August 4, 2010

Change management always means cultural change and it should include some change of personnel. I have a friend who’s experiencing this first-hand and he is frustrated every day. He came from a company that was fast, agile and a leader in its field, and is faced with raising the bar in an organization that has basically stood still for decades. They have a new chief who has announced his intention to move performance to much higher levels, but they’re dealing with a culture and employees that don’t change that easily. What is my friend to do?

After listening to my friend for over a year now, I’m inclined to tell him good luck and get a prescription for a good antidepressant. His problems lay in three main areas:

• Existing culture: this place has been a stagnant pond for many, many years and processes have developed to maintain it just that way. The current beliefs, principles and values sound better than what is actually produced. In fact, they sound really good, but there is no evidence that anyone tries to implement them. It’s a culture of mediocrity perpetuated by the next problem,
• Existing people: the current employees see no reason to change anything. They like it there! They’re rewarded for minimal performance and results, so why would they want to change that? When my friend tries to introduce higher standards, there’s plenty of push-back or just apathy. Who’s not doing the job here? Problem 3,
• The new president: He’s introduced a new set of values and a mission statement with great fanfare and passion, but they’re so involved it takes a half-hour just to read the bizarre chart they’re posted on. You can’t expect people to get behind something that needs a translator! And he won’t get rid of the people in key positions who are obvious obstacles. One man has been in such a job for fifteen years and has done nothing but act as a caretaker. He’s openly resistant to change and yet there he stays.

These are common problems in any organization trying to make changes. They’re challenging but not impossible to overcome. But it requires senior leadership to lead the way, and in my friend’s case that’s not happening. The new president needs to replace a number of people but won’t and they’re holding everything back. My friend has a lot of responsibility but no significant authority and so his frustration will continue. There are few reasons to think anything will improve soon.

Leaders have to make tough decisions when changes are being made. Clear vision and values are required, yes, but so are signs that you mean it! What is lacking here and often elsewhere is accountability and the guts to replace key people with those that will back the new initiatives 100%. Try and win the hearts and minds, sure, but after a year with no progress it’s time to get some new people, the right people, on the bus.

July 2, 2010

I’d rather not write so much about lousy customer service, but almost every day I experience another example. This one is courtesy of Einstein’s, the bagel chain. And courtesy is exactly not what I received.

I ordered a sandwich and gave the cashier a gift card I had for payment. The machine wouldn’t read the card after several tries, and the manager told me to call the number on the back to figure it out. Einstein mistake 1: she should have offered to help with that call. So I pay cash for my sandwich, go home and call the number from the card. Now I enter the Einstein Twilight Zone.

There was the usual electronic menu and I dutifully pressed the numbers to get the help I needed for gift card issues. But after entering the 19-digit card number, the recorded voice never said anything about the cards, only about their website which was having problems. Einstein mistake 2: inaccurate phone help. The voice told me to call a different number for more help. Einstein mistake 3: the voice gave the new number only once, forcing you to repeat the process if you missed the number. I’m getting annoyed by now, but it’s just a warmup.

I called this new number, and of course there is no actual human to speak with. No, it’s another disembodied voice that tells me if I need help with my gift card, go their website. That’s right, the first gift card number which had no help sends me to a second number which has no help, and remember what the first voice told me about the website having problems? I’m now told to go to that website for help! Einstein mistake 4: the right hand has no idea of the left.

As you can imagine by now, the website has nowhere to click for gift cards. Einstein mistake 4: wrong information. Nothing, nowhere at all. So I decided to take the only course open to me at this point and express my frustration on the Contact page. I wrote all that I’ve described here, hit send, and of course nothing happens. I’ve tried sending my message for 24 hours now, but the website is indeed broken as they said. Einstein mistake 5: a broken website. In this day and age there is no excuse for a website operating so poorly.

So now what do I do? Start calling those phone numbers again and get caught in the deadly circle once more?

This example of customer no-service is egregious beyond belief. This is sheer incompetence. Einstein’s likes to position itself as the hip place to eat with definite cool factor, but behind the facade is mismanagement at its worst.

I often tell my clients to shop their own system, and too often they’re surprised and disappointed at what they find. From store manager to general management, Einstein’s bagels is a sad example of what happens when customer service is an afterthought. Why would I ever go back?