This week is flying by. It’s day four of National customer Service Week already. I’m still wearing my Institute of Customer Service badge (with pride) even though I’ve changed jackets since yesterday. Today’s theme is employee engagement and culture which is perfect as we’re having our second day of our Lean Start-Up training. The group … Continue reading Unfolding plans 151 – Employee engagement and culture
Unfolding plans 150 – Wear your badge
Day three of National Customer Service Week. I’m cheating a bit today as I’m not involved in any specific event to celebrate the week and so I’m going to talk about what I got up to yesterday afternoon. Having said that, focussing on customers should be and is a constant activity. Peter told me that … Continue reading Unfolding plans 150 – Wear your badge
Unfolding plans 149 – Customer complaints
Day two of National Customer Service week and the festivities are well underway. Today’s themes are Customer Complaints and MOT. I think the MOT idea was one of our own where a small team of people descend upon a part of the wider organisation to help solve issues and identify learning opportunities. I know it’s … Continue reading Unfolding plans 149 – Customer complaints
Unfolding plans 148 – Know your customer
So, it’s day one of this year’s National Customer Service Week. I’ve already told you what our plans are but like the best laid plans of mice and men I haven’t got off to the greatest of starts. Perhaps that’s a little unfair. I had planned to go down to Durham to meet up with … Continue reading Unfolding plans 148 – Know your customer
Unfolding plans 147 – What have you planned for National Customer Service Week?
I covered this in Unfolding plans 106, some seventy five days ago, and here it is. The first week in October has arrived already, the time we set aside to recognise and celebrate our customers. Time is really flying. National Customer Service Week has come around again. It doesn’t seem like five minutes since the … Continue reading Unfolding plans 147 – What have you planned for National Customer Service Week?
Unfolding plans 146 – Simplicity
Life is complicated. The more I think about it the more complicated it becomes. It seems as if complexity is an inherent part of the way the world works. It’s that second law of thermodynamics again. It states that (forgive me for I paraphrase) ‘In any closed system the amount of usable energy is always … Continue reading Unfolding plans 146 – Simplicity
Unfolding plans 145 – Video kills
Video was never my medium. It just doesn’t work for me. I fluff my lines and get all tongue tied. I’m more nervous on video than with any other format. I don’t know why, perhaps it is the permanence of it all. I think I get hung up on how I’m coming across rather than … Continue reading Unfolding plans 145 – Video kills
Unfolding plans 144 – Scrum
Somebody has sent me a copy of ‘Scrum, The art of doing twice the work in half the time’ by Jeff Sutherland. I don’t know who it was. I had my suspects but one by one they are being crossed off my list. It just turned up at work in a manila envelope (C5 in … Continue reading Unfolding plans 144 – Scrum
Unfolding plans 143 – Leading the way in Open Data
I’ve been at another conference. This time it was presented by the Federation of Small Businesses in conjunction with Dynamo and Sunderland Software City. It was titled ‘North East Leading The Way In Open Data’ and I was asked to speak. You know that amongst my interests is helping to develop the region so that … Continue reading Unfolding plans 143 – Leading the way in Open Data
Unfolding plans 142 – Women in IT
You know that this is one of the areas that I am interested in. It’s not just me though. SOCITM has launched it as one of their key themes, getting more women into Information and communication technology. Last Wednesday marked the launch of their (its?) ‘Women in IT’ initiative held in Central London. The event … Continue reading Unfolding plans 142 – Women in IT
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 