Promote continuous improvement
Overview
This standard is part of the customer service competence area related to Customer Service Management. It includes promoting continuous improvement. It covers activities and approaches that play a vital part in customer service by seeking and implementing improvements and developments. Remember that customers include everyone to whom you provide products and services. They may be external to your organisation or they may be internal customers.
You are dedicated to the continuous improvement of customer service in your organisation and get involved in organising changes to customer service on an ongoing basis. You identify potential changes, think through their consequences and make them work. Above all, you focus on organising and implementing changes that are sustainable and in the spirit of continuous improvement in customer service.
This standard is for customer service professionals on supervisory or managerial levels who promote continuous improvement.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- plan improvements in customer service based on customer feedback
- gather feedback from customers to identify opportunities for customer service improvements
- analyse customer feedback to identify opportunities for customer service improvements
- discuss the potential consequences of any proposed changes for your customers and your organisation with your team and manager
- negotiate changes to improve customer service systems with colleagues who have the authority to approve trials or full implementation of changes
- organise the implementation of approved trials and changes
- inform colleagues affected by the changes being made about the reasons for them
- monitor early reactions to changes and make adjustments when required
- collect and record customer and colleague feedback about the effects of changes
- analyse and interpret feedback to draw conclusions
- share your findings on the effects of changes with your team and manager
- summarise the advantages and disadvantages of the changes
- use your analysis and interpretation of changes to identify opportunities for further improvement
- present these opportunities to colleagues who have the authority to make them happen
- follow the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- how to gather feedback from customers within your organisation's guidelines and the tools and processes that are used
- how to analyse and interpret customer feedback to identify potential opportunities to improve the customer service your organisation provides
- the importance of identifying the potential consequences of changes and how to explore these with your manager and team before negotiating changes
- the different negotiation techniques that can be used to agree trials and full change implementations with colleagues who have authority
- how to organise implementation of changes within your limits of authority and what you need to consider
- the importance of developing rationale for changes that are implemented and how to communicate with colleagues who are affected giving reasons
- the methods used to monitor changes in the initial stages and adjust approaches in response to reactions from customers and customer service colleagues
- the importance of collecting and recording feedback about the effects of the changes implemented on customers and your organisation
- the analysis techniques that can be used to draw conclusions from feedback and issues to consider when you are interpreting it
- the importance of sharing your findings with your manager and team and how to do this
- the organisational benefits of summarising the advantages and disadvantages of changes that you have implemented
- how to make a business case to others to bring about change in the services or products you offer
- how developments in communication channels such as social media present opportunities for customer service improvements
- the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out