creating customer service competencies UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ISCHOOL SYMPOSIUM Customer Service in Libraries: Upping our Game

andrea cecchetto manager, learning & growth markham public library

we already provide excellent service.

job description

competencies recruitment

service design

evaluation

learning&development

strategy/outcomes

service brand

customer experience

part one: what is your strategy?

advocates

repeat customers

Potential customers

commitment

interest

awareness

advocacy

customers experience

Fill in the blank

[your service goal]: We accomplish X through excellent customer service

part two: what is your service brand?

(hint: how do you want your customers to feel)

Approachable absurd affable amiable academic anxious adaptable accessible authentic budget business-like bodacious community-oriented courteous creative cultured caring cost-effective casual competent cutting-edge condescending confrontational conservative conscientious directive dynamic diverse dependable effective efficient expert energetic educative exceptional engaging easy fun formal flexible family friendly fluid functional genuine gregarious glamorous happy hip high-quality holistic haughty highfalutin high-touch innovative inclusive indispensible intuitive interesting informative ingenious kind loving likeable memorable neurotic nurturing natural open professional posh playful progressive prompt proscriptive process-oriented people-oriented patient quaint quiet radical reactive responsive remote risk-taking risk-adverse respectful relationship-based relaxed restorative superior stressful stress-free seamless special small-town trust timely transactional transformational tired traditional urbane unique vivacious well-designed welcoming warm weird wonderful youthful zesty …

a service brand is not your product. it is about your customers’ experience .

Fill in the blank

[your service goal]: we accomplish X through excellent customer service [your service brand]: our service is best described as…

part three: what competencies do staff need?

(hint: describe the traits and qualities of your ideal library staff)

Competencies v. Skills v. Qualifications v. Behaviours

COMPETENCIES- a natural ability/orientation - “in-born”

e.g. team-oriented

SKILLS- a learned ability - acquired through training and experience

e.g. ability to work effectively on a team

QUALIFICATIONS- a quality or accomplishment that makes someone suitable for an activity- acquired through education or experience or training

e.g. one year experience working in a team environment

BEHAVIOUR- outward expression of competencies or attitudes - observable, measurable

e.g. organizes weekly team meetings to review project status

Fill in the blank

[your service goal]: we accomplish … through excellent customer service [your service brand]: our service is best described as… [staff competencies]: in order to provide excellent service, our staff are…[staff skills]: … and capable of …

part four: how do I measure staff competencies?

(hint: you can’t. but you can evaluate performance.)

translate competencies into behaviours.e.g. “Uses good judgment” looks like resolves customer issues effectively

“Communicates effectively” looks like uses clear and appropriate language when communicating with customers“Is friendly” looks like greets customers when the enter the library

Fill in the blanks

[your service goal]: we accomplish … through excellent customer service [your service brand]: our service is best described as… [staff competencies]: in order to provide excellent service, our staff are…[staff skills]: … and capable of …[evaluation]: which looks like…

creating a service culture

1. evaluate behaviours [observe service in action] 2. regular feedback 3. fail together 4. focus on Internal Service too5. talk (and listen) about service all the time with everyone6. involve staff in evaluating service 7. TALK/”talk” to your customers 8. share results 9. recognize all the customer service leaders10. question everything: what would our customer think?11. develop T-People

BONUS: Hire for service competencies, train for service skills

questions/discussion

designing service initiativesUNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ISCHOOL SYMPOSIUM Customer Service in Libraries: Upping our Game

andrea cecchetto manager, learning & growth markham public library

hello again. let’s talk about design thinking

we already provide good service. but do we provide good experience?

we spend a lot of time and care planning our collections. but our service (staff) is 80% of our budgets. how much time and care do we spend planning service?

better service = more active members = more advocates.

specific

generic

low loyalty high loyaltyPOTENTIAL VALUE

CUST

OM

ER N

EED

experience

service

product

commodity

specific

generic

low loyalty high loyaltyPOTENTIAL VALUE

CUST

OM

ER N

EED

commodity

product

service

experience*

*also a comment to mpl about our bibilocommons app

all this happened

mpl staff told management what excellent service looks likestaff created a customer service promise/

it replaced the crappy and unfriendly rules of conductstaff wanted to make better service decisions/

so we replaced policies with good judgmentthen they rewrote all our procedures/

they keep revising procedures all the time based on customer feedback we developed some training with Ryerson/

everyone took itwe measured the impact

all our service metrics went up at least a full percentage point (7.5 became 8.5 etc)

we won an award.

