How do you feel when you phone with a problem or need which you want dealt with and you are presented with a seemingly interminable list of options by a disembodied voice, or put on hold for minutes at a time with a background of irritating music?

Contrast this with your own most recent experience of excellent service when you really felt valued. How did this influence your view of the organisation you were dealing with? How rare are these experiences?

What’s the current reality?

What is your reality today. Ask yourself – “how do my customers feel about the experience they have when they deal with my business? How do we treat them?”

“How well are our customer facing staff dealing with our customers?”

“How well do these staff feel they are being managed and supported by the rest of the organisation or your suppliers?”

Is there any difference between these two scenarios?

If not – congratulations! Keep up the good work and share with others what you are doing, so they can learn from your experience.

If yes – can I invite you to read on.

There’s good news!

How do you want your customers to feel?

What is the experience which you would like your customers to have? Visualise what this would be like, picture the scene – what do you see, hear and feel?

There’s a buzz about the place. Bright, switched on, confident and committed people are responding quickly and solving problems. Queries referred to others are dealt with immediately enabling the customer facing person to get back to the customer with the solution. Every customer rings off or walks away feeling really valued…………..like you did in the second scenario above.

32

Stakeholder December 2006

The good news is that there are some simple tried and trusted actions you can take which can “narrow the gap” between where you are now and where you want to be.

We all know organisations who do this well and who are role models to follow.

So how is it done?

How do these people remain fully committed to deliver good results continually on a day to day basis?

The people working in these organisations

are subject to the same daily pressures and are just like the rest of us, both in and outside of work Putting on a Performance What they are able to do is to put on a performance. This doesn’t mean they are blindly positive about everything – “yes” people. You cannot fake good service.

What they do is to lift themselves to give of their best each day. They don’t do this because they are told to or coerced – they do it because they want to – they identify totally with the purpose of their role and take pride in doing it to the best of their ability. They work together as part of a team delivering a collective service.

So how is this achieved?

Every single person must understand what the organisation is trying to achieve and what their role is in delivering that.

They need to understand clearly what is expected of them and receive feedback on a regular basis of how well they are doing.

They need to feel valued and involved.

How can you measure whether this is being achieved? The answer is;Quite simply:· · · · · · · ·

Ask them Listen to what they tell you Understand what they are saying Identify the issues which are influencing their perceptions Agree actions to replicate or reinforce the positive results Agree actions to address the negative results Follow through on the actions, checking on progress Repeat the process down the track

Employee

This is most effectively achieved using a system called:-

issues which caused them to score the way they did.

EMPLOYEE VALUE MANAGEMENT (EVM)

These issues are often manifested in perceptions, as opposed to facts, some of these perceptions can be quite be powerful. The facilitators ask pertinent questions to distil down the real evidence driving the perceptions. Anything said in the focus group remains anonymous and non attributable.

Summary of the EVM Process Stage 1 Questionnaire Completion Stage 2 Team Focus Groups Stage 3 Reporting Results

Stage 4 Development & Implementation Action Plans Stage 5 Monitor & Review Progress

What’s involved?

Stage One – Personal Questionnaire Each person in the organisation completes a simple questionnaire which asks 36 questions and takes around 15 minutes to complete. This is done anonymously, only the name of the department or team is recorded. They are asked to enter a numerical score for each question.

The questions are based on 9 factors which influence motivation and commitment at work, drawn from accredited academic research.

The results are analysed and a collective average score is recorded for each team and the organisation as a whole.

Stage Two – Departmental Team Focus Groups An externally facilitated focus group is held for each departmental team, where team members are shown the top 3 scoring factors and the bottom 3. They are then asked to share and discuss the

The senior management team, often the board of directors, is its own departmental team, as is the next tier of management down (middle management team).

For consistency and richness of results it is also desirable to have a group for junior management/supervisory level.

Stage Three – Reporting of Results The facilitators report the findings to the senior management team, without breaching the confidence of the groups.

This feedback will include the perceptions and the “evidence” driving them. This feedback frequently takes the senior management by surprise and requires them to have the discipline to suspend judgement and not leap to conclusions, rationalise away the findings or “shoot the messenger”.

From this process it is easy to identify collective issues which exist across the whole organisation and those which are relevant to particular departmental teams.

Often there are complimentary issues existing between teams which rely on each other on a day to day basis.

Starting at the top the senior management team discuss the issue arising from the feedback, both within their own team and the collective issues arising. They may pick up on positive feedback from particular departmental teams to identify actions which could be replicated more widely in the organisation to good effect.

