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National Customer Service Week: Day One
Today I asked a group of city workers, “why treat citizens like customers?” The answers were on the right track, but my question drove at a larger philosophy. I’ve spoken before about translating private sector practices to the public sector, but today it’s no longer a question about translating practices. Being customer facing, friendly, or centered is no longer a matter of adaptation but one that should be built into your company or organization’s vision. We treat citizens like customers because they are customers. Our citizens, often unknowing, are giving us feedback about their customer experience and shaping our interactions with them.
This is just one of the topics we touched on during my lecture today for national customer service week. As the week continues Philly311 will invite customer service experts to speak about best practices and how they are making their mark in customer service. Our communications unit has organized a series of workshops and lectures featuring Darryll Adams, General Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, Stacey Mosley, Data Services Manager for the Office of Innovation and Technology, Layla El Tannir, Manager of Social Interactions, and Sarah Levitsky, Marketing & Special Events Manager, for Reading Terminal Market.
We look forward to hearing from all of the speaks.
Do you have any plans for customer service week? Share your plans with us!
Addressing Unexpected Problems on the Road to Progress
My team and I have been working on procuring and implementing a new city wide CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for nearly two years now. The system will improve the City’s ability to communicate with citizens and internal departments, as well as, create a social platform around 311. The CRM will facilitate collaborations between neighbors and stakeholders encourage them to share practices, and organize events to better their communities.
Like any project, we have experienced ups and downs. I would be lying if I said that the journey hasn’t had unanticipated hiccups. Inevitably with a project of this magnitude, there are bumps in the road. Some of these challenges are foreseeable, and accounted for in the very beginning, and others reveal themselves in the process.
In February 2014 we kicked off our CRM implementation and a new era of citizen engagement in Philadelphia. Before we were able to introduce the project throughout the City, we spent months planning, collecting data, and journey-mapping to ensure that the customers’ needs would be met and their expectations exceeded. Yet in that mission there were some obvious challenges. Anytime you, or a company, are implementing new technology, training your internal customers has to be a high priority. However, who needs to be trained, and when they need to be trained, often fluxes in relation to a number of factors. When schedules, resources, and strategies change in the process, you have to remember to be proactive and not reactive.
Embrace and face change. This isn’t to say that you should spend all your time planning for the unexpected, but to rely on your greater objective as a source to keep from getting discouraged. Part of being a project executive means establishing a strategy to confront the unexpected opposed to simply reacting to them as they come along. Don’t spend too much time planning for what cannot be planned.
The procurement and implementation journey has been long, but certainly worthwhile. With every mention of the new CRM I can’t help but to thank the people who have supported this process. A big thank you to Mayor Nutter, Executive Sponsor and City Managing Director Richard Negrin, Chief Innovation Officer Adel Ebeid, Philly311 staff and our internal and external partners.
Regardless of the inevitable challenges we’ve faced, the ultimate outcome: a transparent government that prioritizes its citizens, is what makes bumps in the road, simply that.
Stay tuned for news of our PhillyInnovates summit on February 18, 2015 with our partners at Salesforce. This will be a huge opportunity for the community to learn about the whos, whats, whys, and hows behind how the City of Philadelphia is connecting with its customers.
Photo by Pulpolux
10 Things Revolutionizing the Customer Experience in City Government in 2015
As the year inches towards a closing, I can’t help but to reflect on all that the City of Philadelphia has accomplished in the past year. With the implementation of a new customer relationship management system, new partnerships, and program expansion, it has been a long year. It has also been a year that has brought us at 311 closer to fully realizing our big goals. We are on the cusp of a movement. We are aggressively steering away from what traditional government has been, revamping our customer service strategy, and leading the nation with an innovative approach. By incorporating private sector methods, and platforms, to better our customer experience, we have been working to revolutionize the way government operates. Here are a few things that are changing city government, and in a very big way.
1. The Customer. Understanding that the citizen is our customer, and using those terms as synonyms, has reoriented our general framework. Our customers are unique because they are citizens! The citizens’ customer experience expands beyond providing city services. Every improvement we make for our customer affects their quality of life.
2. Executive sponsorship from Mayor Nutter and his cabinet. Having people who share your desire to create a city environment of customer excellence, has been imperative to the process.
3. Managing Director, Richard Negrin, follows suit in understanding and supporting our movement towards a progressive and transparent city government. Support from Mayor Nutter, Mayor Nutter’s cabinet, and the Managing Director, influences and facilitates change in every step of the journey. These folks are more than okaying improvements, they are standing by them, and pushing them to the next level.
4. The Mayor’s Goal Five: “Government Efficiency and Effectiveness.” A focus on efficiency and effectiveness is imperative for city government, and the Mayor’s goal five is a constant reminder of what type of experience we should be crafting for our customers. Keeping this in mind, sets a mindset of progress.
5. The Innovation Lab. The Innovation Lab encourages creativity and gives us a designated space for our citizens to generate new ideas. The Lab is another extension of how the city is bringing the customer further into the conversation, and also helping them lead the conversation.
6. The Neighborhood Liaison Program. NLP is just one example of programming that we have implemented to give our customs self sustainable tools. In the last year the program has doubled in size from 600 to 1,200 contributors. This increase demonstrates an increase in trust towards city government. Citizens are seeing results and relying on us more and more.
7. Having a Staff that Cares. Our staff at 311 is always there for the citizens, and realize that they are a direct reflection of the city they work for and love. Understanding our common objective, fosters a motivated and caring internal environment.
