It should be obvious! We should always strive to make it easy for those we serve. Such a simple concept… yet, it defies our very nature.
We spend our life working to make things easy – for the most part for ourselves or our families. We have well developed skills at identifying what is difficult/easy for “ourselves”. However, when it comes to “knowing” what is easy for someone else, wearing someone else’s shoes, serving someone in a way that truly facilitates rather than creates obstacles… this is when easy will often become quiet complex for those seeking to serve. It frequently is counter intuitive to continually place yourself in someone else’s shoes.
I find it fascinating when really smart team members, team members that genuinely want to do the right thing, propose a solution that in some way “may” be an imposition on our customers. Often it seems that the “may” is what disguises the imposition. We analyze our customer usage levels, call volumes, types of questions, frequency of questions, and the list goes on & on. If we are not careful we start thinking about the statistics rather than the experience.
Recently, I was notified that one of our third party services was to be unavailable for 36 hours over a weekend. I was told that the statistics say there will be minimal impact for this specific service. After I caught my breath from the shock, I spoke with the technical team and collectively we found a way to minimize the outage to 45 minutes in the middle of the night on a Saturday.
Our objective is to “Be There” when we are needed… to be consistently, reliably available to those we serve. It begins with being aware of what “may” occur and anticipating what easy will be for someone else rather than ourselves.
Mark Holliday – Chief Operating Officer