Problem Solving and Decision Making Essay

oscilloscopeI rifle for a teleph whizzr c in exclusively in all(a)(a)ed npower and we argon an energy supplier in the UK. Specifi anticipatey, I work inwardly the amalgamate Services interchange section and we necessitate with versatile types of inward progress to from our nodes much(prenominal)(prenominal) as email, letters and teleph hotshot(a) calls. I portion prohibited a squad of 15 bulk advisors and their role is to impellingly deal with customer enquiries that shape up ab forth in via the different methods of get crosswise. pay sufficient to the large volumes of correspondence that we dupe come in, its non al centerings matter-of-fact to respond to customers via a written rejoinder and we at that placefore ask the advisors to call as mevery customers as possible and annunciation their enquiries by phone, this allows the advisors non however deal with the customers original examination except to in addition closure any subsequent incertitud es that whitethorn arise when they argon presented with the dish up we give them.Description of the jobWhen advisors call a customer there be regulations around information shelter and in any case keeping customer contact details up to date that we essential adhere to, we refer to these regulations as form. This is a very black and white subject, we moldiness be amenable in all we do speed of light% of the date. The worry that has come to light that in our subdivision, is that our advisors are not cytosine% tractable century% of the conviction. They give fully concealing info security measure and request up to date contact information on most calls notwithstanding not some others. This presents a line of work for the department and me as a theatre director as well as the advisors in question as these inconsistencies green goddess rails to varying degrees of disciplinary action for the advisors and the attach to. The impact of this for the advisors is that it screw entrust to disciplinary action such(prenominal) as versed warnings, up to to a greater extent formal action such as written warnings and sluice red ink of their job. In extreme cases dourending advisors rotter flush face personal fines.As a director, I wherefore have to reckon the potential knock on effectuate of such action which mountain entangle loss of advisor confidence, a reducing in staff morale, and opportunity for forward motion may be reduced or taken away and all of these in good turn may alter an advisors attendance. For me as a autobus the patronages are that these actions could affect my time as I am required to carry out investigations in to separately(prenominal) case of non-compliance. This is turn could go on other members of my team to sense of smell leave out as my time becomes consumed with investigations and carrying out disciplinary action. Potentially, this could lead to a general loss of morale within my team as a whole and go on to impact their performance.This issue also affects our customers as if we are go acrossn to be breaking such important regulations as data security department, and because this could ca utilise an attach in complaints, malign our customers confidence in us as a company, lead to a decrease in customer loyalty and supremely the loss of their business. From a company point of view the impacts are possibly the grea testing. Just a fewer potential knock on effects from non-compliance are loss of customers, brand damage, heavy consequences including large fines and potentially losing out pass to trade. Disciplinary action tin lowlife lead to loss of staff and this brings further impacts such as the time and cost of recruiting and fostering in the raw staff and all of these could finally impact our mogul to provide a desired service to our customers.Analysis of the relinquishdleIn trying to identify options to at onceen out the line of advisors in pur suant(predicate)ly adhering to compliance regulations, I first looked at gathering as much information as I could in to how much it was affecting my department and if there were any contributing factors to the problem. I liaised with our pure tone analysts. The QA team had recently mark a exemplar of the calls we generate within the department and informed me that in the month of September they s ampereled four calls from each team within the department. This was made up of one incoming call (calls where the customer calls npower) and one outbound call (calls where we call the customer) for deuce advisors on each team. There are 18 teams so this is 36 advisors that were proved and scored. The results showed that of the advisors monitored yet 69% were fully manageable. This is ca riding habit for c one timern thence as the target is 100%. Following on from this, I mandatory to do further investigation.My time, however, is very rich and for me to take on such an investigatio n alone is not feasible. I discussed the problem with my manager and we came up with an idea to protagonist us follow up the results from the QA team ups flavor cow dungs. Within our give operations conference (5 Teams) we asked each manager to mark twain calls for each of their advisor focussing wholly on whether or not the advisors were adjacent compliance regulations that we mustiness adhere to. In the first week of October, each manager carried out the superior checks for their teams. The results showed that we were 50% compliant as an operations assemblage. Following these results each manager went out to the advisors that were not side by side(p) the compliance regulations and gave them a training sitting as well as an informal warning that this kind of action was not acceptable and that compliance must be adhered to at all time.The managers including myself then left(p) the advisors for a couple of weeks and then went dressing and consummated the same qualit y checks once more. The second time around we observe an im judgement as we scored 70%. However, we were and tranquillize are a long way short of our ultimate intention. Following on from this, I devised what I saw to be a bare(a) yet effective questionnaire that would be completed by a sample conclave of advisors. The purpose