Creating a Service Culture

Washatka Group - Branch Manager’s Letter
July 1, 2005

Just saying we deliver great service doesn’t guarantee employees are really wowing members. Words like service and excellence don’t mean anything unless your staff lives and breathes those commitments. Great service is rooted in a culture shared by everyone in the organization – front line, back office, and management.

“Culture provides a frame of reference for people and establishes formal and informal ‘rules’ for how people live in a specific environment, be it family or workplace,” explains Kathy Washatka, president of Washatka Group in Bellingham, Washington. “Having a service culture is a much stronger commitment than just telling people to provide great service. A culture is demonstrated at every level of the organization.”

 

How to Evaluate Your Service Service can differentiate your institution from the competition. That’s why it’s vital to: 1) Know what people want, and 2) Learn how well you’re making that connection with people. Studies show the main reason people leave a place of business is a result of rudeness or a perception of disinterest. People want to feel acknowledged and valued. How do members perceive your service delivery? What are their expectations? Where are you coming up short? “Provide as many delivery channels as possible for members to provide feedback,” advises Washatka. She offers these ideas: Invite feedback through surveys and suggestion boxes. Enlist third parties to conduct random surveys every few years to help spot strong and weak areas. Watch for patterns in comments and suggestions. Form focus groups that consist of a cross-section of members. Make follow-up calls to find out about people’s experiences. Ask what could have made the experience better. Be responsive to complaints and suggestions – the more personal the better. A phone is best, followed by e-mail or a letter. Remain curious at all times. Especially when you disagree, try to remain open to better understand another perspective. Listen closely to what people are saying and also what they aren’t saying. Some institutions track closed accounts to discover if there are any service-related issues that need addressing. Track the number of services people are using. The Washatka Group challenges people to identify what holds them back and supports them as they move forward. Kathy Washatka has worked for over 20 years with credit unions and works with corporate leaders as both a manager and as a trainer. Contact her at 1-360-734-6504 or Kathy@washatkagroup.com. This article is reprinted with permission from Branch Manager’s Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com (304-343-0206).

In a strong culture with consistent values for everyone, people are motivated to operate in a way that supports the status quo and it applies to everyone, no matter what the position. For example, the HR director sees employees as members and is challenged to meet the same service expectations that an employee who works with external members is expected to meet. “By approaching service in this way, people develop a stronger investment in the organization because they personally experience great service and know how it feels,” points out Washatka.

Service Is the Foundational Value

“A service culture uses service as the foundational value that guides all decisions as they are made,” says Washatka. When new products are offered, the overriding question is aimed at how this improves the service offered to members. Policies and procedures are always evaluated in light of how they support service to members. The culture supports the belief that my member is anyone who isn’t me. This means there is a commitment to providing the same level of service internally to each other as there is to the external member.

In a service culture there is clarity about the core values of the organization, its mission, and the expectations. People are taught what service looks like from their first day of work. “It’s one thing to say ‘we provide great service.’ It’s another to define behaviorally for employees what that looks like,” explains Washatka. Examples of defining specific behaviors are:

• We respond to every suggestion with a phone call within two business days.

• We follow up with a thank you note to every new member within three business days.

A strong service culture has to include providing feedback – both positive and critical – as a way of supporting and creating success. “To keep a culture alive and dynamic, conversation has to happen,” says Washatka. “This means encouraging people to be creative about ways to strengthen and improve the culture. Constant evaluation keeps things fresh.”

Managers Must Live the Commitment

A service culture has to begin at the very top, because that’s where people look when things begin to fall apart. “Leaders must be strongly committed and willing to actively and publicly live this commitment. They are the key sponsors and without strong sponsorship, people will not believe the value is important,” says Washatka.

As branch manager, you become the sponsor within your office. You are crucial to the culture’s success, because you are the person who sees what’s happening on a daily basis. You are in a position to provide the specific feedback that is necessary to keep people recognized and challenged.

“People are much more likely to follow leaders who lead by example. ‘Do as I say not as I do’ is a very powerful message that people spot quickly,” Washatka says. “Managers can easily lose credibility when they don’t live the culture.”

Framework for Success

Too often organizations make assumptions about what employees understand when they are told that service is valued highly. “Everyone comes with different sets of experiences and they may not be on the same page at all. So while employees think they’re doing a great job, they may not be meeting the organization’s expectations,” Washatka continues. “Training is treated as a luxury and feedback, especially critical, is often ignored or delivered in a way that does not support success.”

To create and sustain a service culture, Washatka advises:

1. Involve employees in conversations about what service expectations should look like. Employees love being asked their opinions, so regular sessions can be fun and creative. Be sure to include internal and external expectations so everyone gets to participate.

2. Decide together what values are important in the way people work together, support each other, and work through hard conversations. How people work together will show up in other places; members will recognize and be drawn to do business where employees are happy and productive.

3. Provide training around topics like these:

• Dealing with difficult members

• Sharpening communications skills (i.e., how to articulate your own positions and how to actively listen to other positions, how to elicit more information)

• Thinking creatively so you can turn a potential “no” into a “yes” for a member

• Time management skills to prioritize your work so it is in sync with a service culture

4. Give employees feedback on service delivery. Provide coaching on areas that need improvement. Use positive strokes to keep employees feeling good about delivering service.

Positive strokes are also powerful ways to emphasize what people are doing right. Use phrases like thank you and I appreciate you. Be specific about what you’re recognizing. Example: “Thank you for doing a great job on resolving Mr. Sizemore’s complaint.”

5. Develop recognition/reward programs that really challenge people. Don’t recognize people who just show up to work! Recognize people who raise the bar to encourage others to follow suit. Make the recognition significant, so it demonstrates the commitment to the value. Recognize both internal and external service.

6.Keep talking about service. Especially if turnover is high, it’s crucial to keep the conversation alive. Don’t assume people will just naturally pick up on your service culture. Articulate your service expectations from the beginning. Encourage people to share what they are learning about service, so that you can keep your approach fresh and stimulating.

7. Be open to change. What worked last year might be old hat now, so what can you do differently that will delight your members? Competition is much too stiff to assume that once you gain a member the hard work is over. That’s just the beginning. Now the challenge is keeping the member and hoping to create an advocate who will do word-of-mouth marketing for you.

The Washatka Group challenges people to identify what holds them back and supports them as they move forward. Kathy Washatka has worked for over 20 years with credit unions and works with corporate leaders as both a manager and as a trainer. Contact her at 1-360-734-6504 or Kathy@washatkagroup.com. This article is reprinted with permission from Branch Manager’s Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com (304-343-0206).