Let's discuss an example to see how the 85/15 Rule can be applied. Let's say that one of the chief problems you have discovered is a litany of customer complaints about the poor nature of Acme's customer service. Should the blame should be placed squarely at the feet of Acme's three customer service reps? Sure, about 15% of the time. Maybe you'll discover they, or one of them, are careless or simply rude to your customers. This can easily be the individual's fault.
However, 85% of the time you need to dig into Acme's system. What is precipitating poor customer service that, no matter whom you hire for the position, causes Acme's customers to rate it poorly?
Determining a Cause
This is where you need to take a serious look to find the actual cause of the supposed rudeness or carelessness. Things to consider may be:
1. A lack of training: If the customer service team isn't properly trained in etiquette/manners, they may not even realize that what they're doing is wrong.
2. A lack of education: This could be about the company's products, services, or customer values. If a customer service rep is always made to look like a fool because they've never been educated about the product/service they represent, then it's hard to blame them for getting frustrated that they appear less than stellar, so to speak, to the customers. Similarly, if the customer service rep isn't taught what customers value the most, then how can they address these issues properly?
3. A massive workload: If the customer service team is understaffed and overwhelmed, it's easier to understand why they may get frustrated. This may be something the customers will sense as well.
4. An inappropriate work environment: Think: micromanagers, poor feedback, unrecognized efforts or worse, harassment, bullying, or other serious concerns.
5. A poor workplace culture: Maybe the company values a cutthroat and mean-spirited approach in other segments of the workplace, and that rubs off on the customer service team.
These, and many other systemic issues, should be ''owned'' and addressed by management. See, you can't blame the customer service reps for doing a poor job when placed into the environments mentioned above.
More often than not, an employee mimics the system as opposed to changing it. Even the best intentioned employees will turn into, and seem, like poor employees and as the problem when that is the very superficial view of things. They are nothing more than a reflection of a deeper system problem that must be fixed by management in 85% of cases. And it is these root problems that must be fixed in order to truly address most issues in the workplace.
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