Over the last few weeks we have discussed customer service from the perspective of the external customer. But what about the internal customer we all have, our employees?
Let’s face it, as managers, dealing with the external customers is only one aspect of our daily jobs. Dealing with the other employees is a large part of what we do every day. We are the first stop most of the time for the employee, more so than HR. Why is that? Simple, like our external customers they have developed a level of trust with us.
Just like our external customers, our internal customers need to feel like they are part of the team and it is our job to maintain that relationship with them. Remember, they are the face the external customer see’s and has the greatest impact on them. If we keep our internal customers happy they will do their utmost to keep the external customer happy for you.
That doesn’t mean to say we are to give them everything they ask for, just as it was when we were little kids and we asked our parents for something. If we got everything we asked for we became spoiled brats and did not appreciate what we already have now. Also, in the long run if we did give them everything we would be able to see it was the beginning of the end for that internal customer.
Being in a management position for many years I learned from one of the best managers I ever had the opportunity to work with that in doing reviews no one gets a perfect score. If you receive a perfect score what do you have to work on, what skill should you sharpen? I have heard of only one person that was able to walk on water, if one is perfect walking on water should be an easy task. There is always room for improvement in whatever we are doing. I have been in the electrical field for 30 years, I have yet to have mastered it, and despite holding two masters licenses’ I know I will never truly master the trade. I will never stop learning about this trade. We all continue to learn at whatever we are doing, we all have a need to be challenged and to grow.
Finding the balance in dealing with our internal customers is a challenge every day. Is the person you’re dealing with in a bad mood? Did they have a fight with their spouse before work that is eating at them and dividing their attention? Did they get bad news about something? Did they get good news and are not focusing as they should be on the task at hand? All of these things may or may not be known to us as we begin to interact with our internal customers.
Each individual has a different personality and that comes into play as well in our dealings. Are they the type of person that is open to a direct frank comment? Are comments more accepted if the person is led into making the suggestion back to you as if it was their idea being presented, a more indirect personality? Is the person open or guarded? What type of personality are you dealing with and how you approach the different personality makes a great difference. In the book by “Who moved my Cheese?” by Doctor Spencer Johnson, he separates the characters in to four groups based on their personality traits. It portrays how the different individuals accept and deal with change. Learning how to identify and understand what personality type a person is will assist you in managing your internal customers. Teaching your internal customers this same process will assist them in dealing with your external customer, and making them both a better customer. Isn’t that what we are all striving to create?
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