Take a few minutes to ask yourself the following questions. Answer them honestly. Your answers will help you get a sense of where your organization is in its evolution toward a true service culture, and will help you identify areas which require attention.
1. Are we committed to service, quality and their underlying values as a fundamental and long-term philosophy and strategy for our business? Do we put customers' needs first?
2. How do we demonstrate that commitment to our customers? How do we demonstrate it to our employees?
3. Do we have a written Mission Statement for our organization which clearly states our purpose for being in business? Is that purpose expressed in terms of the benefits we want to provide to all our stakeholders (customers, employees, owners, communities)? Could our employees articulate our Mission?
4. Have we described our Vision for our organization, that is, have we expressed in writing how we want to be experienced by our stakeholders five or ten years from now, using words which paint a vivid picture for whoever reads them? Is the service experience a fundamental component of our Vision Statement?
5. Do the people who work in our organization understand our Vision? Do they share it? Are they "signed up" to achieve it? How do we know?
6. Do we have a clear statement of the values and operating beliefs of our organization? Have they been communicated, formally or informally, throughout the organization?
7. Do our hiring practices enable us to get the best people for the job?
8. Do we have the right people to do the job? Specifically, are our people customer-service oriented? How do we know?
9. Do our job descriptions include the service components of each position--both internal and external? Do our people understand them? How do we know?
10. Do our evaluation, compensation, recognition and reward programs and processes support and reinforce the behaviors we want our people to exhibit? Are they consistent with our stated beliefs and values?
11. Do our people enjoy working here? Do they feel respected, fairly-treated, trusted and valued? How do we know?
12. Do our people have the training and tools they need in order to perform at maximum effectiveness?
13. How do our own people define service? How do we know?
14. How do our customers define service for our business? What do they value most? How do we know?
15. Does our definition fit our customers' definition? How do we know?
16. Do our people feel empowered to deliver customer-satisfying service? How do we know?
17. What obstacles do they feel are in the way of their doing so? How do we know?
18. Do our policies and procedures restrict their ability to satisfy customers' needs? Do we stifle their initiative? How do we know?
19. Does our internal environment support or inhibit peak performance? How do we know?
20. How good do we think our service to our customers is? What are the criteria we use to make that judgment? Would we be (are we) customers of our business?
21. What do our customers think of our service? Specifically, what do they like and dislike? How do we know?
22. What do our own people think of our service? Would they be (are they) our customers? Specifically, what do they feel they (and we) do well and not so well? How does that compare with what our customers say?
23. How responsive are we to our customers' concerns or complaints? How often and how well do we encourage feedback from our customers?