8. Customer Service Officers. 311 is no longer limited to City Hall. With people like Customer Service Officers, we are out in the communities and impacting people where it counts.
9. Partnering In and outside of the City. Especially with the implementation of the new customer management system, our partners have played a significant role in helping us move towards our goals this year.
10. Taking Notes from business and tech communities. Paying attention to what private sector companies are doing, and translating them into our own practices, sets us a head of the curve.
The list could easily go on, and will as 2015 unfolds. We are excited about the future and so are the citizens of Philadelphia. Tell me what’s changing your industry and what you look forward to in the New Year.
#1 Key to Government Customer Service: Hiring People with Passion
I’m excited to introduce our new series from Philly311 TV, “Day in the Life.” It has always been a priority for us to communicate our core values, and initiatives through creative and effective means. What we do at the City matters. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, citizens don’t get to choose their city services, so it is the job of those of us who work in government to ensure the best possible experience. In an effort to realize our goal, we look for passion in our employees. It is easy to find people who are qualified, have the skill sets, and can take on the necessary responsibilities included in a role. However, it is that extra something, a genuine passion for the work, that truly delineates a person in their field.
Daniel Ramos has always been an employee with a ton of passion for what he does. As the Community Engagement Coordinator for Philly311, responsible for connecting the 311 service and the Neighborhood Liaison Program to community stakeholders, Daniel is passionate about working in the community. Being from a neighborhood that continues to face adversity, Daniel knows what people in the community need, and actively works towards connecting citizens to city resources.
How Are You Developing Your Talent?
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Above is the sneak peek for the The Philly311 Show’s latest episode with guest Jackie Linton, Director of the Center of Excellence. I really enjoyed sitting down with Jackie and discussing the Center of Excellence’s three core functions: Project Management, building project management capabilities; Organizational Development, developing talent for the future; and Performance Management, supporting departments in managing their performance metrics and facilitating external transparency. While all of these functions have a direct tie to customer service excellence, I would like to focus on organizational development (specifically talent development) for this week’s customer service tip.
Developing talent within your organization is crucial to your customer service operations for two important reasons: the first is that many of the employees who are on the receiving end of development programs are ones closest to your customers. Customer service representatives, supervisors, or even call center managers have direct contact with your customers every day, with the ability to make or break your customers’ overall experience. With such constant high stake interactions, these are the employees whom you should be developing the most. While most organizations carefully plan and implement training programs, development programs are just as important as they help to build the skills, knowledge, and confidence of your employees on and supporting the front line.
The second reason that talent development is so important in customer service is that a good development program helps to build employee engagement. While most organizations agree that higher employee engagement leads to better customer service, most organizations do not agree on the best ways to engagement their employees. Why not engage your employees by taking a proactive interest in their future? This will not only help your employees to feel valued but it will also help them take a vested interest in the organization’s success. (Forbes has a great blog post about why employee development is so important.)
As customer service professionals, what do you think are the best ways to develop your talent?
Rosetta Carrington Lue is the Chief Customer Service Officer and Senior Advisor to the City of Philadelphia’s Managing Director. Follow Rosetta on Twitter @Rosettalue or visit her blog at www.rosettacarringtonlue.com
The Customer Support Hierarchy of Needs
Your customers won’t settle for chaos, and neither should you.
See on blogs.hbr.org
Redefining Citizen Engagement
A special edition of GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER today. We’re LIVE! It’s the sixth time we’ve met and we are doing this at least once each month this year. The id…
“There is a new model of citizen engagement emerging for government. Through social media, mobility, and dozens of new ways to connect and engaged constituents, government agencies have been challenged to tap into the collective knowledge of communities to change the way government engages with citizens.” GovLoop
See on www.govloop.com
Creating a Customer Service Officers Program
When trying to implement a customer service transformational strategy across an organization, you can expect a number of hurdles to arise which could slow down its implementation at various levels within the organization. Some examples of these hurdles are departmental processes, individual leaders or a change-adverse culture. Thus, in order for a strategy to be completely adopted, you need to elicit stakeholders to push it forward.
That is why I created the Customer Service Officers program within the City of Philadelphia’s customer service initiative. The primary responsibilities of the Customer Service Officer’s role are to:
- Support departments to achieve their respective customer goals and key performance objectives
- Implement appropriate actions towards improvement in their departments
Including departmental Customer Service Officers (CSO) within a strategic initiative not only offers a specified liaison between the Chief Customer Service Officer and the department but it also provides the initiative with an “expert” in specific departments. With this model, each CSO can bring insight and make recommendations that will help the initiative survive in individual departments.
In the City of Philadelphia Customer Service Officers Program, CSO’s create the following materials which are unique to their department:
- Vision and Mission Statements for Customer Service
- “Voice of the Customer Program” Process to Identify and Prioritize Customers’ Needs and Wants to Improve Service Quality
- Customer Service Training Program
- Customer Feedback and Engagement
While it might seem that this approach will create a fragmented customer service initiative across our organization, it is my responsibility as a Chief Customer Service Officer to make sure these deliverables are consistent with the higher-level plan. This approach, however, provides the overall effort with a department-level expert in the planning stage and a liaison throughout its implementation.
What programs do you currently have in place to ensure the organization is executing your customer service plans and initiatives? Help Rosetta out by leaving your suggestions in the comments below and the best answer will be rewarded with a $5 Starbucks gift card.
Innovative Customer Service Leadership Strategies 