Internal Customers

Peter Drucker had once said ‘To Satisfy the customer is the mission and purpose of every business.’

Now, I am really wondering how many companies are living, or even believing in such kind of business philosophy. Needless to say, the purpose of existence and company’s mission are not things to be taken lightly. And I remember that I read somewhere about a leader who was gathering his top executives from time to time to ask them to state their company’s purpose of existence each from his/her own view and responsibility.

Now imagine extending the philosophy of customer satisfaction we started this post with to each and every part of the organization, to really believe in the concept of internal customers* and that each and every department has an ultimate goal of satisfying its customers.

Do not you think that adapting such concept would ease the struggle between teams and different departments? Do not you think it would actually release the pressure of the constant power struggles within organization?

I believe it will … but let’s be honest, how many companies do you know that are adapting this concept; and I mean really applying it and not only talking about it for PR purposes!!

* The concept of internal customer has been recognized by Joseph Juran in his famous quality trilogy. Internal customers can be anyone in the organization, anyone who is painting a small part of the big picture that will eventually represent a product or a service provided to an external customer.

Let There Be Processes

I had the chance to be in a casual meeting with one of those big guys in one of Saudi companies. There came a discussion about companies’ strategic plans and work procedures. This gentleman said something that really startled me! Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to discuss that idea with him more throughly but to simply put his concept, it is something like : ‘let there be rules, respect them, but do not follow them!!’

Now in my humble understanding, whether it is Google, Apple, or Amazon, they all have some kind of business processes. There is no way a business would be able to conduct its daily activities or long term objectives without setting its work on a clear path … and that clear path is nothing but a group of processes.

However, processes should not be confused with bureaucratic-old-school kind of paper work and hundreds and hundreds of signatures. While such bureaucratic rules are always treated as if they are coming out of holy books, there is a room in modern processes to be flexible and they are always subject to modifications and enhancements.

In todays world, businesses are faced with tough challenges and frequently changing market rules. For that, it is necessary to organizations to have the ability to adapt, change course, and interact with their environment. This cannot be done by letting everybody working on his/her own without any kind of direction and guidance and, of course, it cannot happen by imposing rules that have been around for the past 50 years.

Even innovation and ‘thinking out of the box’ have their own rules that turn them into useful and practical models instead of wasted time, efforts, and resources.

I really hope that I misunderstood this big shot executive and he really has some logical explanation to his strange idea, don’t you think?

Positivity For A Change; Exemplary CSR

 Recently, I have been really overwhelmed with many blog posts, articles, and tweets that were only negatively looking at many, especially social, aspects of Saudi Arabia. I would give those writers the benefit of the doubt and say that they are in love with this country, and they want to see it the best country in the world; so out of love, they get really harsh on it sometimes.

The fact of the matter that it seems much easier to spot shortcomings rather than qualities. I do not know, maybe it is human nature; we perceive advantages as normal and sometimes as basic rights while on the same time we tend to overreact to imperfections. I am saying these words and I am not trying, in any way, to pretend to be the most positive person in the world. I am just trying to be objective as much as I can

Let’s move to the post which you could’ve guessed by now that it will be about something positive; actually it is … but not totally!!

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), let’s face it; a lot of management practitioners do not totally grasp this concept. The truth is that it is a vague concept with a lot of ethical backgrounds and dilemmas. Saudi companies, as many others around the world, are suffering from this lack of understanding in addition to the fact that most of them are mixing between the concepts of social responsibility and charity.

Despite all that, two Saudi companies just provided an interesting example about how to be socially responsible companies; Saudi Aramco and Siemens Saudi Arabia. According to this article in Arab New, the two companies are initiating a very interesting program to improve Saudi youngsters’ enthusiasm for science. The program that has already been implemented in many countries around the world, by the Siemens international I believe, will be available for 400 students in the Eastern region of the country in the first phase or the pilot of the program. Those 400 students will receive what the program call ‘Discovery Boxes,’ different materials are available in these boxes for the students to conduct different experiments in different scientific disciplines. By any means, this is a really bright example of social responsibility.

However, there is only one remark that could make this program a bit less than perfect; will it be available to any school in the Eastern region and the whole Kingdom in later phases, or it will be exclusive to the schools where the children of Saudi Aramco staff are receiving their education!!

Finally, I have to mention my ‘free spirit’ statement; although I have many friends working in Aramco, and a brother in law working in Siemens, this post has not been influenced by them in any way …

Stop Cursing Your Customers

 

Companies that have any kind of live interaction with customers are better to train their employees not to complain about the company itself or customers in front of other customers!! What kind of a message they would be delivering when you hear the sales agent behind the counter complaining about another customer and accusing him of being stupid because all what the customer did was asking him about different products and then bought nothing! or when you hear a customer service agent complaining about his/her own company policies and procedures.

