Empowerment in employees
I’m slowly getting back into blogging. I have no idea why these days with Twitter and Facebook consuming most of my available thoughts.
But I digress. I have had a lot of thoughts over the last couple days around service experiences and empowerment. So far on this work trip I’ve encountered Starbucks 2x, Hilton 1x, Hertz 1x, Chickfila 2x, and a couple local eateries 3x. Of all these places I carefully thought about and analyzed the level of service provided to me along with how the employee interactions occurred. Last session’s Service Design class we talked about companies who empower employees through principles vs process. There is a movement towards principles that empower employees to deliver on the customer experience within a solutions arena. Vs process that makes employees basically go by the book on how to solve problems that drives a somewhat scientific customer experience. That just does not work anymore as the complexity of our lives continues to grow and expand.
Your brand is on the line these days. Customers have become smarter and they have the tools to let people know.
So who amongst these organizations has scored the best and worst.
Best
1. Local eateries - I want to explore why this is in another posting
2. Hertz - my travel dept didn’t add my gold # to my reservation and the employee took that and resolved the issue
Average
1. Hilton - consistent entry, consumption and exit
2. Chickfila - consistent as always. One of the best functioning food places in the US. Lack of humanic cues though.
Below Average
1. Starbucks - it’s like moving cattle in all stores, a slightly frozen bagel, no cream cheese, and the lack of a warm smile