a tale of poor customer experience

After having lived in the US for a couple of years and then moving (back) to the UK, I still remember what a shock it was to feel the difference in level of customer service between the 2 countries. [Not saying Belgium is better, it just happened to be that I moved from US to the UK]

I am not just talking about service in restaurants (as you can argue if it is right or wrong to pay waiters minimum wage and let them live on tips) but let’s just say that overall there is no comparison.

In fact, every time someone moves over from the US to the UK, I tell them beforehand: forget what you have come to expect as service in the US because you will just get annoyed. Most often heard complaints: banks turning you away as a customer as you are a foreigner (and these are employees of well known global companies such as MS and Yahoo) and the length of time & effort to get broadband set up.

I have now adapted to the different standard and quite happy in UK but yesterday, however, I was again taken aback by an example of poor customer experience.

I am a long term gym member at my local David Lloyd’s and rent a locker for which I pay 60 GBP / 6 months additionally. When arriving at the gym yesterday, I find a note in my locker that they have removed all of my possessions and I need to go to reception to pay 5 GBP for “abusing the system” to get my clothes back.

So I go to reception, where they tell me that my locker had expired and they had left me a note in my locker 4 months ago to say that it had expired. For the life of me, I don’t remember receiving that note (I am one of these people that pays their bills when they arrive) but I was baffled by the fact that they would not put a reminder, or simply tell me at reception the multiple times I scan myself into the premises during the past 4 months.

No, they rather have their long term gym member paying good money every month feel like a criminal by being called to the “principal” to pay its fee for “abusing the system”…

Shared Experiences

Tonight I was stuck on a train that was not moving… for an hour and a half… very full and squished together with the heating full blast on the first warm day in ages.

The driver did not know what was going on and could give no expected time when we would get moving again. He also mumbled and spoke very silently so you could only catch every second word.

Slowly you could feel everyone in the carriage getting more and more annoyed, at the situation mostly but also at each other. Small annoyances become “big issues”. One woman started complaining loudly that she could not hear what the driver had said as “people didn’t stop talking on the phone”. The guy sitting next to here being the only one on the phone. Another one started complaining about the smell and several heavily sweating guys felt singled out.

When we get the news the train will not continue on but go back to London, the fever reaches is pitch.

Then all of a sudden the train starts moving in the right direction. The mood shifts completely. Everyone is elated. The horror of having to return to London and finding another train is gone. We will all reach the station in 10-15 minutes.

People start joking and sharing stories. And unlike any of the other fellow commuters I see every day, I honestly think I am more likely to start a conversation with the people sitting around me today than any others.

It is the power of shared experiences.

I know this phenomenon all too well from people you work with in tough software releases or fellow alumni of companies you worked for. You may not have that much in common… heck, you may not even have liked them that much and / or gotten annoyed by little things they did when you worked together… but once it is all over…

They are your bros. Your fellow veterans of release wars. Your fellow survivors of C-level madness.

Strange how it works that way.

Flavour of the month: Company Culture

What I always find amusing is when a company gets successful, a bunch of books get published about the company’s culture and how to implement it at your company.

Far from it that I doubt the importance of a company’s culture but let’s be fair, most of these companies did not become successful due to their culture. They became successful as they happened to stumble upon a really succesful product.

One analogy that always comes to mind is that of team culture in football which is typically attributed to the coach. A coach departs due to disappointing results and a new one gets hired. Some better results follow and out come the “team culture” rationalization. “Well the last coach was such a disciplinarian. You need room for trust and freedom for a team to be successful.” Some months down the line and results are no longer so good and the reverse happens. “Well, he was too friendly with the star players. You need a strong hand & discipline to perform.”

By all means, think about your company culture, but don’t go for flavour of the month.

Myth of meritocracy

Strange to see how many people still seem to believe that if you are higher up in an org you are somehow “more” than others. A better person with more skills, abilities, intellect, savvy or work ethic than anybody on the lower rungs. Your merit directly expressed by your station in live.

Granted it is an appealing theory as somehow having or being more than others is so much more important — to most — than what you actually are or have. But to say it in American teenage lingo: it is like sooo totally not true.

I have gotten opportunities earlier on in my career that were just due to right timing or pure luck (e.g. with senior people being present in the same office). I actually shared with others what I had done to move ahead but even though they were as or even more talented as I was and worked harder the same result simply did not come along. And vice versa I have come across people where it can be very hard to determine what characteristic might explain their success in any way.

Of course I am not saying that hard work or talent don’t matter. You will on average get better results. It just doesn’t guarantee an equal ROI.