ISS has, in cooperation with Aspector, published a white paper discussing what role service has in organisations today and what constitutes excellent service.
‘Delivering excellent service is important for all companies today, but most struggle to deliver basic services of a decent quality. In this white paper, ISS and Aspector find that the companies who do deliver excellent service are superior in the areas of people, processes, leadership and culture,’ said the early April press release.
‘Companies must be careful when designing their service delivery system. A great service management model is built on a thorough understanding of what creates value for the customer and how the organisation can engage its employees in the delivery process.’
The four key elements in such a system are service culture, employee engagement, service quality and customer experience.
According to the report, leadership and culture play a greater role in effective service organisations today than ever before. By creating a common vision, mission and values, the organisation has a common goal to steer towards.
‘Value-based leadership is an effective way to make the values and vision become meaningful and relevant, when communicated and supported by first-line management and frontline employees.’
Leadership the enabler
People processes should be at the core of any service organisation. The successful execution of the service delivery model requires the right people with the right competencies, all motivated and engaged to work towards a unified set of goals.
Getting engaged employees requires a focus on the right HR processes. But it also requires that employees have a higher purpose in their work other than what is simply dictated by the job profile. Attitude, behaviour, commitment and ultimately quality are outcomes of having sound and robust people practices, and leadership is the enabler, the report emphasises.