Serving my internal customers is actually something I have been working hard on for several years. My first annual review had some very important and constructive feedback in it; my co-workers did not consider me helpful and felt I was difficult to approach. I took this feedback to heart and have since made sincere efforts to improve my demeanor and communication when asked for help. I think that remembering that I want others to see me in a positive light helped me make this change in my work life. My reviews have since been very positive, but I always welcome feedback.
To continue to improve in the future, I definitely encourage my co-workers to speak to me about things they think I could do better with. In order for me to change something, I have to know what I'm doing wrong first! I think the main thing I can try to do to improve interactions is to take my ego out of the equation. When I feel emotionally charged about a person or situation, it helps to take a step back to calm down so as not to become unprofessional. I have a situation I need to address along those lines now, and it is very challenging to talk to someone when I am upset with them. Making it not be about me and instead about us as a team can help me remove some emotion from the situation.
At our specific campus, we generally work very well as a TEAM!! Love my co-workers! However, when it comes to our corporate executives, they don't always have our best interests in mind.. they may focus on the plain numbers more than the quality of our work and our commitment to our students' success. We've been in a downslope with our enrollments and we don't like it any more than the top people, but we need support more than harsh criticism. Still, this is a problem with only a small section of our company.. the rest of us push forward to continue to share our passion with others who want to learn!
The gap in communication that you mention can be challenging for an organization. What specifically can your organization do to improve communication?
I feel we currently do not serve our internal customers well enough. There seems to be a large gap in communication which cause a tornando of issues that follow. We all together from the corpprate team down need to have open communication that has value. We need to focus on both internal and external customer service to achieve our ultimate success.
That's great that your team works well together. How do the weekly meetings help you as an individual? And your team?
Thank you for your insight Kallie. There is a lot to learn from the situations that arise during a project and a post-project meeting is a great way to recognize the successes and opportunities, and brainstorm solutions for the next project. How can you bring this idea to your organization?
Tell us more about the 'All Hands' meeting. How do those meetings provide service to each other. I love the pot luck meeting idea!
Working together is something that my campus takes seriously and implements well. The item that I believe we can better incorporate into our daily activities is the refresher meeting right after a large project. We consistently have all departments meet prior to and throughout a large project, but do not have the follow up meeting. When problems or difficult situations arise during the project items are addressed but the concerns and lack of communication that caused these problems in the first place are never truly rediscussed. By implementing the after proect meeting department can have the opportunity to readdress concerns or to suggest how things can be handled differently next time.
Henry, sure. When you work well together internally, it can create an open environment that external customers can see and feel. I'm curious, what can you do to get the process started to help those other departments?
Dr. Jean Norris
I think we have good internal customer service. We are a fairly small campus and all departments here work well with each other. We have meeting every week to go over what each department is doing.
I think we are fair at serving our internal customers and we can always do better. One of the areas I think would help if we take a task that another department does and help them with it... For example helping eduacation by calling their absent students to get them back in school or calling a drop list of students to help with re-entry.
We try our best to serve the best way possible, but there is always room for improvement and better ideas. Me interactive in our weekly meetings and more onsite activities
I guess I never thought about who our "internal customers" really were. This could definately help build and improve the relationships through departments and co-workers. Team building activities and events can help strengthen those weak relationships in order to have good customer service.
We have a very small institution so it's very easy to communicate with each other through face to face meetings whether gathering in ones office or even luinch meetings. Being a smaller group also let's us tackle any issues that may arise quickly to keep our best foot forward especially in front of our students.
We have an All Hands meeting every quarter, also every Friday at staff meeting we do a pot luck. it seems to boost internal customers.
Congratulations! It's great when a team works well together and treats each other with respect. What practices do you or could you have in place to help maintain the balance?
It's a great idea to understand the various roles within your organization so that you know the right person to talk to in a situation. I like the 24-hour rule too. Thank you for your post.
Lisa, it sounds like you work for an organization that values team communication and collaboration and I like your idea to include the faculty and staff in the communication so that you can brainstorm and collaborate on the common points of interest.
Given all that you mentioned in your post, what can you personally influence or control? It can be frustrating when we know there are things outside of our control that may be impacting our role, but taking the time to recognize and make changes in the areas that we can control could make a positive impact on the entire organization. Best of luck.
Essentially, I would say that our "internal customers" interact very well. We have a small enough staff that we all know each other and try to strive to show mutual respect for each other. I don't feel that we need to make improvements but rather to maintain this balance.