principles of design thinking

1. user-centred 2. co-creative 3. sequenced 4. evidencing 5. holistic

“to value your customer you need to spend times understanding the interactions they have with your service. that means two things: first viewing your service from customer eyes. second, designing in such a way that customers receive consistent experiences over time that they consider valuable”- ??

user-centred: challenge our thinking about users

we think user, we think: adult, children, teens… but is this helpful?

case studymy customer is a man born in 1948. He is British. He is successful and very wealthy. He is married and has two children.

co-created: who are your stakeholders? how can they be involved in the design process?

sequenced: customers experience service in order. consider the “before, during, after” of a service.

evidencing: perfect example

holistic: consider al your touchpoints

what’s the relationship between people+people, people+things, etc

the design process: explore, create, reflect, implement

don't flinch.

one approach to service initiative design

AT

ONE

A is for actors

who is involved in delivering the service? who needs to collaborate to design the service?

e.g. iPod – collaboration between payment, engineering, marketing

these people are your project team

T is for touch-points

what’s the service, start to finish? [sequence]what are the customers’ points of access?have we considered all our service channels?

this will tell you the scope of the work you need to do

O is for offering

what do we stand for? what are our core values? what is the function/price/utility of what we offer? what is the promise we make to the customer?

what we think we offer and what the customer thinks we offer is not always the same thing.

N is for need

what do your customers want?what need exists in the community that this service will meet? what are the expressed needs/what are the latent needs?

the best way to find out what customers want is to ask them

E is for experience

how will customers describe their experience? what will they remember about your service? do customers like/dislike the service?

how does your customer feel about you?

how to AT-ONE

A

N

O

T

E

1. Workshop these lenses

2. choose the most promising approaches

3. develop a holistic concept*

actors

touch-points

offerings

needs

experience

customer service revolution project

• which looks like: a) establish a common base of knowledgeb) explore options (divergence) c) Synthesize, rank and select option (convergence)

you try

let’s plan a dinner party for our friends.

A – who will help us with the dinner?T – what are all the touch-points between the meal and our friends?

O – what will we serve our friends? N – what should our guests expect from the evening?E – what will our friends remember about our dinner party?

other design tools

stakeholder mapsservice safari shadowing customer journey maps 5 whyscultural probes

Etc

questions/discussion

staff engagementUNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ISCHOOL SYMPOSIUM Customer Service in Libraries: Upping our Game

andrea cecchetto manager, learning & growth markham public library

a new revolution is happening.

customer experience strategy at City of Markham

a tall order…• internal services are a big deal • excellent service cannot be one size fits all• perception of government (staff)• perception of government (public)• engineers

… and also…• centuries of collective experience • in the community, and everywhere • endless passion for service

why customer service in the public service?

better service

positive experience

improved trust

increased engagement

Increased civic participation

Stronger Democracy

staff have the solutions.

this reminds me of…shrimp.

this is called positive deviance. It works because:• its community based/so its always appropriate • provides “social proof” that the change is effective • it comes from within/ so it avoids “immune response to imposed change”

principles of positive deviance can be used to engage staff:• the community has the solutions • collective intelligence and distributed leadership • sustainability • act the change first, then change your thinking

gallup drivers of engagement

1. do I know what’s expected of me at work?2. do I have the resources to do my job?3. do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?4. have I received recognition in the last seven days?5. does my supervisor care about me as a person?6. does someone at work encourage my development?7. does my opinion seem to count?8. does my org’s vision make me feel my work is important? 9. are my coworkers committed to quality work?10. do I have a best friend at work?11. has someone talked to me in the last six months about my progress?12. have I had the opportunity to learn and grow in the last year?

a good service initiative achieves every driver

questions/discussion

andrea cecchetto works for mplacecch@markham.library.on.ca 905 513-7977 x4997https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreacecchetto

let’s keep in touch.