Note to the CCO: Diminish the Funky Task Force

Think about the number of task forces you’ve been involved in regarding customers.

Did anyone have a clue, beyond the first few meetings, on how you were going to get the things done that the brainstorming had birthed, where you were going to get the funding from, and who was going to lead the effort? How many of these have you been involved in during the course of your career? And WHY do executives keep calling for these things?

See if this sounds familiar to you: Alarm! Alarm!

“Our customer satisfaction scores just came in!  We at our scores.”

“Let’s get some people together to see what we can do about this.”

Everyone means well. There is great talk, great enthusiasm, and agreement to have another meeting. Everyone goes back to their silos of the business. After many, many more meetings, much more time, debating and planning, little has changed.

Retool Accountability

Diminish the Funky Task Force

Many organizations gear up for “customer focus” action only when the survey results have just come out or are about to be announced.  Then there is the mad dash to try to see how the data coincides with each operating area and assign tasks.  Frequently each operating area independently picks off “their results” and then begins planning actions.  Or a leader requests several groups work together to “solve this situation.”  This begins the cycle of meetings and ideas and actions proposed, but little movement.

You can diminish this cycle inside your organization by taking the following actions.  It is true.  It will take some time to wean the organization off the reactive path of survey results tactics.  But stay the course.  You will gain traction swiftly as these efforts give people back time as the organization starts to focus on the few important things rather than the 100 reactive things.

Take Action: Retool Accountability to Survey Results