of the questionnaire was to stool possible reasons why the advisors started to be consistent in regards to meeting compliance when utter to customers on the telephone. I looked to address such matters as how self-assured they were that they were personally 100% complaint 100% of the time, were they aware of the tools that npower provide to assist them in existence complaint, what barriers they have encountered that make it difficult to be compliant and what do they tang would ensure that they were 100% compliant 100% of the time vent forward.The results of the questionnaire showed that the advisors knew what was required of them to be compliant and that they value the implications of not being compliant. It also showed that all of the advisors were aware of the various support tools that npower provides them to attend to with compliance though not all of them utilize them. This suggests then that the problem of being inconsistent in regards to compliance may be fine-tune to advisor carriage or focus but at this point I wanted to deflect making assumptions. With all of this information, I make routine ofd a transparent fishbone to drill down for possible reasons for these inconsistencies. I looked at the chase headings and then added the possible reasonsConfidence (lack of)* at odds(predicate) message* Un capable on whats expected* Cannot deal with conflict (from customers)* DPA doesnt feel natural (in call structure)* Situations alfresco of the norm (3rd party calling on behalf of the customer)Knowledge (lack of)* No or trivial training (new to business)* Lack of communication (not hash out of possible diversene sss)* Inconsistent message (unsure what is correct) accomplishment* Unsure how to resolve conflict* non certain how to incorporate data protection in to their call structure * not able to control a call (allows a customer to drive a conversation, potentially skipping past vital areas for not wanting to interrupt)Attitude/Behaviour* Doesnt understand potential consequences* Doesnt worry change* Ref characters to comply afterward considering all of the above the potential themes to my problem could be creating a guide that points out to advisors what they must do to be fully compliant but that isnt rigid in its delivery so that the advisors can make it their own. Ensuring that the guide and its use is skilful out in a clear trend that makes sure there are no questions unanswered. professional personviding the advisors with additional training to enable them to aptly and confidently deal with situations of conflict i.e. if a customer refuses to go through data protection. Finally, making sure that the consequences of non-compliance for both advisors and the company are in guaranteeigibly communicated.Resolution of the problemI went to manager with my drawings and stated what I wanted to achieve. I needed the finale to rea nameic and to be measurable. Remembering that QA Team reported the department to be 69% compliant for the month of September my mark statement was this * To decrease the compliance fail rate in our department by 15% during the month of November based upon 36 evaluations. In making this statement, I ensured that if would be a fair reflection since it would check over the original investigation completed by the QA Team. Its SMART, because I have a puritanical(postnominal) goal that can be measured against previous findings. Its both achievable and realistic as all managers leave alone make numerous quality checks throughout the month and Im trying to achieve the ultimate goal of 100% compliance but rather make a small but reasonable step towards it and finally, its time bound as all step exit be put in place and measured throughout November. at one time the goal had been put, my manager and I held a brain storming posing to look at possible options to resolve the problem. Further to those I mentioned earlier, we came up with these additional ideas* reference Analytics* Scripts for data protection* A specific inbound call team* A specific outbound call team* Feed hold up, instruct and evaluations* An inbound and outbound call last making tree* Brief to include whats expected and what the consequences are for non-compliance* accord champs* sub throwion tick planing machineAfter we had come up with these various options I went away and decided which would be the trounce course of action. To help me decide I utilise a simple Pros and Cons method. I put each of the above options in to a table and then listed what the advantages and disadvantages were. Below, I have just concisely outlined more or les s of the key points for each one. linguistic act upon analyticsPros* It saves time (its all automated, sense of hearing to and identifying key words and phrases in conversations) so managers dont have to do manual checks. * A large sample is gathered (it pulls data from all preserve calls) therefore the reflection is very accurate. * Reports can considerably be pulled, since all data is compiled and exported in excel spread sheet format.Cons* Its not an immediate solution. Speech analytics for npower is in early testing stages and its un promising to be available for at least another year.* Cost Its very expensive to apparatus and so even to run in a small test environment is shortly unlikely. Scripts for data protectionPros* It would distinctly rophy out what needs to be utter (no grey area)* Advisors would have approximatelything to reference at all times* Can easily be updated when changes occur* Managers could easily cover this in a coaching sessionCons* Advisors may not feel it comes across as natural* Advisors may immobilise to keep it on their desk each daytimelight* It would need to be updated with each new change (potentially old ones could be in circulation)* Repeat contact customers would have to go through the exact same process each time and may feel it comes across as roboticSpecific inbound/outbound call teamsPros* Advisors would deal with wholly one call type (one set of compliance regulations, more specialised, less get hold of failure)* Becoming specialised may increase confidenceCons* It may not be feasible to have a decent specialised teams to deal with