Case Studies

Engaging Employees in Building the Vision

Case Studies

Creating Customer Service Standards to Differentiate the Customer Experience Understanding the Emotions That Drive Customer Behavior Leveraging Best Practices of High Performers Engaging Employees in Building the Vision Competing Against Free Software

Situation

Our client was embarking on a major customer-service transformation project, following two years of significant changes that included a financial restructuring, a change in company ownership and replacement of major technology platforms. Preliminary research revealed that employees were committed, but exhausted from coping with externally imposed changes.

Approach

We recommended a high-engagement strategy to give employees at many levels a role in creating their future. The senior steering committee created the initial project plan with our guidance during a two-day offsite session. Project teams were enlisted from across organization silos to address key elements of the new customer experience. A prototype location was selected as a laboratory to test ideas. Large group meetings were held every three months where a wide variety of interactive approaches were used to engage participants, led by the senior stakeholders. An intranet site was created to provide regular updates. Senior managers went to every location to talk to small groups of employees.

An example of a high-engagement activity: prior to the first large meetings, every manager attending was assigned homework for their department or unit. The homework exercise was to produce a collage of their future customer-service vision or to conduct a mystery shop of a best-practice service organization in their local market.

Result

Participants at the large meetings felt their concerns were heard. Senior project team members gained tremendous credibility from making and keeping public commitments for support. The dread factor was mostly replaced by field pressure on head office to "get on with it" even before the testing period was completed.

Bonus

A display wall was planned for head office using the collages and posters created by the groups. The groups, however, refused to leave them behind. Instead they put them on display in their branch offices.