For some reason I can't get this topic out of my head, so I'll put it into words in hope of exorcising it.
One of the cities that I visit has consistently given me examples of bad service every time I go. Now say what you want about them, but two businesses that I have found to have pretty consistent levels of customer service/relations, no matter where I go, are Walmart and McDonald's.
In this particular city, I've found that this rule doesn't apply. What's worse is that I'm in a service industry and I, or should I say local manager, has to draw from the same pool of resources to staff our operations. It isn't pretty.
As I've thought about this I've had two recurring thoughts. The first revolves around my position in our company. My title is General Manager, Midwest Region. While it gave someone a neat label to attach to me ("Doesn't it sound impressive?") the bulk of my accounts are located in Southeastern cities, with only two of my 9 operations being located in the Midwest. What this title does is stick me right in the middle of a big stew pot.
I have above me a VP, beneath me are 9 account level managers, toss in 8 client organizations and their officers, and finally shake in a handful of accounting personnel tracking my region's expenditures and revenues and out comes one big pot of "I need..(fill in the blank)". I do very little directing and actually spend the bulk of my time facilitating. As a former boss and friend told me once, "Your people don't work for you. You work for your people." Thought # 1 "If they had told me that in Business School, I'd be a pastry chef, or something else."
Thought #2 revolves around the service that I, as a Christian, am called to deliver. I'm not going to dive deep into scripture, but the Bible does tell us that God gave us Faith, Hope, and Love. Of these three things, it says the greatest is Love. How do we show our family that we love them? Generally it is through our actions; through our service to them. As a Christian, I must serve. It is the only way to demonstrate my love for God. It is the only way that I can demonstrate my love for my fellow man.
To my fellow believers I'll ask you to challenge yourself with the same questions I've been asking myself. What is my service rating? Would it win a JD Powers award, or would it leave someone blogging about the poor service they got on their last visit?
To others who stop in. If you've had a bad experience with our level of service or if you have heard us talk a good game, but not follow through; let me apologize. We are not infallible and too often we forget that. Christians have a great training manual and our CEO is faultless, unfortunately, we are not always the best employees.
08 July 2008
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1 comment:
Excellent post- right on! The Walmart part, I might disagree with. The employees at the one near my house have poor attitudes, low morale and have even been known to speak ill of the company to me while checking out my groceries and goods. That's a pet peeve of mine. I was taught better than that.
About service to family: most of us dads serve in ways our families don't really know about. We plan something (a run, time with the guys, etc.), and then stuff comes up that involves the family and we call off our plans without even telling the family about it. That's natural for dads.
But Jesus tended to interpret his actions so that his disciples would learn and inculcate those actions into their own lives. He washed the disciples' feet, then said, "Do you know what I've done for you?...If I've done this for you, you also ought to do the same for one another."
I think my challenge is that I need to be careful of pride, while still letting my son (and my wife) know what I'm doing so I'm intentionally modeling love and servant actions.
Actions are not self-interpreting.
Thanks for your post- you made me think! (Don't do it again! :-))
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