Whose job it is anyway...??

I'm at the gym in mid-sweat. I'm struck with a great idea that will make life better for the gym patrons and staff. It's cheap and easy to implement. So, I decide to share my suggestion with my friend, the facilities manager.

"Well, that is a good idea..." he says, shrugging, but you'll have to tell our regional manager 'that’s not my job.'

Can you relate? You see something that can be improved and you suggest an idea; You experience something rotten, but avoidable and speak up to fix it; You stumble on something broken and alert management to it; You sense something missing and call it to someone’s attention -- and you're met with the response "Sorry, that's not my job."

"Not my job" is the enemy of good customer experience. Customers who expend time and energy to make a suggestion are reaching out because they care in some way, either to improve their experience; to gain a greater sense of satisfaction; or to right something wrong.

When customers provide feedback, it is an act of trust and good will. A "not my job" response forces customers to make an unfortunate choice: seek an alternative source for satisfaction or walk away, entirely.

Customers must also re-process their brand association against this treatment, which may be perceived as indifferent, uncaring, lazy, un-empowered, impolite, foolish or all of the above.

Amazing how it's possible to communicate so much with just three little words."not my job" culture may cost today's companies more than they realize. The "not my job" virus harms more than individual customer relationships. Once present, it can spread quickly to infect the front line culture. The "not my job" illness ushers in an attitude of apathy and indifference.

This undermines customer-centric, initiative-taking behavior and disrupts teamwork and cooperation. Many executive leaders feel their companies are immune to this illness. Perhaps this is because they've invested heavily in the creation of business process frameworks and processing of customer feedback.

However, even the most sophisticated organizations, customer listening can fail. When a corporate culture is not clearly oriented toward customer service; when the organization is not properly aligned to manage customers in an empowered way; or when customer facing staff are not clearly and consistently coached on how to effectively manage customer feedback, failure occurs.

Is the "not my job" virus infecting your organization? Run a few informal tests of your own: Assume the role of a customer and walk in, call or click in to any store and attempt to raise a concern, question or suggestion. See what happens. How are you responded to? Do you leave knowing where will your feedback go? Do you feel satisfied by the response provided to you? What three adjectives summarize your experience? Try this a few times in different channels.

While it's certainly impractical to act on every customer suggestion, the tangible benefits of active listening alone are enough to secure repeat business from even the most difficult customer. By listening more actively, you may also learn something valuable from your customers, as well.

Remember, there's simply no up-side to the "not my job" culture in an organisation..

Just iradicate it at the earliest.