An action plan is agreed to replicate the good and address the more negative.

The top management team meet with the middle management team to follow the same process. This is likely to have to deal with some quite sensitive issues, but is extremely valuable in clearing the air and removing obstacles. It is quite typical for there to be some tension between the two teams, or elements within them, but it is vital to address this constructively, because any dissonance between senior and middle management is a significant barrier to achieving the successful result you desire!

This process is replicated between middle and junior management teams.

Each departmental team manager sits down with their team, with a facilitator to discuss the issues arising from the focus groups and to agree an action plan to replicate the good and address the more negative aspects.

A further point of interest is looking at the issues which exist between the different levels of management.

Stage Four – Development of Action Plans All this activity is under the guidance of the facilitators.

Stage Five – Reviewing Progress Review dates are built in for reviewing progress with these action plans. It is vital that the implementation of the action plan is one of the

Stakeholder December 2006

33

Employee

personal objectives of each manager, by which their performance is measured.

Stage Six - Repeat the process after 6-12 months By flagging up that you are committed to repeating the process you will generate momentum to ensure the action plans are delivered. It is folly to have an issue reraised from the first exercise which has not been addressed. This demonstrates to everyone that you mean business and will enable you to move forward.

The timescales of your initial action plans will be a guide to how long you wait to repeat the process.

One tip is to avoid being complacent with your higher scoring teams, it is easy to take them and their goodwill for granted because you are naturally more likely to be focused on your areas for improvement. Make sure they continue to be involved in the ongoing dialogue.

Benefits of Deploying the EVM System There are a whole range of significant benefits:1. The EVM system provides a quantitative way of “taking the temperature” of the motivation and commitment of everyone within the organisation.

2. The EVM system enables you to ensure that all the issues and perceptions which exist around the organisation are brought out into the open and dealt with. Some of these would remain hidden but for the EVM process.

Paradoxically some negative issues arise from apparently positive scores.

3. The action plans comprise actions required from team members as well

34

Stakeholder December 2006

as managers, they promote an acceptance of there being “rights and responsibilities”.

4. Being seen to take action on the issues arising promotes trust, goodwill and commitment amongst the workforce.

Staff feel more involved as a result of going through the process. They learn to trust the process and as a result feel more comfortable on a day to day basis to make suggestions, flag up issues and ask questions when they don’t understand, thus completing a virtuous circle.

5. Managers benefit from the discipline of having to sit down with their teams to agree and then implement the action plan. With the help of the facilitator they develop their skills and confidence and become more effective managers.

6. An originally unforeseen benefit is that teams take great pride and ownership in their scores and therefore are more committed to work on the issues.

7. The EVM results can be presented in a format which matches the HSE criteria for workplace stress which means that your actions will automatically satisfy your legal obligation to address these factors.

8. There is a facility to benchmark your results against other organisations.

All of the above result in:9. Tangible business benefits ensue from the successful deployment of the EVM system such as:· Reduced absenteeism and “presenteeism” · Lower staff turnover in key positions

· Much higher levels of staff performance · Memorable levels of customer service, beating your competition all ends up · INCREASED PROFITS S

Nigel Cook is an experienced commercial professional HR practitioner with 30 years management experience in customer focused businesses. In his 18 years HR experience his strength has been to mould HR interventions which really add value to the business – largely through helping the organisation get more from its people through his advice, guidance and coaching.

In most organisations people on average feel they fulfil about 50% of their potential on a day by day basis. Yet most managers feel they have too much to do with the resources they have or put another way they need more resources to do the job.

Surely the logical answer is to get more from your existing people, who in many cases would be only too willing to give more – to realise more of their potential.

Nigel has recently established the Employer’s Cookbook in a quest to help organisations do just that and break the cycle of so much being (not well) done in so little time!

Belonging to CIPD, IOD, BPS amongst other professional bodies, Nigel is also an advisor with TEN – The Excellent Network – which promotes Business Improvement.

Mobile - 07711 843014 Website - www.employerscookbook.co.uk

Complaints

Many companies would like to reap the benefits of outsourcing, but are nervous about the quality of service they will get and issues associated with losing touch with their customers. As such, it would seem sensible for companies planning to outsource parts of their business to document at length what is required of the outsourced provider so that there is a contractual obligation to deliver a clearly-understood minimum acceptable level of service for the company within defined and agreed cost parameters. In this article, Alison J Widdup explores why things go wrong and proposes a better way of working in partnership with your outsourcer.