This is all part of the service experience the customer is having by being present on your premises or talking to your staff on the phone. The way your company’s staffs interact with customers should be part of your holistic brand design. It is all about the image you would like to leave on your customers’ minds, the message you would like to deliver to build a loyalty ground so customers will come back again and again!

And just to let you know, I witnessed the above given examples in both a restaurant and a pharmacy!!

Saudi and Global Competitiveness

Few days to the kick off of the Global Competitiveness Forum 2010 taking place in Riyadh. Prominent leaders and heavy businesses’ names will gather to talk and discuss investments and economics.

Such a big event to be hosted in Riyadh is something we should all respect and admire. However, it makes you wonder, what is really global competitiveness and how Saudi Arabia is performing in this field anyway?

The answer can be found in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 issued by the World Economic Forum. It is a really interesting read for those concerned with economics, investments and regulations in general, or for those who are only curious like myself

Here are some highlights related to Saudi Arabia in case you do not want to go through the 492 pages PDF file.

-          What is competitiveness anyway?

Competitiveness is usually associated with countries’ economies and their ability to sustain growth and maintain improvements to prosper and keep a healthy status.

-        How competitiveness is measured?

Many economical factors are studies and evaluated to rank the overall country’s position in regard to others. These factors are grouped under what the report likes to call ‘the 12 pillars of competitiveness’ and they are: (Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and primary education, Higher education and training, Goods market efficiency, Labor market efficiency, Financial market sophistication, Technological readiness, Market size, Business sophistication, and innovation.)

-          How are we doing?

Surprise … surprise; Saudi Arabia is ranked 28^th out of 133 countries! Can you believe that? this is what the report is stating clear and simple. I do not know about you, but I started to suspect the report results after this fact! Not that Saudi Arabia is not going through number of modifications, but hey, ranked 28th!! ahead of China (29), Spain (33), Italy (48) and India (49). I am not trying to give any conclusive scientific opinion here, but I am afraid we are not doing that good in many of the competitiveness pillars they built their report upon.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia strongest advantage is its macroeconomic stability; we ranked 9 out of the 133 countries which is totally understandable given the strong Saudi budget. On the other hand, we do really bad at ‘health and primary education’ where we rank 71 and we do bad as well at ‘labor market efficiency’ where we rank 71 again. Giving that our recent budgets were concentrating on eduction and health care, this is a clear indication that we still have a lot of work to do.

As a conclusion, nobody can deny that there are movements in the Saudi business environment but my point is that I do not want such reports to give us a false sense of security and accomplishment, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to grant ourselves a competitive advantage at the global economical scene.

Oh Yaah! Let’s Form a Committee

In the business world, committees should not be treated in a way different from regular teams. Actually, they are both alike in principle; different people coming together to solve … something!

So why whenever you hear about a new formed committee; that is the only thing you really hear about them!! I mean, most of the time, you do not really come to know what these guys have done, if anything has been done at all!

For that, I believe these two corners should be clear, crystal clear, from the start:

-          Name the leader: Whenever forming a new committee, naming the leader should directly follow the reason of forming that committee. This leader should be the voice of the committee during its work and after it finishes. He/she will carry the committee results or recommendations to the higher management for further actions.

-          Align the mindsets: In the first meeting, or meetings, it is again the job of the leader to bring the different minds of his/her committee members to a common ground. They should all look at the reason behind forming the committee similarly, and they should decide the course that they would follow to reach solutions or answers.

Sometimes, it really looks like forming a committee is meant to be a relief to the management conscious so they would feel that they are really doing something!

First Things First

No matter if you are a manager taking the lead of a big or a small company, a leader taking the charge of a new team, or even a student taking the leading position in a class project team. What should you do once you take the lead and on which points should you focus?

I am not implying that there should be a one, fixed, and easy path that all those in leadership positions should follow to a readymade, guaranteed success. Of course different situations would require different initiatives. But still, what is the main theme that should underlay your strategy in your first days as a leader?

Allow me to tell you my opinion; the culture. It is not about the structure, rearranging responsibilities, creating or demolishing work processes; it is about the culture that governs all these important factors in a successful team or organization.

