Richard Sassaman is a performance improvement consultant. He helps client organizations improve the measured performance of individuals though the systematic application of human performance technology. He can be reached at 610-767-8107 or by e-mail at Richard.Sassaman@Juno.com.
Is assessing customer satisfaction an example of trying to catch chickens after they’ve flown the coop? It is when the identification of opportunities to improve customer satisfaction does not combine a traditional (reactive) assessment of customer satisfaction with a non-traditional (proactive) analysis and evaluation.
Rewards are a powerful method for encouraging good job performance. Good work may not be repeated and employees can upset customers when managers don’t recognize, encourage, and reward them for job performance that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations. But rewards must be used effectively.
Many organizations promote non-management employees who perform well into management positions. Often, however, these new managers are not prepared to perform the basic tasks of management.
When managers give useful feedback, employees know how closely their work meets the expectations of customers and managers. Useful feedback is information that tells individual employees as well as work groups how well they're doing and what to do to improve their work.
Employees upset customers when managers don't give employees all the information they need to perform as customers expect. In other words, customer dissatisfaction can be an unintended consequence that occurs in spite of a manager’s efforts to satisfy customers.