Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast

194. Creating a Culture of Internal Customer Service

July 19, 2024 Season 16 Episode 194
194. Creating a Culture of Internal Customer Service
Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
More Info
Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast
194. Creating a Culture of Internal Customer Service
Jul 19, 2024 Season 16 Episode 194

Send us a text

In this second episode in our latest 3-part miniseries looking at customer service we look at benefits and steps to creating an internal customer service culture. 


Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Send us a text

In this second episode in our latest 3-part miniseries looking at customer service we look at benefits and steps to creating an internal customer service culture. 


Speaker 1:

Secrets from a coach thrive and maximize your potential in the evolving workplace. Your weekly podcast with Debbie Green of Wishfish and Laura Thompson-Stavely of Phenomenal Training Debs.

Speaker 2:

Law how you doing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm doing good. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm all right, I did have a go at your dare, actually all of last week.

Speaker 1:

Did you get arrested?

Speaker 2:

No, I got some strange looks though Law, especially when I was just like looking after the cup that I got. I'm like, oh, this is so lovely. So, no, I didn't get arrested, but actually it was really interesting, as you said, if I put as much care and deliberately handed out my handouts because we were running another workshop and consciously handed people the post-its that we needed them to fill you could see people light up and take it as if it was gold and it made such a difference. So you were right, I took on the dare and I loved it.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, debs, and if you haven't listened to last week's episode it was looking at. So this is our three-part series looking at service culture, and people have been talking about service culture since the 70s and 80s, but what we hope to do on this podcast is always bring a bit of a fresh way to kind of upcycle and re-energize us around some of these big topics in our ever-evolving world of work and a service experience so many organizations we're working with. This is a real hot topic because you live or die by your service experience. You could be in the cheapest, most rundown restaurant venue, for example, but people are queuing up because they know the service is legendary and they want to be kind of a part of that experience.

Speaker 1:

So where last week we were looking at individual. So what does that mean with some of that? And did you know, by the way, the slower you touch an item, the more perceived higher value it has in the other person's brain? And there are some really interesting things that are coming out from the world of psychology, neuroscience and social psychology about some of those little things that can make the biggest difference. So, debs, before we kick off looking at some stuff, how hot a topic. Is it this idea of an internal customer service culture at the moment?

Speaker 2:

It's actually huge, especially if teams are leaner or they're going through loads of change with systems, processes, people shifting and shaking and everything else, and I think the perception of service from one department to another can be slightly skewed depending on the experience that they had maybe of somebody two or three years prior. So being able to um set, reset sometimes the boundaries around what does the service you're going to expect from us look like? And being able to articulate that out with another department can actually cut through any potential upset or cause of concern. Or you're not getting back to us all of that horrible me stuff that goes on sometimes because you're not receiving the service you expected, but if that new person hasn't maybe set some slas or service level agreements which they've then communicated out. So, for instance, we were working with somebody last week that has just taken over a new role and it was around people wanting information.

Speaker 2:

So rather than just say yes, I'll get that to you or I'll come back to you, people want to know when you're going to come back to them. So even if you're setting an SLA agreement around, I don't know, we'll respond to you within 48 hours. Say, even if you haven't got the answer, you would still respond, and the difference it's made for that individual is huge because they have set the expectation and they've said we'll come back to you within 48 hours. That's their standard. They do go back within 48 hours and go you're still important to us, or however they've chosen to say it, but they've been able to explain what's happening where they're at with it, whether they have an answer yet or not. But that person isn't left hanging wondering if that person is gonna ever come back to them. Uh, and what it's done, it's. It's even in the week or so they've been trying it. They've said it stopped that angst email coming through. I still haven't heard from you where the emails chain is getting snippier and snippier and, um, it stopped it.

