Surface Ripples

Blame Games

It always interests me to see how people react when things go wrong. Do they try and shift accountability to someone else or do they accept that, perhaps, they may also have been at fault?

The phrases I most often hear are “You should have told me that,” or “That should be in your contracts”.

Every interaction involves risk.  In some jurisdictions, organisations are expected to be completely “transparent” in terms of the goods or services they offer, the conditions on which they will offer them, pricing and any exceptions that may result in a different outcome.

In others, the old Latin adage “Caveat Emptor” (let the buyer beware) is more applicable.  In these cases, the opposite happens: product or service providers volunteer little information and let the customer ask the questions.

In a culture where “fairness” rules, one expects more of the “transparency ethic”.  In that most recently described, one must learn fast or be disappointed/lose money until one learns better. 

Going back to how I started, when we deal with a new party, we need to:

• Understand exactly what we want.
• Understand what expectations we have concerning service standards from the other side.
• Develop a list of questions designed to elicit from the other party that what we want is achievable.
• Be ready to ask the questions and to continue probing until satisfactory answers are received.

In our business, we’ve seen a few episodes where, in hindsight (that marvellous thing!) we could or should have asked certain questions.  In these cases, all we can do is “chalk it up to experience” and learn our lesson for the next time.

What many fail to accept is that, whatever happens, there will always be new situations and new suppliers with whom we deal who may not understand or appreciate the standards we expect.  Some larger organisations have developed a complex process to assess any new supplier, usually one that revolves around asking a lot of intrusive questions.  Such processes are cumbersome and time-consuming both for new suppliers and for the organisation that then has to go through the answers to ensure that their standards will be met.

Where does this leave us?  Honestly, the more experience we gain in dealing with new suppliers, the better.  Most of them are looking for profitable and (they hope) long-lasting relationships.  A minority are out to grab whatever they can get before moving onto the next “victim”.

As long as one does not become the latter in too many cases, I’d consider that a win.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Risk, Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 08:37