A culture of service is not created overnight. No culture is generated like this. So the first step is to understand that it is a process. A process that we will have to accompany in its different stages of maturation. And here I consider the key: to accompany.
I have noticed that many programs to create a service culture deal with elaborating the strategy and transmitting it to all the collaborators, generally in an event that is given great importance (due importance).
While this is the first step - because not having a strategy is like walking aimlessly - it is NOT enough. It really is not enough. It can even backfire if the following steps are not taken.
- Do you remember that workshop? It was good, no? Yes… what will have been the culture of service?
This may be the feeling of those who received the appropriate message, but who were not accompanied by other actions. The impression that everything was left in the past, delayed or abandoned.
Meanwhile, the management hopes that its collaborators begin to put into practice what they have been preaching to them. But everything remains the same. At the most, there are some immediate initiatives or indications, but little by little they are extinguished.
The ingredient that manages to penetrate the service culture
If the strategy has been successfully communicated, we should not wait to activate one more ingredient. It's about that accompaniment that I mentioned earlier. But what is it specifically?
They are systematic actions that take up time, space and have a repetition frequency.
Time
It is necessary to take the necessary time to generate this culture of service. Spending time of your people implies a cost for the organization. And so the message is clear: we dedicate our valuable time to what is worthwhile.
If we really want to generate this culture, we must dedicate time to it. How much? The one that each organization has. There are no defined standards, and we can adapt the rhythm and intensity to the possibilities of each moment. But the premise is that the following element cannot be missing: frequency.
The frequency
I could not convey in words how important frequency is… I would say that what has frequency penetrates, becomes reality, exists. What is infrequent dies.
A downpour wreaks havoc in a few minutes, eroding the land; instead a fine drizzle of many hours penetrates without damaging.
The frequency highlights the maturation process of the change we seek to achieve, rather than its intensity. Those who bet on frequency always succeed in the end.
Therefore, it is preferable to start with what we know we can sustain in time and persevere, than to try to encompass too much and abandon.
The space
To bring about these cultural changes, it is also necessary to break the routine and, at least for some moments, withdraw. Withdraw to meet, to expose ideas, to exchange, to propose.
This is what I mean by space. Having a planned, specially prepared place to spend that time often makes “the magic” of the process of cultural change possible.
In your program to generate a service culture, is the fundamental ingredient of accompaniment present? How could you incorporate it?
A very successful possibility is to form work teams to discuss service problems and propose solutions and improvements. Teams that meet frequently, and use a methodology that helps them unleash their creativity.
It is a wheel that turns again and again, always moving forward and generating along the way, not only concrete results as a result of their work, but also self-confidence, learning, customer orientation and internal collaboration.
I encourage you to start! With time, frequency and the space you have. The challenge is to overcome the inertia that immobilizes, and to generate a movement that does not stop.