Speaker 1:

Uh, and just by resetting some of those agreements service level agreements- so are you saying, then, that actually, as a minimum, the first thing that we maybe want to aim for is not creating stress within departments and being able to work in hopefully an easy way as possible before we start even thinking about how to delight internally customers? But actually is it to sort of do no harm, so to try and sort of limit the stress? We've talked about this before, but I pulled out that classic exercise that we do. I had 60 people on a morning virtual session and about another 50 on this afternoon, and so you know that's over 100 people all sort of playing.

Speaker 1:

This little exercise which is you ask people right, imagine the scene. You started working with a brand new team member in a different team. They say to you great conversation, I'll email you over tomorrow morning the info. What time do you expect the call? What time would that information be late?

Speaker 1:

And you and I have done this before and I know you and I have varying degrees of with it, but just to see it in the chat function of some people going 9am and other people going before lunch, which is at 1pm, you've got potentially a four to five hour range of expectations around time, and that already then starts to set the trajectory of two stressed people and potentially three stressed people. If person A thinks the other thing is going to be back to them by nine already, then goes to promise another department you'll have it by 10. And what you've end up is three departments, three teams that are now really grumpy with each other, and it's created stress because the point at which we had that conversation there was no little mini service level agreement that was agreed. So it's fascinating sometimes how these smallest little things can actually make some of the biggest differences.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, definitely, and it is huge. And I've noticed, since we've been doing that exercise law, how maybe I don't even ask. If I somebody doesn't give me, I'll come back to you within a day, or I'll come back to you by 12 o'clock. I've been really conscious of it actually. So, like, if I'm not, if I don't hear when they're actually going to come back to me, I'll ask them now. Okay, so what time might I expect that from you? Um, whereas before I probably would have gone okay, that's lovely, thank you and then wondered when it was coming or arriving. So I've actually then, because of what we've been doing, been consciously to ask that's amazing. Thank you, I appreciate you helping. When can I expect that? And they've gone. Oh, um, it's 10 o'clock. All right, I'll go. That's brilliant, because I might have been expecting it by 12. So I have asked as well. Now, it's's been really weird for me to watch and follow up the questions. Okay, that's amazing. What time can I expect it then? And people are very happy to tell you. Do you know what, debs?

Speaker 1:

I've just had a little sort of realisation in my mind, I think, because we've spent the last umpteen years talking about internal service culture between teams, et cetera. I think the next you know the last umpteen years talking about internal service culture between teams, etc. I think I'm kind of, you know, like you, you're sort of attuned to it because it's part of the content that we kind of go about sort of doing on the carousel of content, repainting it, taking it out for another season.

Speaker 1:

It's nice and shiny at the moment law um, but I now have, I think, as a bit of a habit is within any service interaction I have as a customer. I ask and what's your name, please? And then you can hear them getting a bit nervous and then I say, oh, thank you so much. Angela or Dave or Dev or whatever their name is, and just say, oh, thank you so much. But I have noticed once you have asked someone to give you their name, they can't help but raise their game a little bit. So I hopefully don't do it in a threatening way, but I just say, oh, what's your name please? And then they say, oh, my name is such and such. Oh, thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

And you can just feel because suddenly there's, they've had to personally disclose their information, which you've probably already had to do because you know you might be having a service interaction. So, whether that is internally in a, in a, in an organization, if you have kind of, you know, happened to interact with someone random, you're not sure of their name just even asking someone and exchanging names is the first part of any relationship to form, because that's the most important word to any human their name, because that's the first word that you knew, that if you recognized it you got what you needed. So that that name and making sure it's spelt right, making sure you're pronouncing it correctly all those things really matter and is part of that internal positive customer service, internal culture, team on team yeah, I love that and you're right, we, we do ask people's names actually.

