Empowerment could be just providing the right system

Hal Becker wrote about “empowering” front line employees to take care of customer service issues. He described an experience at a hotel where his reservation had been messed up. He finally had to ask for the manager to get it resolved. His view was that these types of problems should be within the power of the front line employees (the clerks, etc) to resolve. I agree, but lets take that a step further. If you had a documented system on how to handle a customer from the time they enter the business to the time they leave, and have a list of possible solutions to common problems, AND an escalation procedure if the employee isn’t sure what applies, then you solve the problem three ways: 1. You don’t stress out a good employee who is afraid that they went too far or not far enough to please a customer. 2. You ensure that your customers are given the service they felt they are paying for. 3. You (the business owner or manager) are satisfied that how a problem is resolved will be within the bounds that you are comfortable with. It is a WIN – WIN – WIN!]]>