Category Archives: Employability

Customer Service, Employability, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence

Gap 5 – The Perceived Service-Quality Gap

The final gap is the perceived service that the customer has of their experience in relation to their original expectation of the product or service. Ideally there is no gap here or, if there is a gap, it is in the context that the perceived service level is higher than original expectations.
What gap, if any are your customers experiencing?
Copyright Gary Ryan 2011

Quote from a research participant
You know they don’t really have to do all that much. If they just met my expectations I’d be happy. But they really don’t seem to care. And as soon as I get a chance to go somewhere else I will. And they won’t even know what happened to me. It’s a shame, really. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Customer Service, Employability, Employability Skills, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence

Human error drives the service – delivery gap

Gap 3 – The Service – Delivery Gap
Even after all the systems and processes have been created, both the automated and human elements of the system must do what they are supposed to do. System errors or breakdowns and humans not doing what they are supposed to do can create immediate service gaps. No system or human is perfect or infallible. As such your organisation must continually focus on minimising system and human errors. In addition, know what you will do if a Service Delivery Gap does occur. 
A local small business operator has a sign on his door that he will open at 8am. His staff are never there by 8am despite being employed to be there at that time. Consistently being late on a personal level creates a service delivery gap for an organisation.
What are your service-delivery gaps?
Copyright Gary Ryan 2011
Quote from a research participant
Ultimately your staff have to do the right thing. It’s important to have the best systems and processes that you can, but ultimately your staff have to do the right thing. They have to properly implement what they are supposed to do.
Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Employability, Leadership, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence, Service Gaps

What is your service-quality gap?

Gap 2

It is one thing to be able to understand the expectations of those you serve. A gap can emerge if your translation of those expectations into service standards is inaccurate.

Service standards are effectively the systems and processes that you put into place to ensure that you can consistently meet the expectations of your customers. This is very easy to get wrong and requires a high understanding of the expectations of your customers, as well as a high level of understanding of how your organisations works if you are to minimise this gap. Hiring the right people with the passion to serve, and supporting them with appropriate service standards is critical for minimising this gap.
Copyright Gary Ryan 2011
Research participant
The members said that they wanted the gymnasium to open at 6am. So I employed the staff to start their shift at 6am. The members were still not happy. I was confused. When I asked them again why they weren’t happy they said, “We told you that we wanted the gym open at 6am, not ‘opening’ at 6am. There’s a difference!” Finally I understood. The staff would be paid to start at 5:45am so that the gym would be truly open as had been requested. I had been wrong. I had misinterpreted the expectations of the members.
Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Employability, Employability Skills, Leadership, Leadership Development, Management

If you think that 8M Australians with poor job skills means you are guaranteed a great career, think again!

A report by Australia’s Industry Skills Councils to the Australian Federal Government has warned that up to eight million Australians don’t have the necessary numeracy and literacy skills to train for a trade or a profession.

The Report provides both bad & good news

The report also notes that over the next five years Australia will experience an estimated shortage of 215,000 skilled workers.

On the surface this may look like statistics that are extremely positive for current professionals and skilled employees. Why? Because the statistic highlight how poor the competition for skilled and professional jobs is at this point in time.

There is little to argue against this fact.

However, skilled workers and professionals need to think again. The lack of a skilled workforce and the extremely high number of people with low numeracy and literacy skills will increase the pressure on current skilled workers and professionals. Why? Because they are going to be the ones leading and managing the rest of the workforce. So the requirement for highly developed leadership and management skills are going to be paramount.

Getting and job and staying in employment for skilled workers and professionals will be virtually guaranteed (providing you are prepared to go where the work is located), however this doesn’t guarantee a great career. You will absolutely need to continue to develop your skills and employability so that you have the skills sets to lead and manage the rest of the workforce. These skill sets will continue to grow in demand and it is the people who really know how to lead and manage, and can demonstrate their skills through their track record will be the ones who will be “guaranteed” a great career.

What are you doing to enhance your leadership and management skills even if you have been leading and managing for a long time?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Employability, Leadership, Russell Ackoff, Systems Thinking

Russell Ackoff shares the fundamentals of Systems Thinking

Russell Ackoff is a champion of Systems Thinking and one of the most respected experts on this topic while he was alive.

The Australian Government recognises Systems Thinking as a critical skill that relates to leadership. Yet very few people know what Systems Thinking is.

In the two short videos below, Russell explains the history and fundamental principles of Systems Thinking.

After viewing the videos, consider how Systems Thinking affects how you see the world and how it works, particularly with regard to how organisations work.

Part 1

Part 2

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Employability, Employability Skills, Leadership, Leadership Development, Monash University, PAL Program, Student Programs, students

Monash PAL Leaders prove that we’re in good hands with Gen Y

My work results in me working with Gen Zers through to Builders. Not a bad spread, is it!

Often Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and Builders bemoan Gen Y.

