Tyler Brûlé, in his recent FT column, laments the state of the hospitality and service industries. As well as stating the need to set up a hospitality school, he urges business owners to 'take a microscopic look at how their businesses are being represented and what staff are being allowed to get away with. Put simply, if yours is a service business, why are so many policies anti-customer?'
There are two separate issues here: First, the policies that underpin the service delivery. Were these designed with the customer in mind? When was the last time they were reviewed? Are they flexible enough to be tailored around specific customers and their needs? Is there a process of capturing those needs? Has management got first hand experience of the service provided? Basically are the policies tied to business objectives and the bottom line or to customers and service delivery?
Second, there are the staff that deliver the service. I’d argue, as well as looking into what the staff are getting away with, it will also be useful to find out why the staff feel the need to get away with substandard service. Have they been included in the design of the service? Are they empowered to define the service and feedback to the management? Basically are the staff treated as the brand ambassadors that they are?
Service design, user/customer centred design -call it whatever you want - can both give answers to those questions and help design a service that meets Mr Brûlé’s standards and hopefully exceeds them. He can still set up a school though!
This is very interesting, especially the point about engaging your own staff in the design process. It often seems that people think design is creativity that happens by magic/Einstein. It isn't. To me, design is...
1) a process that provides information which can universally be understood by all, so anyone can consume the evidence and have the big idea
2) about creating buy-in through engagement.
This can be supported with evidence from some great thinkers and innovators like Steve Jobs and Leonardo di Vinci who believe not in creative magic, but observation and first hand experience... real talent is bringing the dirty reality of people's experience of your products and services to life in a way you can share with everyone else.
Posted by: Markus Smet | 01/09/2008 at 10:36 AM