Understanding how simplicity can be the basis for complexity can help you manage service operations. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Simplicity the basis for complexity? Let me explain.
There is a new field of study called "emergent systems." An emergent system is a system that self-organizes but is capable of very complex behaviors and is highly effective in responding to environmental changes. Because of the paradox of simple self-organization and complex adaptive behavior responses, scientists are deeply interested in them.
Here are a couple of examples. Think of a school of fish. Think of the beautifully coordinated movements of hundreds of individual fish that move as one body, the school. Two simple rules create this behavior: follow what is in front of you, and maintain a constant distance from the schoolmates around you. Or think of the stock market: millions of buyers and sellers, self-organizing. They follow simple rules: balance risk and return, buy low, sell high. (Or, in the case of a broker and former brother-in-law, trade at random and explain in psychobabble.)
For more than 20 years, I've been involved with managing and consulting to call centers—all sizes, shapes, products, and levels of technology, from Nova Scotia to Singapore, Miami to Seattle. I've seen and heard amazing things as our clients deliver voice-based service. And, along the way, by talking with smart executives and their front line and by comparing their operations to their performance data, I've learned that the complexity of a well-run voice service operation is managed with four simple rules of daily managerial work. The rules are: 1) forecast how many calls you will receive; 2) staff to meet the forecast; 3) work your plan, and, if the forecast is off; 4) adjust your plan for the rest of the day.
Organizations living these rules (even if they can't explain exactly why they are doing it) deliver great service at a good price without staff drama or high stress and turnover. They are like a school of fish: they can adapt without apparent effort and are fascinating to watch. They can behave in highly adaptive ways and conquer complex service delivery challenges, but the basis of their success is simple.
If you are leading a service delivery organization, you can benefit from discovering the simple rules that can drive success. Here are a few tactics you can use to find your simple rules:
Ask your front-line managers this series of simple questions. What's it like on a good day? On a bad day? What can we do to have more good days?
Another helpful question sequence begins with these two: To deliver exceptional service, what do we need to become exceptionally good at? What does our management team need to master? Expect some silence (perhaps uncomfortable silence) when you ask these questions. However, if you ask them often enough over time, your staff will give you insight and action improvements that you can make.
Talk to people who are new in the job. They have fresh eyes and can see things that your experienced staff has learned (or been trained) not to see. People who have done the same job in other organizations can also give you a sense of how different your organization is. And many times these people can bring you ideas that are old to them but new to you.
Ask clients about your service. Every dollar spent surveying clients on this topic will improve your service. Use new tools, like e-mail surveys to clients who called you today. Ask them three questions they can answer in 45 seconds. No single answer will be magic, but the pattern of simple answers can change your operation.
Use data to find your good and bad days. Then use more data to see what made the days different. "High volume, high abandon rates;hellip;Gee, it might have been that ID card mailing we didn't know about. What can we do to make sure we know about future mailings?"
Read. Blogs, reports, articles. Shamelessly steal knowledge from others who are in similar situations. They can make you look really clever.
As you do these things, over time, you will begin to find the simple day-in, day-out disciplines that can transform your service. Nolan can be a resource, too. We have experience, insights, and diagnostics that can help simplify your complex service challenges.
