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Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

Have a Game Plan to Address Their Anxiety - 10/8/24


It seems like we all get deliveries - whether it is UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, the local courier, or all the above.  We order.  They deliver.  Or do they? It’s times like these, when we’re expecting that package, that item that we’re looking forward to or need urgently or are Read more

How Persistence Saved the Day - 10/1/24


Sherrie saw the customer walk into her store holding his cell phone, and Sherrie immediately knew that was William.  She had spoken to William on the phone about an hour ago, he said he would be at Sherrie’s cell phone store in less than an hour, and there he Read more

Notice the Little Changes - 9/24/24


“My, how times have changed.” Yes, times have changed.  As a matter of fact, one of the biggest reasons why an organization’s customer service deteriorates is that times have changed…customers have changed…and the company has not… If we think about customer service delivery today v. decades ago, changes in technology alone Read more

Don’t Hurry…Be Quick - 9/17/24


No, this is not a take off on the Bobby McFerrin song:  Don’t Worry Be Happy. It’s actually a take off on the John Wooden quote:  Be quick, but don’t hurry. When I read Wooden’s book with this title, I liked the concept, and not just because John Wooden was a Read more

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K-12 Sustainable Excellence? A School District’s Approach

Posted on February 18, 2014 in Business Advice, Education Please leave a comment

Blog 2-18-14In Tennessee, the Maury County Public School System is working toward a status of “Excellence” in the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TCPE). The TCPE is a statewide initiative modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige quality awards. And while Baldrige may be very familiar to manufacturing, healthcare, and other service industries, one can readily wonder why a school system is participating.

When an organization wants to adhere to the Baldrige Award Criteria, it’s important to understand to what they’re committing. For the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence, the primary categories of evaluation are:

When you look objectively at these categories, you soon see that it’s hard to achieve “Excellence” in any industry without being at least “Above Average” in all of them. How easy is it to be an excellent performer without leadership that sets a clear direction and models behaviors to others? It’s tough to achieve Excellence without a definition of it and a Plan to get there. Excellence is often defined by the customer – the individual with the opinion and decision-making power to stay with or leave a business – so how can we be Excellent without an intentional focus on the customer? And how do you know when you’re straying from the path to Excellence or whether it’s a time to reward and recognize unless you Measure performance and continuously improve?

I could go on, but you get the picture. Organizational Excellence in Education, Sports, Healthcare, Government, etc., has several key components. This is particularly true if you want Sustainable Excellence.

To attain high levels of performance and continuously improve, make sure you have the plan, customer-focus, leadership, workforce, and operations that drive measurable results.

Did you like this post? Here are other Education-related posts:

Also, check out our Education site: http://cssamerica.com/education-industry