Involving the Customer in Problem Solving

A crucial factor in the success of this example is the willingness of the payroll supervisor to share her problem with those who were most affected by it. She took her customers into her confidence: she apologised, explained the reason for the problem, explained her solution and asked for their support. These fours steps were central in gaining her customers’ understanding and support. Too often we feel we have to keep our problems to ourselves – when in fact, sharing your situation with those affected by it can be very helpful. Until we had our conversation, the supervisor had been focused entirely on how the team, internally, could fix the problem – without considering how the customers might help. It’s a general truth – often not recognised or followed – that anyone affected by the problem has an interest in solving the problem. And so it is worth consulting such a group, for their ideas and support.

There were a number of things the supervisor did that made it more likely she would be successful in enlisting her customer’s support:

Customer focus: her whole approach was to make things better for them, not for her and her team. This means being customer focused, rather than provider focused. Customers want a solution, not an excuse.

Taking responsibility: the supervisor only provided the reason for the problem as a means to explaining the solution, not as a way of avoiding responsibility.

Empathy – maybe even sympathy: the reasons for the problems were ones that most of her customers would understand and accept, since they may have had similar situations themselves – so they were already primed to be empathetic.

Asking for help: Crucially, the supervisor was asking for her customer’s help in solving the problem; after our conversation it became clear that such help would be a massive contribution to the payroll problem

Being SMART: her request was an excellent example of being SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timeframed – so the customer was very clear about what they were being asked to do, and that it was totally possible to deliver

Providing benefits, not problems: the supervisor made the customer benefit clear, in a classic ‘if…then…’ presentation: if you can do this, then you will get that…: if you can hold your calls, then you will get what you need and are entitled to…

The supervisor was surprised (and grateful) that the new pattern of incoming calls persisted beyond the initial request. But patterns persist; all those customers who had responded positively to the request had in effect, set up a new daily routine, which, over time, became the new pattern, the new habit. And once a habit has formed (often as the result of a routine), then it becomes unconscious and automatic. And unless there is a really good reason to change back (which clearly there wasn’t) then the pattern is - and will be – likely to persist. This is one reason why instituting a new routine – even if it isn’t immediately easy or welcome – will, if persisted with, have the opportunity to become an automatic habit.