I have a suggestion on addressing the problem with Delta.

I’m on a leadership team for a recovery group at church which deals with relational issues and childhood woundings. Part of the program involves a teaching on “Acknowledging our need”. In fact for a person to enter this closed group requires an interview process wherein we attempt to determine if the candidate is willing to make that acknowledgement. If they are not, then they don’t get in. The reason is that if the underlying need is not acknowledged, then true healing can never result and any behavioural changes will only be temporary. This is a foundation I often apply to other areas of life as well…

Because of your story here, I reflected on the situation at work which has produced reactions similar to what you’re seeing with Delta Employees. Nobody feels empowered to take ownership of issues on the front lines and that attitude appears to be supported by the leadership. Our leadership team does acknowledge that there is a problem with morale but so far has not seemed to communicate an understanding of the real causes. The result has been that their solutions don’t address the real need. Until that happens, the miscommunication between leadership and the rest of the team will continue and the frustration will never get cleared up. The bottom line is that the customers bear the brunt of the fall out.

My approach is to start with people on the leadership team and first try to establish with them a clear understanding of the specific need rather than the resulting symptoms. Once they understand that, an effective solution can be worked on from both sides. I would suggest you continue higher up the management chain with Delta. However, rather than address the issue you are experiencing with your advertizing, I’d suggest you speak to them about their leadership potential being undermined by the employees’ sense of disempowerment and that this dynamic is affecting their business. Explain to them that their employees do not feel empowered to take ownership of issues resulting in a comprimised customer experience. At that point, you could throw in your experience as an example, rather than as the focus of their issue. This approach is a win win because they receive better productivity and morale, while their customers experience better service.

I learned this approach from you actually. The lesson you shared was that you need to learn to “speak their language” and your lesson involved the story of presenting the onsite university idea for your help desk associates, to the finance controller. In that case you had to speak in financial terms but in this case the language is leadership.

Just a thought and a suggestion. Good luck!

Larry Vander Schaaf, CNE 4 & 5

I thought I would let you know of a GREAT customer service experience I had with DELL. I have a home PC that is about 2 years old and recently crashed. I am far from a PC guru and thought I was in big trouble and would have to have someone come to my home and rebuild my PC. I called DELL and they were just simply the BEST. They hand held me through the entire process, called me every half hour during this 5 hour process that it took to bring my PC back up. The rep had the patience of a saint during this process.
I will defiantly purchase my next PC form them because of the customer service I received.
Jan

Thanks for sharing Tony’s story.