Speaker 2:

or we ask have I pronounced right? Because there's nothing worse than somebody thinks they know your name but they don't, and then they're using it again and everybody's going, oh, by me, look at her, you know she hasn't bothered to ask how to pronounce that person's name Basic stuff, right. But I think it also links into that when people say them and they, and I know we, you know that's my biggest bug where when people say, well, they have it, or they this or they, who are they? Because once you name them, coming back to what you're saying that person then becomes a human. So therefore, the shift in how you then talk about them or get something from them or want to ask them something, will be different, because now they have, they have a name and you watch that person go. Oh, okay, maybe I need to catch myself as to how I'm interacting with that individual, because up until now it's just been a them and the day, which is faceless and nameless. So I think that internal even internal service, I think, is important, not not just the department that person's coming from.

Speaker 2:

I always remember working closely with an IT department who were always super helpful whenever, and I was always amazed that I knew all their names. And yet other people who do you talk to in IT? It's just IT? I'm going. No, no, it's not just IT.

Speaker 2:

There are people in IT that are doing amazing things. I have no idea what they do, so I always knew, I knew who everybody was in that department and could call them all by name. And because it made such a difference to them, it also helped me because obviously you know there's a quid pro quo, right? If I respect you and you respect me, then we have a much more beneficial relationship going on, because when you called them by name, it was just like, oh, they remembered. You know, I remembered them because I pick up the phone and they might not say their name but I recognize their voice and it just the relationship shifted and people were more willing to help you or guide you or support you just through the name. And I think you're spot on with that law got a hypothesis to chuck at you.

Speaker 1:

You up for it.

Speaker 2:

Go on go on, let's have a go.

Speaker 1:

I wonder to what extent how someone is onboarded and their induction experience starts to create the culture of how we work around here and how we serve each other.

Speaker 1:

And I wonder this isn't banging on about back in the day, but back in the day, debs, when I've been an internal trainer and part of your job was you had to wheel people around the office and get them to meet everyone. But that then meant you could put face to name and it meant you had that sense of connection with people because you'd at least look to them, made eye contact and there was some kind of connection. So we're seeing it's become a real hot topic in a lot of our organisations we work with, where people have said we've lost the induction and the onboarding experience we've had, whether it's the pandemic, whether it's working in hybrid or different ways. But I wonder to what extent, debs, the onboarding experience you have when you join an organization sets the tone for how we internally serve each other, our rate of response, our amount of working with each other to collaborate, how we hold each other to account, how we treat each other well. I wonder if some of that is either missed or gained as someone joins an organization.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a good point and, yeah, I think you're right. Actually, if you're, you know, if somebody has previously might have put a three-month induction program on or onboarding program for people and it suddenly shrunk to three days.

Speaker 2:

Um, you're right online yeah, online yeah, exactly, not actually seeing a human. Um, until until you want, want, need something, go, where do I go? So I think, yeah, I think you're spot on there, lord, that I think that does set the precedent of how we work around here. And yeah, I think there's nothing worse than somebody that joins an organization and they just are left here's. You know, if they're lucky, here's your desk, here's your equipment. It might have come through the post, or you know it. It arrives and you go OK, what's the little name? Who do I contact? And I think you know who's really good at this, not to name drop or anything, but I do a lot of ordering through Treat Box and I'm always blown away by the personalized message that I get for an order.

Speaker 2:

Now, I don't know if they've just got a stack of them, but they always have my name on it. You're in the Debbie pile, I'm in the Debbie pile, I don't know, I'm sure they don't. Actually, I have a feeling they wouldn't, but you never know, right, it's a bit like writing a letter to Santa. You know how many times do you have, you know, noel and nick coming back at you. But, um, it's that bit where I just think that made such a difference and so will I go back and with to work with them again or repeat their business? Yes, of course I will, but I think internally we can, we can provide the same because, like you law, back in the early 80s, 90s, you'd have an induction pack that did have your name on it and everything was named. It wasn't just random um, and it really made a difference because it did set the tone of how we work around here and you matter and yeah, I think it is. We've. We've just done something with um, a music company, who are super creative, and they've just done their new onboarding program again in a particular department.

