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Performance Management

Published July 2009

Follow a Performance Map to Superior Service

 

  Mark Thomas and Joyce M. Clark

In today's economy, finding, retaining and developing frontline employees who drive revenue by delivering a superior service experience is more precious than gold.

Luck has nothing to do with it. Savvy companies can follow a real "treasure map" to a talent management "pot of gold" comprising systems that recruit, equip, train and reward 24-carat employees.

Unfortunately, firms that use such maps are far and few between. Further, a major disconnect between management and employees on a variety of issues is negatively affecting customer relationships and, ultimately, the success of many businesses. This often happens due to the lack of a plan or system to create, nurture and retain employees with a singular focus on the outstanding customer experience.

By using an approach called performance mapping that uses techniques that link employee performance to corporate business objectives, companies can build effective workforces whose high performance translates into improved financial performance. And those workforces will deliver service experiences that increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In today's tough economic environment and ultracompetitive marketplace, every customer counts. A disconnect between management objectives and employee performance quickly can erode a relationship between a company and its customers. To win and keep business, a company must not only compete on the basis of service, it also must make service its brand — an emblem that customers want to flock to.

The majority of companies are far removed from that ideal.

Is Anybody Listening?

Convergys' "2008 U.S. Scorecard" — research with thousands of customers, employees and senior executives — assessed attitudes on service and the customer experience. It found:

• In six out of the 10 industries examined, employees had relatively low levels of understanding of company strategies, a view that if properly cascaded throughout the organization, from senior-level executives to customer facing agents, would support better alignment of objectives and behaviors, and ultimately ensure a more precise trajectory toward company objectives.
• Some 80 percent of employees believed customers report bad experiences, when in fact, more than half of customers said they never bothered to report a bad experience and simply took their business elsewhere.

How could employees be so wrong about actual customer perceptions and in the dark about strategies and goals? These major shortcomings suggest there's misalignment in the way frontline talent is trained and managed.

Traditional talent management alone won't solve the problem. Companies must ensure the employee experience is fully integrated into talent management activities. That's where performance mapping — a process that incorporates visual performance maps to draw a line of sight from company goals to individual performance — can help. Performance mapping must be systemic in employee processes so the company hires, develops and retains the people that are directly aligned to support a desired trajectory for business performance.