A group of strategists gathered around a table to discuss ways to solve the problem of traffic congestion in their city. After several hours of brainstorming, one guy came up with an excellent idea.
“Let’s have pre-programmed lights to control the traffic” he suggested.
“That’s a great idea”, said another. “We can have three different colors to indicate signs to “stop”, “ready” and “go””.
“That’s brilliant! Congratulations team, we have just found the solution!” group leader proclaimed.
“No, that will never work!” one member challenged, “it sounds good in theory but it’s not practical!”
“Why not?” the others inquired.
“To start with, this can make the whole city late. Late for work, late to schools, late to appointments”.
“Well, everyone will have to adjust their travel timings to incorporate the delays that are caused because of the lights”. Group leader explained.
“Even if everyone changed their ways, this can still fail!” the pessimist defended his stand. “What about ambulance carrying serious patients to hospitals? What about fire trucks on their way to fight a fire? It will be so wrong to keep them waiting, because of a stupid light”.
“That’s what we call exceptions, my friend… we are finding solution for a general problem. Therefore this is made to accommodate the norm, exceptions are not bound by such rules, and so they are exempted!”
Solutions are easy to find if we are willing to change; if we can free our minds of preconceived notions and judgments; and if can simply allow ourselves to think out of the box.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
“Friendly” organizations of the Maldives.
The importance of providing friendly and quality customer service for the success of an institution; be it public or private are among few concepts which has unanimous acceptance across the globe.
Maldives is no exception; with our economy dependent on tourism, all about good service makes us take the concept even more seriously.
Vision/mission statements of two leading companies of the Maldives talk about quality service as listed below:
BML: “"We will lead the way through quality of service and dedication of our staff. We will serve all our communities to the best of our ability, strive always to listen to your needs and so build total customer confidence and satisfaction".
Dhiraagu: “ … Dhiraagu has rapidly built a sound, financially strong business based on a commitment to providing innovative products and services and a philosophy that places high value on customer satisfaction”.
Before I make my point, let me exclude all tourist resorts and other more tourism-related companies from the context of what I am going to say. Most of the resorts have excellent world-class service record and have won several international awards for that … so they are exceptions.
For other institutions/companies in the Maldives whose customers are locals; have a totally unique and different perspective on the “friendly” concept, at least in practice.
Let me tell you something I overheard someone talking over the phone the other day.
I was stuck in the rain one evening, was taking refuge under a small askani (shade of a roof) sharing with a stranger. He was talking on the phone and apparently was asked by a friend abroad to do some transactions through the Bank of Maldives. From the look of it, it appears that my partner stuck in rain failed his friend abroad to do the expected from the BML. What amused me was what he said in his defense for the incompetence. He said that how can his friend expect him to do the job through BML when his friend very well knows that he does not have any contacts in BML. His friend ought to know that he has very good contacts in SBI, hence if he was expected to do anything through SBI, it could have been done.
What was surprising and shocking for me was that he really sounded genuine when he made his defense, as if it is an absolute requirement to have a contact to get anything done anywhere.
The truth is that this is the mentality of an average customer of any institution in the Maldives. If you do not have your acquaintances then do not think of getting a proper service. This mentality is the result of constant incompetent and double standard service that has been continuously provided by most organizations here.
After all we have “friendly” organizations… so you really need to have a friend working there. Like I said, we do take friendly service concept “seriously”.
Maldives is no exception; with our economy dependent on tourism, all about good service makes us take the concept even more seriously.
Vision/mission statements of two leading companies of the Maldives talk about quality service as listed below:
BML: “"We will lead the way through quality of service and dedication of our staff. We will serve all our communities to the best of our ability, strive always to listen to your needs and so build total customer confidence and satisfaction".
Dhiraagu: “ … Dhiraagu has rapidly built a sound, financially strong business based on a commitment to providing innovative products and services and a philosophy that places high value on customer satisfaction”.
Before I make my point, let me exclude all tourist resorts and other more tourism-related companies from the context of what I am going to say. Most of the resorts have excellent world-class service record and have won several international awards for that … so they are exceptions.
For other institutions/companies in the Maldives whose customers are locals; have a totally unique and different perspective on the “friendly” concept, at least in practice.
Let me tell you something I overheard someone talking over the phone the other day.
I was stuck in the rain one evening, was taking refuge under a small askani (shade of a roof) sharing with a stranger. He was talking on the phone and apparently was asked by a friend abroad to do some transactions through the Bank of Maldives. From the look of it, it appears that my partner stuck in rain failed his friend abroad to do the expected from the BML. What amused me was what he said in his defense for the incompetence. He said that how can his friend expect him to do the job through BML when his friend very well knows that he does not have any contacts in BML. His friend ought to know that he has very good contacts in SBI, hence if he was expected to do anything through SBI, it could have been done.
What was surprising and shocking for me was that he really sounded genuine when he made his defense, as if it is an absolute requirement to have a contact to get anything done anywhere.
The truth is that this is the mentality of an average customer of any institution in the Maldives. If you do not have your acquaintances then do not think of getting a proper service. This mentality is the result of constant incompetent and double standard service that has been continuously provided by most organizations here.
After all we have “friendly” organizations… so you really need to have a friend working there. Like I said, we do take friendly service concept “seriously”.
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