No More Tick Boxes - Time to Make A Difference!
12/07/2010
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure” is a favourite management mantra. Management by measuring has had a fair following wind in recent years, hence the profusion of targets, particularly across the public sector.
There is no question that targets drive behaviours, especially when they are heavily incentivised. The trouble arises when targets distort behaviours. We all remember the horror stories of ambulances queuing outside casualty departments, holding patients until admitting them causes no threat to the 4 hour waiting time target.
It’s time for some fresh thinking, and the new government is already making a start, with some radical changes to all areas of public service. In no particular order, they are pushing for
- decentralisation and local empowerment
- deregulation and
- a focus on value for money
There are savage budget cuts across nearly every department (with one or two notable exceptions – Health and Overseas Development). There are also new institutions being considered or formed.
- Local Enterprise Partnerships will take over the role of the current Regional Development Agencies.
- Consumer Protection and Markets Authority will regulate financial firms, in effect a successor to the Financial Services Authority)
Underprinning all this change is the belief that there is a need for a new approach to relations between consumers and the public sector. There is a huge opportunity to forge a new relationship which would be based less on targets and more on outcomes. A relationshop in which the customer experience will be a key factor to consider in the design, delivery and quality of all services. A relationship in which there is less emphasis on an inspection and tick box regime and more on a culture change - to assure the embedding of customer focus throughout the public sector.
Using the Customer First standard would achieve many worthwhile objectives. It puts the responsibility for managing customer relations squarely onto the service deliverer. It forces them to think through the strategic implications of how they run their operation and it is a great stimulus to a creative change in culture to a more customer focused and effective organisation. There would also be a huge saving by not requiring the plethora of existing public sector bodies whose sole purpose is to check others’ numbers. This standard is a fantastic tool to support a more enterprising, customer focused and value for money public service across all departments. Let’s use it to help drive the changes necessary to support the much needed recovery in all parts of the country.
The Government has started already to dismantle some of the targets in the NHS but we suggest this needs to be balanced by a renewed focus on outcomes - the satisfied customer, consumer or patient. With the Customer First standard, we have the ideal tool, applicable to both the largest and smallest environment. We are ready to work with anyone, in the public and indeed the private sector, who shares our aspiration to Put the Customer First.
Author: Steve Hinton, Chair, Customer First UK
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