1.2.3 Managing the customer within
We have been talking about the personal skills needed by managers, about their attitudes and behaviours. Stop for a moment now and consider the organisation's customers. Take a moment to write them down. Did you consider the customers within your organisation, or what is often termed your internal customer.
Everyone , whether shore-based or shipboard, has a customer and is in the business of providing a service whether they deal with people and organisations outside of the company or not. Everyone has internal customers who include individuals, groups, departments or other ports that depend on you for information or support.
This concept of treating internal departments and colleagues as customers leads to increased efficiency and an improved environment in which to work. This, in turn, provides increased service to external customers and has benefits for all involved.
It is your responsibility as a manager to have a 'can-do' attitude. With good communication, collaboration and teamwork, your work environment can become a more rewarding workplace.
Consider this:
Do you and your team recognise the importance of the internal customer and the implications on service? Think about how you will reinforce the strengths that you have in this area and how to work on the weaknesses.
We can learn from Tudor's 'personal tangibles' highlighted in the following example:
Things you might really wish you had known
As a young tiger in 1954 I embraced a 'success formula' that remains valid and unchanged today: Always give 110% effort. Develop people skills. Remain the student. By loyal to my employer. Keep an unwavering commitment to values.
Yet, in hindsight, what I didn't focus on at the start of the race forty years ago were the personal tangibles that seem to make the thin difference between those who fulfil their potential and those who don't:
Judgment - which means not just making the right decision but making it at the right time.
Sensitivity - to others all the time. I learned that not everybody approaches things with my eager-beaver style, but that they could be even more effective by being sensitive and really caring about other people's needs.
High Octane Enthusiasm - for everything you do. If you want to be alone, if you want to be ignored, don't bother to smile.
Persistence - there is no task that doesn't guarantee problems and obstacles. Only those who doggedly persist will obtain their goal. On the fifty-fifth anniversary of Winston Churchill's graduation from Groton he gave the commencement address. Gripping the podium, he uttered three words and sat down: 'Persist, Persist, Persist'.
Pen Tudor, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Adweek