Not long ago, I was working with one of my clients in San Diego. I was there to deliver my customer service training program when the group found themselves in a conversation about two different types of customers; internal and external. External customers are those that we serve outside our organization, the ones that actually purchase our end products and services. Internal customers are those that we serve inside of our organization such as co-workers and other departments and teams.
The group brainstormed about the problems and challenges the organization was having. One of the problems that surfaced was “one of our frustrations is when the tech support department transfers calls to us expecting us to be able to make a sale, and we can’t sell to the customer. Even though our department is called sales, we’re just order takers. We can only take orders from customers that already do business with us.” A half dozen tech support folks dropped their jaws and didn’t hide the look of surprise on their faces. One of them repeated with surprise “you mean you can’t take an order from us!?”
That particular situation had been causing a lot of stress for both of those departments. The sales department was frustrated each time they received a call they could not complete. Further, the tech support department was confused and considered the sales department disinterested or lazy when their customers weren’t being handled.
Lack of communication is one of the most common complaints in the workplace. But it’s also one of the easiest problems to solve. WE can control opening up communication and talking with each other.
Be careful that you and your team haven’t made assumptions. Look out for treating people as if they’re psychics and can read our minds (or worse, assume we can read the minds of others). You might be amazed at the obstacles that can be overcome when you sit down and really talk with others. Not blaming, not pointing fingers. But just sitting down and saying “hey, here’s a problem that we are encountering. Do you have any ideas on how we can get over it? I could really use your help.”
How about you? What could you do to help improve your organization by improving communication? Is it possible that you might solve a problem by a simple exchange of information? You might help reduce the GarbageFactor™ for everyone.