When things go wrong‌ When companies outsource elements of their business, there is generally no effective mechanism whereby the two organisations work together. Rather, the outsourced operation is managed from a distance by senior people under the terms of this contract (these are commonly known as service level agreements or SLAs).

The thinking behind their development is well intended, but it is rare that SLAs achieve what they set out to.

Complaints can be rife, even when an outsourcer is meeting its SLAs: this can result in an adverse impact on the bottom line, as well as lots of unhappy customers!

BUT IF THIS WERE YOUR COMPANY OR OUTSOURCED PROVIDER, WOULD YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM?

Stakeholder December 2006

35

Complaints

efficient service to their customers on their behalf.

So why don’t SLAs work?

Regrettably, the SLAs aren’t linked to the needs or wants of the customer which that operation exists to serve.

SLAs measure things that are of little consequence to the individual customer, such as call durations or average abandoned rates, and force the managers and team leaders of the outsourced provider to focus on productivity – to demonstrate they are delivering a quality service and value for money.

It’s a sad fact, but if you answered that question honestly, you probably would have said ‘no’, and you wouldn’t be alone!

How (not) to fix it…

Often, solutions based on reason, such as delivering customer care programmes, training people, or changing procedures are proposed to tackle issues of increasing levels of customer dissatisfaction. Such ideas seem sensible, since after all, most people would agree wholeheartedly that all organisations need to care about their customers, and well-trained staff who are following the appropriate procedures are best placed to deliver excellent service.

Unfortunately, whilst approaches like these to dealing with the problem of customer complaints might appear to improve service quality for a short period of time, none of these lines of attack will be effective in the long run, in view of the fact that they don’t address the root cause of the matter.

This is because an integral part of the problem lies with the very service level agreements that are put in place by the company to ensure their outsourced provider delivers a quality,

36

Stakeholder December 2006

Before taking steps to use SLAs, volumes of complaints and financial service penalties, as a stick with which to beat their outsourced provider, companies should consider the impact of such action on customer service. They should pause to think, take stock and contemplate how they might develop a longer term, more customer centric approach to their outsourced relationships.

So what should be done?

By encouraging their outsourced provider to work to understand what customers are saying when they contact them, customer needs and how best to meet them, and assessing aspects of service delivery that are of importance to customers, a company can really make a difference. They can enable their outsourced provider to deliver world class service on their behalf!

analysing this data in order to work together to make improvements to the service delivered. reviewing the success of service improvements by measuring improvement in the performance against these new “customer measures”.

Finally, the relationship between company and outsourcer needs to be open and honest, so that any issues, in terms of either the quality of service or the relationship itself, can be raised frankly by either side and addressed without fear of reprisal or antagonism.

Conclusions: a better way to work together?

In summary, companies feel they need the security afforded by SLAs to protect them against ineffective outsourced providers.

Unfortunately, such SLAs tend to achieve the reverse of the desired outcome, and the natural response by many companies is to fight their outsourced provider contractually.

However, there is a better way: Company and outsourced provider working together as partners, to deliver an optimal quality service, is the most costeffective and sensible way to run an outsourced service relationship; and by listening to what customers say, and measuring the things that matter to them, an outsourced service provider won’t go far wrong! S

In essence this means that a mutuality to the relationship between company and outsourcer should be developed, and they should be committed to working together with the shared goal of delivering excellent service to the end customer.

In this context, both parties have to understand who is responsible for what, and should develop and use a continuous improvement framework for: effectively measuring service delivery by genuinely focusing on what matters to customers (in terms of, for example, the type and frequency and variation of demands in to the service provider, and the capability of the outsourcer’s response to those demands – how well are they delivering what your customers are asking for?);

Alison J Widdup is Managing Director of àreté business services ltd

(www.betterforeveryone.com) which offers a fresh, different and better way of operating in the outsourced contact centre market, that is based on a very different set of management principles and recognises that people are the bedrock of any business.

The company has set up an ethical contact centre in Bradford, which challenges traditional beliefs and approaches, addresses the industry problems of escalating costs, worsening customer service and poor morale, meaning àreté can compete on both cost and quality with cheaper offshore locations!

Fast Guide

Fast guide to setting targets for satisfaction

One of the frustrating things about reporting survey results within your organisation can be a hostile reception from colleagues. Critics motivated by defensiveness, bloody-mindedness (though obviously that one doesn't apply to your organisation) or by legitimate concerns often seem to trap the process in pedantic debate, rather than allowing it to progress to what really matters - improving your performance. We've gathered together a selection of the more common difficult questions complete with appropriate responses - feel free to send us any more of your favourites.