“They want everything now”, “They are selfish”, “They don’t understand loyalty”, “It’s all them!” are statements I regularly hear.

But Gen Y are as selfless, community focused and loyal as any other generation.

I have proof.

Some of the work I do with developing leaders has me working with students in various leadership programs for universities based in Melbourne, Australia. One such program, the PAL Program for the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University has students experiencing a range of developmental programs over a three year period. In their final year of the program the students create community based projects.

They give up their time to generate and manage sustainable projects. Last weekend 56 students gave up half of their Saturday (it was a beautiful 29 degree day too) to go through a facilitated process to create projects. Next Saturday the students will complete the first phase of this process as each ‘project team’ will participate in a workshop to ‘launch’ their project and enhance the probability of achieving their desired project outcomes.

Each project must fulfil at least one of the following principles:

  1. Enhance the students to student experience
  2. Enhance the student to faculty experience
  3. Enhance the Faculty/University to community experience

The projects often end up raising awareness for charities and/or current domestic/world events. Ultimately, the students do make a positive difference through their actions (which are all in addition to their studies, part time work and anything else they might be doing with their lives). If nothing else their projects create a sense of community and belonging for students, factors that are extremely important and cannot be underestimated in terms of student well being and mental health.

A significant purpose of the program is to enhance the employability of the students by providing them with real opportunities to do real work. Universities recognise the importance of creating well rounded students who understand theory and are also able to put theory into practice. Over many years of facilitating these programs I can say that they do enhance the employability of the students. The lessons that arise from working with other talented people, within tight timeframes and limited resources (often there is no money available for the projects – the students have to generate the income they require for the projects to be funded – which create a wonderful ‘mind-shift regarding money that is invaluable) are practical, real and powerful for the students.

After each day of completing my work with these students I always walk away with high energy levels and heightened sense of positivity regarding our future. These students do care about more than themselves, they are selfless and willing to give of their precious time for a higher purpose and most importantly they do make a positive difference. Our future really is in good hands.

I look forward to sharing their successes later this year.

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
career, Customer Service, Employability, Employability Skills, High Performance, Leadership, OTM Service Strategy, William Isaacs

If you listen, service excellence follows

The capacity to listen is probably the most important skill that relates to service excellence. Without this capacity staff will not know the expectations of their customers, each other, or the key stakeholders of their communities. Organisations that provide great service are fantastic listeners; to their customers, to their key stakeholders and to each other within the organisation.

William Isaacs (1999) notes that our culture is dominated by sight. Light moves at 186,000 miles per second, yet sound only travels at 1,100 feet per second. In summary, William Isaacs says that in order to listen we must slow down.

How do you and/or your organisation slow down to listen?

Quote
Our hearing puts us on the map. It balances us. Our sense of balance is intimately tied to our hearing; both come from the same source within our bodies…Hearing is auditory, of course, relating to sound. The word auditory…most ancient root means “to place perception.” When we listen, we place our perceptions. (William Isaacs, lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, consultant and author)

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Employability, Employability Skills, Leadership, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence

Why developing your people is at the heart of service excellence

Existing staff need to be developed so that they have the capacity to implement your Service Strategy. This will result in them having the capacity to understand the expectations of their customers and being able to develop appropriate service standards from that understanding.

New staff need to be recruited through processes that identify their alignment with your Service Strategy. This means that the organisation’s recruitment processes must reflect a process that is seeking the best possible people that it can find so that its Service Strategy can be implemented.

Quote from a research participant
Our recruitment policy used to be, “Do you know anyone who has a heartbeat and is available?”. Me, I’d been here 20 years and had never been on any training. I never realised how bad we were until I honestly thought about whether I’d like to be a customer of my own team. My answer was no!

How are staff recruited and developed in your organisation?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Customer Service, Employability, High Performance, High Performing Teams, Leadership, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence

Service standards exist to enhance your capacity to meet and exceed customer expectations

Service standards are the in-house systems and processes, policies and procedures that your organisation has created to give it every possible chance of meeting and exceeding the expectations of its customers. They create the possibility of consistency while allowing the people in your organisation to make decisions that lead to improved service outcomes. It is not always necessary to create new service standards; many of them already exist in operating manuals, rules, procedures and policies.

The challenge is to determine whether they support or hinder great service. The ‘bureaucracy busting’ of the GE Workout program (Ashkenas, Ulrich, Jick, & Kerr, 1995) is an example of a process that at its very heart was about ensuring the company’s systems and processes remained aligned to serving people and achieving the organisation’s goals.

Quote from a research participant
We think that it is great when a new person starts work here. We encourage them to ask questions. So they do. “Why does this policy and that policy exist?” That’s what they ask. And if we haven’t got a genuine answer, then we seriously look at the policy or procedure and change it if it is no longer helping us to serve our customers.

How do your systems, policies and procedures enhance your capacity to meet and exceed the expectations of your customers?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com