Building the Service Foundation: Corporate Culture

Overview/Description
 As the saying goes, "You can't create the cathedral before you build the foundation." That's why the first course in this Customer Service series focuses on building the foundation of good service. The buzz term is "Corporate Culture." It's not some rare disease, but your workplace "culture" can be positively or negatively infectious as it relates to customer service. In this course, you'll get the basics about corporate culture, and how it impacts service. You'll be able to identify on-the-job issues that are barriers to service excellence. Simple, but effective, exercises will enable you to differentiate between a healthy corporate culture, and an unhealthy one. At the completion of this course, you'll be able to develop a step-by-step action plan that sets the tone for an organization that prides itself on quality service. Finally, you'll gain the know-how to be a dynamic force within your own division, team, or group culture. By learning to strengthen the internal environment, you'll increase commitment to service, boosting performance, productivity, and ultimately, success.

Target Audience
 Front line staff, managers, and team leaders.

Expected Duration
3.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Corporate Culture 101: The Basics

  • recognize the concept and value of corporate culture as it relates to customer service.
  • choose the statement that best defines of corporate culture.
  • match definitions with components of corporate culture.
  • identify what needs to exist within a corporate culture for it to provide excellent customer service.
  • determine whether a given organization has a service focused corporate culture.

    • Service Obstacles

  • recognize the value of discriminating between a healthy and unhealthy workplace culture.
  • identify examples of customer service barriers within an organization.
  • identify how organizational openness effects the development of a customer-centered culture.
  • identify examples of the signs and symptoms of organizational inflexibility in a given scenario.

    • Develop a Cultural Action Plan

  • recognize the benefits of developing a cultural action plan.
  • identify examples of service impact issues in a given scenario.
  • implement the changes needed to quickly remedy service impact issues in a given scenario.
  • identify examples of organizational issues that are beyond a given person's control.
  • determine if the process for communicating cultural issues was applied in a given scenario.

    • Influencing Your Group Culture

  • perceive the value of developing a strong culture within your work group.
  • determine whether a given organization has effectively developed a vision and mission, and the steps to realize the vision and mission.
  • identify the criteria that need to be present for a given culture to be considered service focused.
  • identify examples of items that should be included in an effective document of cultural standards.

    • Course Number: CUST0101