However by aggregating these scores across a large sample of respondents we can be confident that these variations in scoring are absorbed as random error, which will have a negligible effect when looking at the average across respondents.

But we've only spoken to a small proportion of customers - is that reliable?

The only time this concern has real legitimacy is when comparing scores across countries. There is evidence that there are systematic cultural differences in the way people in different countries use scales.

This must be controlled for before comparing between countries.

Yes. Contrary to popular belief the main factor influencing the reliability of a survey is the absolute size of the sample. Thus a sample of 500 is equally reliable for every business, however many customers thay have. The only reason to interview more people than this is when the results need to be split down in the analysis, which is why, in practice, large organisations often require large samples. When you consider that most published newspaper polls use a sample of around 1,000 to represent the views of the adult population of the UK it should put your own sample size in perspective.

How do we know Mr X means the same thing by "8 out of 10" as Ms Y? We don't, and note that the same criticism applies to verbal scale points such as "very satisfied" as well. This is one of the reasons why it would be unwise to draw too many conclusions about individuals based on their survey scores.

But some people will never give a 10, so that must distort the scores This is true, although it is rarer than many people suppose. In many respects the answer to this is the same as the question above - averaged across a large sample the odd (odd being the operative word) individual like this will be cancelled out by other respondents.

How do we know the results are reliable?

Based on well-established statistical principles we can be confident that, with a random sample and a high response rate, survey estimates are accurate within known limits. Based on a sample size of 400 customers these limits will be comparatively small (plus or minus 0.1 on a

typical 10 point scale score - in other words with a mean of 7.4 we would be 95% sure the real score was in the range 7.3–7.5)

You've worked out our satisfaction index one way, I think this other way is better The way the index is calculated is far less important than using it to look at differences between branches/business units/regions and tracking improvements over time. If your index is sensitive enough to show these differences effectively then it's doing its job, however it may be put together. Composite indices are, in general, preferable to single question measures because of measurement issues.

Is this response rate high enough for us to trust the results?

This is the toughest, and most legitimate, question of the lot. In many cases response rates are not as high as we would like them to be. It is often not a viable option to spend the kind of money it might take to get a high response rate. It might involve switching to telephone or even face to face interviews rather than a self-completion questionnaire, and that is not always an option.

As long as your response rate is respectable, by which I mean over 20%, then most organisations would be happy to act on the results. Theoretically there is opportunity here for bias, but it is unlikely to change the action you should take. In other words the headline score may be distorted, but the priorities for improvement you choose are likely to reflect the priorities of those customers who have not responded as well as those that have. S

Stakeholder December 2006

37

Book Review

Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers

by Delivering What Matters Most

Harvard Business School Press

By Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan

All organisations claim that they want to improve customer satisfaction, but they also want to minimise costs. Few get this balance right, focusing on controlling or reducing costs whilst seeking ‘quick wins’ to improve customer satisfaction.

According to Barwise and Meehan, the most successful organisations accept that improving customer satisfaction is a long haul not a quick fix, stating that organisations “must focus on what matters most to customers, usually the generic category benefits that all competing brands provide, more or less, and not unique brand differentiators………. Everything hinges on giving customers what matters most to them, even if that proposition seems less exciting than focusing on novelty, uniqueness or the latest management or technology fad.”

They illustrate their view with the contrasting fortunes of the 3rd and 4th entrants into the UK mobile phone market.

One2One pursued differentiation and a strong customer acquisition strategy, offering free off-peak local calls. This appealed to consumers and enabled them to acquire twice as many customers as Orange in their first six months of operation.

Orange focused on getting the basics right.

Everyone knew that customers were dissatisfied with frequent call terminations, inability to get through plus high and unfair pricing strategies such as full minute billing.

38

Stakeholder December 2006

Orange simply addressed these drivers of dissatisfaction, offering per-second and itemised billing and investing in network reliability.

Meanwhile, One2One attracted many price sensitive customers who clogged its limited network capacity with free off-peak calling and became frustrated with its poor service. By the end of 1996 there was telling evidence of who was doing best what mattered most to customers. A Consumers’ Association survey found that whilst 14% of Orange customers reported that they couldn’t always connect with the network, One2One was nearly four times worse than Orange and almost double the network average. The survey showed that Orange had more loyal customers than the other three suppliers and, at £442 Orange had already achieved the industry’s top per customer revenue figure. One2One was over £100 behind at £341.