Speaker 2:

Um, there, and what I love about it is they give logo stuff. I love a logo merch, merch. Yeah, they give merch not just to their from the art, but they give it to the new people who join in a nice box which is with their name on it and there's some really lovely stuff in it and I'm like a magpie. I was like saw it sitting there and I just went oh my god, what's that? And they said, oh, that's our onboarding pack and they give it actually give it face to face to someone and in it is everything they need for the first two weeks in work and they um. They then have a calendar in there as well, which they've done, which says you're, you will meet so and so on this day at this time, meet them here. It's on the third floor. They will be in room number and this is their contact number and the detail and the the.

Speaker 2:

You know the painstakingly organized way they've done it, but the impact that's had on their retention in their team. It's been phenomenal. It was really easy for them to do but because they said, like you said, they'd forgotten what it was like to be a new person in an organization, whether that's new into the organization or transferred from another team into their team. So they treat everybody as as a new person coming in and this pack is something they give them. I loved it and it was like, oh my God, let's give you some merchandise, but it made that person feel really welcome and they have really good working relationships. There isn't this angst or anything like I don't know who to talk to. They are really on it and they invest time in those first. Well, first two weeks, but then they go keep that going over the next 90 days and beyond. So I just think, yeah, they've gone back to great service. I love it.

Speaker 1:

And Debs if we were to put like a real commercial figure on this. So, number one, as you said, there might be a clear link between the better, the internal service culture, how we treat each other and how we serve each other and our internal colleagues are as important as the external customer. Not only is that useful, maybe from a nutrition and from an internal performance point of view, but could it be? Your internal service culture can't help but be reflected in your external customer experience. So if everyone is horrible and nasty and grumpy with each other internally, then that's going to leak out to that customer experience, whether it just leaks out intentionally or unintentionally, because it's a bit of a mask and a facade and the sales angle of our customer experience might be great, but if the refund experience is horrendous, then that's going to tarnish your overall brand experience. In today's online world with social media, there's no place to hide if external customers aren't happy with the experience you've had. And, equally, things like Glassdoor Is that what it's called Glassdoor?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, glassdoor, yeah, yeah, so if my internal experience of how we work together is a bit shabby then. You know, in the old days that was just your family and your friends that knew that. But now thousands of people can get a warts and all insight as to what it's actually like to work in that organization. So it's worth some attention if it hasn't been on your radar. It's worth some attention thinking about actually, what are some of the ways in which we want to work with each other and what? What's that service experience?

Speaker 2:

I think so, lord, because I think, I think also it has to be a joined up approach, just like you've said there, from the first recruitment, even looking at from recruitment, whoever recruited you, um, sets that tone as well. And then, as you go through the various stages of recruitment, you'll get, you know, hopefully, a similar vibe that runs through the organization right the way down to your first day and then that continues. You know, regardless of which department you're then having to get involved with, that culture that they've created is a joined up approach. So you're right, you know, just because the sales experience was great, but the end result, the refund or the exit process, was crap. You know, that's what you're going to remember and that's what you're going to take away, um, and is it? Is it if somebody's got a complaint, they tell 10 other people? Is that this stat on it, or something?

Speaker 1:

and the good news is three people or something.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because it's sort of less spicy and less dramatic and it's a sort of you know and that's always that blows my mind because glass door you mentioned earlier, there's lots of negative reviews on there and I, you know I was always saying, well, put a good one on, because just because you've left the company, you might have chosen to leave to go on somewhere else.

Speaker 2:

But but if you had a good experience, I think take that time to give that feedback for prospective people looking for jobs that go. Oh okay, the negative is balanced with positive outputs, because there's so much negativity out there that you know, if we're not careful, the algorithms are only going to read the negative stuff, right, and I think we need to start counterbalancing that by putting out the positive stuff too, so that the algorithms can pick up and look at it from both sides, not just one overarching negative, negative, negative, that was it. You're meant to give five to one feedback, aren't you? Five positives to one not so positive or something, and that ratio of five to one. But we don't, if anything, we see it flip the other way Five negatives and maybe one positive, oh my.