And let’s admit it; creating a culture with all its implied values and practices is a challenging task. That’s why we rarely hear or witness such transformation or encounter leaders who understand and value such management approach. Most if not all newly appointed leaders always attempt to change the structure of their teams or organization, define new rules, and present new processes. All this is OK as long as it derives its soul out of the culture of the team or the organization. Positions and processes are subject to change, but the values and beliefs of teams and organizations stay longer and guide their success even in difficult times.

Check out this interesting interview and tell me what do you think?

This is Dangerous

Believe it or not, about 15,000 individuals working in the Saudi healthcare centers should not be working in the field at all according to this press release in Okaz (in Arabic). Some of them have fake certificates and some of them are not licensed to practice.

It seems to me that there are big flaws in the recruitment process followed by our health institutions. Given that we have a Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) working in the field as a regulator for medical professions since 1992; you have to wonder what were they really doing all this time?

I do not claim to be totally aware of their regulations but I’ve heard their representatives talking on the radio and read some of their comments in newspapers and it seems that they are doing a good job; again, it seems! As I understand, every health professional has to undergo a written test in his/her field before being eligible for practicing in the field. And to renew the license, he/she has to go through certain training programs in addition to adhering to renewal tests again and again.

The fact of the matter that recruiting medical professionals is a one unique human resources practice that I am not sure our health institutions understand rather than follow. Background checks on experience and source of education becomes almost mandatory to any applicants in this field. Furthermore, the technique of interviews and tests should be unique to the profession that certainly requires certain skills and personalities to be able to practice it.

Someone could go further and argue that the acceptance process in medical schools or any health education institutions should be refined because it is almost obvious, it is not suitable for everyone, even if they have the highest grades in high school!!

Naming Your Staff

I have been to Subway yesterday, the known food chain. I am not sure if you ever noticed what is written on the t-shirts of the gentlemen preparing the sandwiches, it is saying ‘I’m a Subway certified sandwich artist.’ Let me put it this way; isn’t that cool!!

Even if we can arguably say that anybody can actually make a sandwich, I still felt that this guy behind the counter knows what he is doing, he must have been through some kind of highly intelligent sandwich making training program (OK … this is a bit far!!).  In all cases, I believe this is part of the message the organization is trying to convey, it is part of their brand image that they want to stamp on the memories of their customers.

The other part of the message is internal to the organization. It is used as a way of motivation and loyalty fostering. It is about creating the feel of belonging, whether you are preparing sandwiches in Jeddah, London, Paris or New York, you are a subway sandwich artist.

Subway is not the only organization that has a naming system for its staff. Starbucks employees are called ‘Partners,’ and Apple stores have what they like to call ‘Geniuses’ (again … isn’t that really cool!!).

Quite the opposite, it is really sad to notice that there are companies that use the naming system in a totally different way. I’ve heard number of stories about local managers who like to shout in their subordinated faces with stuff like ‘punch of lazy morons’ and ‘herd of cattle.’

Now, do you have a naming system at your organization or at any one that you know of …

Ignoring Your Customers

Here is an interesting question asked by Gill Corkindale in her HBR blog; does your company’s reputation really matter? She is arguing that some big companies in certain industries do not really care about customer services! Despite regular customers complains, such companies are keeping their lousy performances and customers are still coming back.

The blog post is filled with examples and cases supporting her point; and thinking about it, we do have our own fair share of examples: our beloved Saudi Airlines (I love Saudi Airlines so much; I already have two posts about them here and here), most of service industries and most, if not all, public services are bright examples of lousy performers.

Lack of competition is the most obvious reason comes to your mind in your desperate need to understand those companies’ mindsets. That could be true in a lot of cases and, furthermore, even with some minimum competition, the situation is not that different. Again, Saudi Airlines and its competitors are good examples. Saudia has the power and the support of the government while NAS and SAMA are struggling to get a small piece of the cake.

However, I would not accept this point as a justification, or at least as the only justification. There is another big problem in our own behavior and mindset; I am talking about us, customers!

I believe we mostly lack a certain understanding of our own rights. We acknowledge companies’ mistreating us, we get angry about it, may be shouting all the way and telling everybody about it, and … that’s it! We return to these companies and use their products/services again! If there is no alternative and the company is enjoying a monopoly state in the market; then it is really sad for you, you do not have a choice! Actually you still have the option of making official complains, talking to their managers, and even going and talk to regulatory bodies supervising their sector. The most important point, do not simply let it go!

Finally, those companies ignorant enough at the moment should always remember that they might face the moment of truth when the market is opened for real competition. Globalization is a trend; and one of the lessons coming with it is customer services philosophy as an essential aspect of companies’ differentiation strategies.