When I ask “How near are you to achieving this?”, the answer is always “We’ve always got so much more training to do!”  But the real answer is also nearly always “We don’t know!”

Without a way to measure skills and competence, linked to business need, this can only ever be guesswork.  Users of the eg operational intelligence® suite know that these measures provide the missing link to managing demand, planning capacity and making sure there is a real need for any time diverted to training or development and then crucially, making sure the time is well spent.

Tell us how you measure, manage and improve your people’s skills and competence by commenting below.  What is the top tip that makes a real difference to your operational results?

eg are pleased to provide operational management training and development programmes, endorsed by the ILM, to help you address this key area.

As part of getting this balance right, many Clients we work with across the globe want to ensure the quality of what they deliver to their customers (internal or external) is as good as the speed or turnaround and is achieved in conjunction with measures to improve team member capability and people satisfaction.  (All these things we will be looking for when judging the ‘best of the best’ at our forthcoming annual eg operational excellence® awards).

“It’s true productivity when we deliver something correctly, right first time – rather than spending more time later trying to make good something we got wrong the first time” one Client told me.

Paul Cooper at the West Bromwich Building Society shares more insights: see “Quality vs Quantity” and whilst you are there, check out Janet Ridley’s comments too.

eg operational intelligence® helps our Clients to bring quality and quantity together into a balanced scorecard for daily operations, so rewarding and recognising “what good looks like”.  But whatever your measure for quality, how do you know the amount you verify, check, inspect or audit is enough?  And what can you do to build quality in before the event, rather than find out after?  Finally, how do you ensure the learning is shared in a good way – if things do go wrong?  Let me know your thoughts!

Contact me via:

andrewbaker@eguk.co.uk

sms: +47 91 83 30 30

IM: andrew.baker.eg (Skype)

http://twitter.com/egsolutions

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/eg-solutions-plc

We’ll publish more of your views on delivering great operations management.  I look forward to hearing from you.

The challenge in using these measures as a basis for day to day operational management is sometimes, “which one is the most important?”.  It can feel like a question of WHERE to start?

Some Clients have told me that the first thing to do is to make sure you understand what each measure really means.  “It helps to think of the Customer waiting for a reply when I think of the focus I need to provide my Team Leaders and their Team Members on delivering the right result everyday” said one Department Manager.

Putting in place a structured “process” to help Team Leaders manage consistently yields fantastic results in a surprisingly short time.  We have found it takes just a few weeks to show Team Leaders and their Team Members how to use the balanced range of measures to set realistic goals and make a tangible difference for the better. This “process” includes making sure all Team Members understand the goal for each day, the priorities – as well as their part of the plan.  Using the balanced range of measures to provide realistic goals and then to track performance against those goals sets a virtuous circle encouraging people to think proactively on:

- how can we make the “best” use of today?

- during the day, how well are we making the most of the day?

- at the end of the day, what have we achieved and how can we make tomorrow even better?

Another Customer Service Manager said of this process; “It felt like a voyage of discovery, but it was the Teams, with their Team Leaders, who discovered the potential that existed.  They were the ones that saw how to make small changes that delivered big improvements to our Customers and the bottom line”.

If you have any views on effective ways to engage Customer Service teams in the delivery of improved operational results, please let me know:

m: +47 91 83 30 30

e: andrewbaker@eguk.co.uk

im (Skype): andrew.baker.eg

I look forward to sharing more of your views and “top tips”.”

Catch up on recent blogs on this topic

http://www.eguk.co.uk/category/blog/client/

http://www.eguk.co.uk/category/blog/operations-management/

Catch up on related news

http://www.eguk.co.uk/news/the-measure-of-customer-service/

-          what gets measured gets managed and then….

-          what gets measured gets better!

Along the way, and with your help, we looked at the need for a balanced view of performance, to make sure measures rewarded the right behaviours and the need for people to “own” the measures that are used in setting the targets they aim for.

But how do you create “ownership”?  The challenge is that an approach to MANAGEMENT information is all about just “management”, right?  Well, of course not!  It’s about “delivering great customer experiences” and it’s about “being rewarded and recognised for the job that a Team Member actually does” to deliver great service to their Customers and Colleagues (as the case maybe).

At first glance, measuring workloads might appear to be the Manager’s job.  However, our experience from rolling out the eg operational intelligence^® suite to 41,000 users around the world, shows that the key every time is to make sure you involve the team being measured.  Rest assured everyone has a view, whether they choose to share it or not!  So to make sure you set plans and targets that people can see are fair – they need to know where the measures came from.

Secondly, “ownership of the measures” means more than just being fair to everyone.  They must cover the balance people need to achieve to demonstrate “this is what good looks like”.

This is why eg recommend:

-          measuring the process, not the person

-          reflecting “what good looks like” by measuring “quality” and “quantity”

-          allowing for development/training time (“earned” time for skills)

-          including appropriate rest and relaxation

-          ensuring customer delivery targets are set

As one case handler said to me:  “Now I know that my Team Manager knows I am doing the right thing, in the right way, when it’s needed.”

Do you agree with this approach of creating “ownership” in teams?  Perhaps you have some hints and tips you can share following your own experiences?  Leave a comment here, SMS to +447785 290346 or email me: andrewbaker@eguk.co.uk.

Finally, have a look at Jane Mayhew’s blog (below) at what engaging people can look and feel like and the benefits it brings.

Next time, I’ll look at “leadership” using eg operational intelligence®.  Look forward to hearing from you in the meantime!

I also promised to feedback those views.  Some of these were posted direct to the blog.  But however you fed back to me – whether there on the blog, through e-mail, calls/text or when we met face to face at your office, our Focus Group or Software User Group – thank you one and all!

Let’s start with Debbie Strickland, as she explained about the desire people have in WANTING to achieve the goals you set them based on the measure.  As they strive towards these goals they show their colleagues, themselves and you, HOW they add value.  So make sure you think carefully about WHAT each target is when you set it!  And don’t “micro” manage as you use the measure, but make sure you look at consistent performance over a longer time.

Gary Stone points out the need to measure the right PEOPLE, delivering service in the right way with the correct result.

Even though we measure a process, Paul Cooper reminds us to involve the team.  PEOPLE bring different strengths – so make sure you recognise these strengths and those that deliver QUALITY steadfastly – as well as those who produce volume.

Next time, we will focus on team involvement to support ownership and engender belief in measures, what they show us and the potential to achieve a POSITIVE impact on REALISING tangible business benefits.  Contact me at andrewbaker@eguk.co.uk or sms +44 7785 29 03 46 if you have examples to share too!

However, there is no need for anyone to worry!  We all know that there is variation in how long things take and so any measure that covers standard time, quality, skill, service levels or process performance can be a good guide – even if the measure is not 100% precise.  It will then support how we report performance or plan for the next period ahead.

The great news is that by getting comfortable with a “robust” measure for these things, aka “the balanced range of measures”, then we have a basis for both: 1) telling us how well our process or operations perform now and 2) telling us how to plan for the future.  They provide a guide to help us answer “How many people do we need to hit our service levels?” “Who should I train next on which process?” and “Which processes will need more or less resource in the future?”, amongst many more issues you might like more information on.

So using the law of averages and the 80/20 principle (“Pareto’s Law”, where 20% of the time gets 80% of the result) we can refine the measures and move them ever closer to what everyone believes is a truly accurate figure.

Tell us your experience of measuring your processes – what works for you?  What should we avoid?  We’d love to hear!  Contact us: ask@eguk.co.uk.