Conventional strategy would dictate that a late entrant into a commodity market needed a USP like One2One’s free off peak calls to succeed. Instead, by focusing on getting the basics right, Orange acquired customers at a slower rate, but kept them longer and made more profit out of each one. Consequently, Orange delivered three

EVERYTHING HINGES ON GIVING CUSTOMERS WHAT MATTERS MOST TO THEM, EVEN IF THAT PROPOSITION SEEMS LESS EXCITING THAN FOCUSING ON NOVELTY, UNIQUENESS OR THE LATEST MANAGEMENT OR TECHNOLOGY FAD.”

times the shareholder value achieved by One2One. In August 1999 Deutsche Telekom bought One2One for £6.9 billion.

In October 1999 Mannesmann acquired Orange for £20 billion.

To summarise, Barwise and Meehan claim that organisations often “assume that years of competition have turned the underlying product or service into a commodity. In reality, what customers care most about is that companies reliably deliver the generic category benefits, but, far too often, that does not happen. Therefore, most businesses have a big opportunity to beat the competition, not by doing anything radical and certainly not by obsessing about trivial unique features or benefits, but instead by getting closer to their customers, understanding what matters most to them, and providing it simply better than the competition.” S

Peak Performance Training

SOCAP in Europe Join the fastest growing membership organisation for senior managers and directors. For people who influence the delivery of customer service.

Peak Performance Training was founded in 1995 by Rachel Davies and specialises in management training, particularly in the areas of customer service, team building and motivation.

For more information contact Rachel Davies at:

Telephone

01455 213683

Please contact Anne-Marie Lose on 01438 310021 or visit our website at Mobile

www.socapineurope.org

07720 789089

for further information

rachel.peakperformance@tinyonline.co.uk

‘When It Hits The Fan’ Michael’s latest book, is a comprehensive and logical new guide to handling crises and issues. It includes a wealth of practical guidance, a test-your-own crisis skills section and 10 indispensable action checklists.

Corporate Communications Crisis Management Media & Presentation Training Creativity Stress/Motivation Michael Bland Communication Consultancy, 3 St Mary’s Road London W5 5RA Tel +44

(0)20 8752 1965

Fax +44 (0)20 8354 5222 Mob +44 (0)7974 365585

www.michaelbland.com info@michaelbland.com

·

Leading edge research-Harvard Business School, Bath University/CIPD, world-wide study of professional firms.

·

Advertise your training course here Call Charlotte Ratcliffe on 0870 240 7885 or email

World class case studies Marriott/Fairfield Inn, Prudential Financial, Cisco Systems, Southwest Airlines

·

Results of research among delegates share and benchmark your practices (pre-briefing questionnaire)

·

Practical research tools and processes to take away

info@stakeholdermagazine.com

BJ Cunningham is presenting his one day masterclass - Brand Evolution for the first time. This charismatic speaker and acknowledged thought leader in the field of branding, brand marketing and communications, will show you how to clarify your brand promise to unify the internal company culture with the external market, creating an unstoppable organisation.

The Strategic Reward Consultancy 3 Glebe Field, Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4DL

Tel: 01454 618995 Fax: 01454 617614 email: team@strategicreward.com www.strategicreward.com

To register your interest please contact Charlotte Ratcliffe at The Leadership Factor on

01484 467004 or email charlotteratcliffe@leadershipfactor.com

Stakeholder December 2006

39

One Day

Training Courses from £295 + VAT

9 Training Courses from The Leadership Factor

Venues include

· · · · · · · ·

London Manchester Leeds Bristol Birmingham

Customer Satisfaction Measurement (level 1) Customer Satisfaction Measurement (level 2) Improving Customer Satisfaction Complaints Management Analysing & Reporting Customer Satisfaction Data Facilitating Focus Groups Questionnaire Design Return on Satisfaction - Modelling the benefits of investing in customers · Improving Employee Satisfaction

Book online at: www.leadershipfactor.com

For detailed agendas please contact Ruth Colleton on 01484 467000 or email ruthcolleton@leadershipfactor.com

The

F A C T O R L E A D E R S I N S AT I S F AC T I O N M E A S U R E M E N T

The Leadership Factor Taylor Hill Mill Huddersfield HD4 6JA

Tel: 01484 517575 Fax: 01484 517676

Email: uk@leadershipfactor.com Web site: www.leadershipfactor.com