Speaker 1:

God Debs. So yeah, just sort of channeling Mo Goddard here about kind of the you know the using it well. So I imagine in a future scenario you've got a 17 year old using chat GPT to write. You know what am I looking for in my work experience? And if chat GPT is churning through all of these horrible, nasty, toxic workplace examples, then that's going to influence the information that's going to come back.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And if you're not wise to the world and and consciously look for well, that can't all be bad, there must be some good. If you're not that type of person that will do your research and look for it, you might take that as read and take that at face value, whereas actually it's probably not. Um, yeah, so I think there's lots more we can do about glass door reviews, giving great customer feedback. If you've had it like passing on the values awards that people do, you know, consciously acknowledging great service internally, you know, can really boost a person, how they feel and then the impact they have, because you know, the more we hear good stuff, the more we want to do it. So why would we not give it in the first place?

Speaker 1:

So let's have a look at some sort of specific things that might be worth a think. So we've discussed around internal service culture and just even managing expectations One person's morning is either 9am or 1pm and how, even at that point there actually the grumpiness and the dissatisfaction can sort of kick in. We then looked at well what role actually how people feel treated behind the scenes, that internal customer service actually is important, not only from a nutrition and retention and performance rate, but it also reflects and potentially gets mirrored externally to your external customers who pay the bills. Let's now have a look at some practical things that just might be some food for thought into what might be worth a focus on to dial up those levels of internal service culture experiences. So, debs, I've seen a trend over the last five, six years using net promoter scores, nps scores.

Speaker 2:

NPS scores yes, yeah, they're interesting aren't?

Speaker 1:

they what?

Speaker 2:

have you noticed?

Speaker 1:

Well, I've noticed that it's a way of so, let's say, a net promoter score might be. To what extent would you recommend working with this team? And team on team are able to rate how they kind of find each other, and it's a way to be able to put some kind of objectivity over what might be a subjective experience. And I guess if you can track it over time then you can see that the one-off mark almost isn't the relevant bit. It's tracking it then over time. That I guess gives you a bit of an insight into the willingness and the experience that people have working with each other. I mean, for those people that love data and the experience that people have working with each other.

Speaker 2:

I mean for those people that love data, it's a good place to start. You've got to love data, though, and be able to interpret it the right way, right? But I think that, yeah, because people always look into how do we measure our success, how do we measure whether we're doing what we should be doing? People are always looking for a return on their investment, right? So I think that net promoter score can be used in a way which is from a positive um and how we can take it as a snapshot of that's what it was right then and there. It doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever, but it enables you to have some, I think, some really good conversations around it to just look at what you're doing well, but also where you could maybe improve.

Speaker 2:

Um and we, we, what's the other scores that you people have, pecan scores and uh, what's some of the other? I can't remember some of the other employee engagement survey scores that they do, which gives you a score on the door, but I think it's interesting to know how to interpret that data, because there's also what sits behind it. For me is there may have been some circumstances in that moment that may be out of that individual's control who you might be given a score to, that they had no control over because of something bigger that was happening. So I think I always balance that and go okay. So that's the score. So what else was going on at the same time? Because it may be a bit of a what's the word? Just a bit of a blip in the data. So I think that's what's important.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, I mean, I think that's a fair point actually, Dev, because if a team has been rated down because they're slow to respond, but behind the scenes half of them are on redundancy notice, then that can't help but influence how the remaining half you know how they're able to cope with sort of the stuff. With that it's a bit controversial, but and stop me if I start to go down a bit of a rabbit hole but the older I get and the more experience I have around these internal rating systems, the less I am a lover of 360 degree feedback anonymous.

