Ask a business owner who's responsible for service improvement in his or her organization, and he or she will usually reply with the names of several people whose responsibilities cross many functional areas. When a service problem surfaces, these people point out that the root cause of the problem exists with another group. Until a single person is accountable for service improvement and until serious personal consequences are set for failing to achieve service goals, continuous service improvement is unlikely. Lack of individual accountability allows leaders to avoid focusing on ineffective managerial practices, such as adhering to time-wasting routines, attending endless meetings, failing to set goals that test their talents and failing to change ineffective reporting and promotional structures. People find these environments confusing and uncomfortable.
Most cultures have far too few celebrations and few measures focusing on improvement.
Organizations must celebrate often, making the celebrations sincere and spontaneous. Those who consistently demonstrate improvement must become the heroes. All Rights Reserved. Send us your site comments and service suggestions. We have included these links because we think that readers may find them of interest.