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Positively
Outrageous Service is my name for customer service that is surprising and
involving. A step beyond good service, Positively Outrageous Service
makes the customer say "Wow!" POS
is the service story you can't wait to tell.
The
question of the day is, "how do you create a corporate culture where POS is
more than a series of isolated events?" Since
the principles of Positively Outrageous Service were first enumerated,
("discovered" is far too important a word to describe the moment), it
has become obvious that there must be other principles of management that
explain how a few companies have managed to make POS something more than the
slogan of the month. These
principles are: ·
Passion-charisma ·
Flexibility ·
Risk-taking ·
Servant-Leadership In
the past few months, I have met hundreds of managers. Most are no different than
the average corporate jock which, I believe, explains why their companies do
little to stand out among their competition.
Fortunately, there are a few bright exceptions.
My
favorite examples are, Kirk Lawrie of Richmond Savings in Vancouver, B.C.; Herb
Kelleher of Southwest Airlines headquartered in Dallas; Paul Menuier of
Signature Flight Support headquartered in Orlando; and Bob Davis of the Lone
Star Ice Company in San Antonio. These
men are leaders of a different stripe. Each
has the passion-charisma, willingness to risk, flexibility and
servant-leadership style that is required to put Positively Outrageous Service
into action. It
seems natural that a POS organization would require a dynamic, charismatic
leadership style dictated by the sometimes border-line bizarre nature of
Positively Outrageous Service. But,
in fact, charisma is only an outward expression of an inwardly felt passion.
The
truly great service leaders may be charismatic but foremost, they are passionate
about serving their customers. They
understand that the business they are about has less to do with product than it
does about their justification for taking up space on the planet.
POS
leaders are, above all, interested in making the world a better place and the
fact that they sell financial instruments, transportation services or ice cold
six-packs is only incidental. POS
leaders are not always charismatic in the spirit of televangelists but they are
eloquent out of passion. There
are no POS organizations that are not flexible.
Organizations that are rules driven cannot by definition serve as a
hospitable environment for Positively Outrageous Service.
Acceptable service, perhaps. Good
service, possibly. But Positively
Outrageous Service, never. This
is because POS is an affair of the heart and cannot be mandated.
It must be given freely. And
freedom is anathema to a rules-driven organization. Likewise,
organizations where POS finds a welcome home, encourage, perhaps, even thrive on
risk. One definition of mental
health is "the ability to take intelligent risk."
Think about it. An organism
unwilling to take a calculated risk lies paralyzed with fear.
Positively
Outrageous Service is definitely a risky business.
It requires management to stay relatively hands off, turning the most
valuable asset, the customer, into the hands of the employees without burdensome
rules that discourage problem solving and creativity. God
forbid that in a world where jobs have been "dummied down" to make
them so idiot-proof that only idiots can do them, someone would actually
encourage rampant decision-making! Finally,
the home to Positively Outrageous Service is also home to the corporate world's
greatest servant leaders, individuals who really care about the people who serve
their customers. Servant leaders
are dedicated to serving the servers. They
understand the term "support staff" and believe that serving those who
serve is, for them, the highest calling. The
four leaders mentioned above are certainly not the only leaders in the world who
are creating corporate service cultures. They
aren't the only leaders who regard customer service as more than a litany of
slogans and posters. But they are
great examples of service leadership worthy of our admiration and emulation. There
will always be examples of Positively Outrageous Service, those random acts of
exaggerated attention to customer care. But
until there are more leaders, fewer managers and bean-counters, POS will remain
the exception rather than the rule. |