Speaker 2:

360 degree anonymous yeah, oh, my god, I'm with you on that and I think if you're going to give feedback, know who it is, and there's one company we work for that use it, but they name the people, um, that they go out to, so that person will name people to get feedback on. They have to give a balance of people they do know, don't know, work well with, don't work well with, um how don't work with much, do work with a lot, so they then know who that is. But for me, 360 feedback has to be really handled so, so carefully, because if you're just in giving them a report of what people have commented on, again, that might have just been based on that person's last experience of you and you may not have been at your best.

Speaker 1:

So it's a yeah, I've I really struggle with it as well law because it's not it's not a true reflection always of that individual and in my early days I was commissioned to do a bit of 360 degree feedback and I feel a bit shady about it now, looking back, you know, especially if you've got an organisation that is saying our values are honesty, transparency, integrity. Now can you? Rate each other in private, exactly, and we're not going to give them their name.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and I just think it's a wrong way to measure someone. I think there are far more better ways that you know people gather feedback around how they're doing and what they're doing. My other bugbear is that lovely nine box grid that everybody calibrates people to. We're not a machine, right law, um, and I get it. I do understand it. With massive organizations, they have to identify who are their rising stars and emerging talent and who maybe need some more work or work in progress or or however they dress it up.

Speaker 2:

But it was that. That's just not fair either. I think you know you've got to force people into something that they're not. I've yeah, I'm not a nine box gritter at all and I sort of have to be really careful because I went part with somebody says, yeah, we've done our nine box grid and I just want to go oh my god, seriously, you know, and I don't, but I do think, oh, I can see it.

Speaker 2:

I think it's from the 90s, wasn't it originally where we had this? That tool came into rising stars in emerging talent and and exit the business even. It was like oh my god, how are you managing these people in the first place? You know, and I think it comes back to, you can hide behind a nine box grid as well, which I think is when they get people calibrating people and then everybody's vying for the person and going well, I think they should be here and I think they should be here. That is not collab, true collaboration on any level when we're talking about humans and trying to fix them into boxes. We are not born to be put into boxes.

Speaker 1:

No, we're born to help each other and look out for each other and achieve, you know, for each other. Yeah, success.

Speaker 2:

What do we measure success on how?

Speaker 1:

do we measure it? How do we measure it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, how do we measure it? I don't think it is a nine box grid. I definitely don't think it's 360 feedback. I'm a big believer. If you've got feedback, share it. If you haven't got feedback, don't. It's not rocket science, is it, laura?

Speaker 1:

It's not but it's sometimes just looking very simply at what is it we're trying to do here. And so let's say you're part of a team or you lead a team formally or informally, and if you're sitting listening to this thinking, you know we've had some feedback and I know we need to dial up our perceptions around the organisation of that service level. First off, defining it what is it that our internal stakeholders actually want from us? Is it speed, accuracy, depth of response, just a smiley friendly face that catches up every now and then? Sometimes putting in diary catch-ups actually prevents all of that stuff sort of snarling up. So what is it that your stakeholders internally actually value? Then you can look at, well, what's the realities of how we can resource that and then you can come up with a service level agreement, as you said.

Speaker 1:

If actually all of our internal stakeholders want a face-to-face meeting once a week, but there's 50 of them and there's three of us, well that's just not going to be realistic. So how do I rationally and calmly explain and manage people's expectations so they can see that we're doing the best that we can? But there might be a need to shift or refresh how we communicate with each other, but I guess it kind of links back to what we said right at the start. If my tomorrow morning is a 9am but yours is noon, then already we're on a wrong footing in terms of how satisfied we are with each other's communication, because there's a three hour range of difference.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And then, if you've been asked to fill out a 360 feedback form on me, absolutely, and then, if you've been asked to fill out a 360 feedback form on me, I'm gonna get minus five she ain't getting a treat box sent via me.

