All Councils are service organisations, although you wouldn’t think so the way some Councils treat their customers says Manningham City Council Chief Executive Bob Seiffert. As one of the speakers at the National Engineering Conference, Bob will be challenging delegates to question whether their Council is customer-driven.
“A new wave of customer service is hitting Local Government – people are getting more and more critical of the quality of service they experience in their everyday lives, and they want something done about it, particularly within government organisations,” he said.
“Customers have recognised that they have no time to go back and get something done twice – they really want it done correctly the first time, and on time. And they’re entitled to it – after all that’s what they pay for.”
At Manningham Council, the mutual dependency of competitive tendering and the pursuance of quality customer service with a focus on Best Practice has helped deliver excellent customer service.
Initiatives welcomed by customers have included the appointment of an internal ombudsman to help resolve complaints, the launch of a customer service charter, the introduction of a various media including the internet and touch screen kiosks to provide 24-hour ‘one-stop’ access to Council’s services and regular customer surveys to ensure customer satisfaction benchmarks are maintained.
In his conference speech Bob will outline the 10 essential features of a customer-focussed organisation but, overall, he says Councils concerned with honing a competitive edge for the 21st Century must develop two new capacities.
“The first is the ability to think strategically about service delivery and to build a strong service orientation around and into the vision of their strategic future.
“The second capacity, which is perhaps more difficult to develop, is the ability to effectively and efficiently manage the design, development and delivery of service.
“In summary, therefore, this new era of service management will call for a return to the most fundamental principles of leadership and in many cases to a rethinking of an organisation’s basic reasons for being. Those leaders who fail to grasp the real significance of service quality will face tough times. Those who do will see their organisations thrive and prosper.”
