When a government has to look to the Department of Motor Vehicles for customer service best practices, you know there’s an issue. But the question is, will the DMV really provide a solution? With the almost universal bad reputations that DMVs have in the world of customer service, many are focused on turning around their image and their operations.
According to the article DEM Looks to DMV for Customer-Service Tips, apparently Rhode Island’s DMV has had some success. Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM) launched its own customer service improvement initiative and benchmarked with the DMV to identify opportunities to improve performance and change its culture.
The DMV has been going through a process to upgrade its customer service based on lean manufacturing techniques, modeled after a Rhode Island manufacturer. The core of the lean program was to focus on utilizing employee input to improve efficiencies and be able to dedicate more time/effort on “higher-value projects.”
Another way to look at this is that the DMV looked for process improvements and productivity gains to improve performance. Much of the issues and improvements were identified by the staff themselves. There are several key lessons here:
- Remember that process is a primary driver of customer satisfaction. Make it simple and quick for a customer to have a great experience.
- Make it easier for employees to deliver timely, high quality, and consistent service by making their internal processes more efficient and standardized.
- To improve how the work is done, ask the workers themselves.
Learn a little Government lesson. Tap into your team to improve your customer service.
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