Speaker 1:

I can tell you that with her name purposely misspelled just to trigger, yeah, just to trigger it even more.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because that's that's what it is. And I I mean I've, you know, I have been involved in 360 and sharing the feedback. And they go and someone said, well, we're going to send them the feedback before you speak to them. And I went, oh, my god, do not do that. And they go oh, um, oh. And I go please do not send that cold, because the way you interpret it, you know the way the words are written.

Speaker 2:

If they haven't maybe sense checked some of that, you know that person may not be ready to hear some of that stuff. So do the kind thing and if you are going to use it, then let's have a conversation around it first. You know what feedback do they think they're going to receive. You know, if they think at the different departments that they ask feedback from what? What's their percent? What do they think they're going to have to they've saying about them. So that ability to navigate your way into that conversation has to be sensitively handled. But also doesn't matter how many times you say to people it's just a snapshot in time, we don't know what was going on for that other person or for you at the time they still take it to heart if there is a negative comment in there. That is uncalled for. So, oh yeah, don't do it.

Speaker 1:

So if you'd like to commission Seeker Summer Coach for a nine box grid exercise, tick box internal service customer program, then we're probably not the ones for you?

Speaker 2:

We're probably not the ones for you, or if we are we challenge your thinking as to what benefit is that going to be for you? We're probably not the ones for you. Or, if we are we challenge your thinking as to what benefit is that going to be for you in the long run? Because I don't think it is. Yeah, yeah, but it's a tried and tested one that people use all the time. Yeah, well, status quo.

Speaker 1:

That's one of our cognitive biases is stick with what you know, and sometimes what you know is not actually the right way to do it, and so, as always, our episodes episodes are designed to give a bit of fresh air to our thinking, to chat and look at the realities of some of the stuff we're seeing around us. And, whether it's a hot topic for your organization at the moment or has been or might be internal service, customer experience, treating each other as internal customers, whether that's stakeholders, different teams up and down, in different places, for some organizations it's a real hot topic at the moment. So, um, devs, this is the second in our three-part focus, looking at all things doing customer service. I am beyond excited for our one that's going to finalize this three-parter, which is where we're going to have the fantastic lindsey thompson talking about stroking and stroke culture hey, hey.

Speaker 2:

we're back to that slow stroke, aren't we? I love the way we connect it, I know.

Speaker 1:

What does smutty, immature metaphors? Oh my God, that's valuable information, yeah, I don't think you get this in the Harvard Management Podcast program, do you?

Speaker 2:

I don't think so law. But hey, we're always born to be different, right? We are unautomatable debs exactly no one could do what we do, right and pivot maybe in a decade's time, but at the moment, hopefully we're doing all right. Yeah, we're doing all right. I love it. Oh so, what's your share? The secret for this one, then?

Speaker 1:

Laura. So my share, the secret is if this has got you thinking about actually how clear are we in our team about what the wider organisation expects of us? Get someone else to listen to this and then start to put a bit of a language together, what could be some conversations. We start happening to just get this on the radar Because yourselves, your people, your external customers will receive that benefit. So maybe listening to this could be a bit of a starter, just as a conversation starter with your team.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. I suppose my call to action. It sort of mirrors a bit of what you were saying. The ding-a-ling-a-ling bit is be mindful how you show up and be ready to manage expectations. I think about what you can and can't do and have a decent conversation around it.

Speaker 1:

Marvellous. Can't wait for next week. In the meantime, Debs have a ding-a-ling of a week. You too, Lor, and love chatting with you as ever, and I'll see you in the next week.

Speaker 2:

You will Take it easy. You Bye, keep shining, love you Bye.

Speaker 1:

We hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Email us at contact at secretsfromacoachcom, or follow us on Insta or Facebook. If you're a Spotify listener, give us a rating, as it's easier for people to find us, and if you want to know more, visit our website, wwwsecretsfromacoachcom, and sign up for our newsletter here to cheer you on and help you thrive in the ever-changing world of work. Bye.

Service Culture and Internal Customer Experience
Impact of Internal Service Culture
Feedback and Measurement in Workplace