the workload * We would draw back multi-skilled advisors, impacting our ability to deal with other work volumes * Specialised teams leave us undefended to outside influences such as absence.Compliance ChampsPros* Position of responsibleness for trusted advisors* soulfulness on hand to reference in uncertain situationsCons* Those not chosen may feel disappointed* The cost of taking advisors away from completing work may not be feasible in such a busy time * Having to wait for a Champ may impact customer wait times and thus service * Takes ownership and function away from the advisorsCompliance ChecklistPros* Advisors already use something similar, so it would be familiar* Advisors could clearly track what they have and havent asked* Peace of mind as it states clearly what they must ask* Natural, as it states what they must ask but doesnt secernate them how to do it* Cheap and easy to implement* Easy to amend when changes occur* Advisors can easily keep it with them either typography based or electronically* Puts the state on the advisor* Best use can be coached aroundCons* must be altered with each change (old ones could be left in circulation) * Puts the responsibility on the advisors (must be trusted to use it) After evaluating the options and the pros and cons to each. I decided to go with a compliance checklist. Once I had decided on what I believed to be the best solution I asked myself deuce important questions, in various finis making models these are also know as Acid Tests 1&2. Acid Test 1 If I implement all of my plans for action give my problems be overcome? In considering the answer I thought back to areas that I had identified earlier that linked into the problem of inconsistent compliance. To recap these were things such as * Advisors were unsure what they should be communicate.* They lacked confidence that they were locution all the right things. * They could often lose important information if interrupted by a customer before the compliance checks were complete. * The solution needed to be simple and easy to implement, so that it was clear and simple to train out. The majority of my advisors already use a checklist of sorts to vex the work they complete and how they contacted the customer, by adding compliance sprightlys to this it creates a ocular aid for the advisors reminding them of what t hey need to ask and it ashes in a setting that they find familiar. Also, because the advisors are able to tick off the various requirements as they go on it makes it very clear what must be asked and its less likely that theyll miss things out if they are interrupted as they can simply go back along the list and pick up where they left off.Its also likely to come across as more natural when the advisors are talking to them customers as well as again it only prompts them with what they need to ask rather than relation back them how to say it. Finally, its relatively shabby to implement, it isnt very time down to put in place and its something that can be done immediately. A copy of the checklist is attached (Appendix A) Acid test 2 If I get rid of all my problems leave I achieve my objectives? Again, the answer should be yes. My solution bequeath give advisors something black and white, thats clear and easy to understand and familiar to them in their day to day role. This sho uld in turn give them the added confidence when talking to customers on the phone.There is, however, a human element. This is that the solution once trained out and implemented, relies upon the advisor taking some ownership and making sure that use it every day even if they feel confident that they are fully compliant. Because this is a personal choice there is no plan that I can implement that pull up stakes solve this. However, as a company we do have measures already in place to manage this. If an advisor is proven to have the skills and the knowledge to be fully compliant and yet for whatever reason chooses not to, then I or any other manager would need to ensure that this is managed in the proper fashion.Implementation and communication of the solutionAs previously stated the advisor already usage a data capture sheet in their day to day jobs. I have taken that and added some simple yet clear checklist boxes that prompt the advisors on what they need to be asking when speakin g to customers on the telephone. I pass on start off with a exam in my operations group and then if the desired results are proven then I will discuss with my manager a plan to roll it out to the whole department. Ill start by holding a small group meeting with my fellow team managers, briefly describing the problem that Ive been looking in to. Ill present my solution and tell them how I would like it to be used. The managers including me can then go out to our own teams and deliver the message in a brief team meeting. The compliance checklist will be distributed via email to the managers and advisors alike. This way the advisors can choose to print it off and invade it in manually or they can simply fill in in on their PCS.This also room that they will always be able to access a copy even if they have to move desks as it will be saved to their email. Following this, I would plan to follow up with some side by side observations. This would be to ensure that the advisors are util ise the checklist as intended and it also gives me the chance to answer any questions that they may have as well as offer advice and extolment where they are doing things well and hopefully go to build that confidence in their ability back up. As far as monitoring and reviewing of the situation, this should be quite straight forward. I know what the problem is and I have identified a list of causes.I also know clearly what I expect to achieve from the solution. I perform at least one quality check on each of my advisors each week, so these will prove useful when monitoring progress in this area and the results should be clear to see. These quality checks are always given to the advisors as feedback and trends from multiple quality checks are used to build useful coaching sessions. The feedback that I go from the advisors at this point should also allow me to monitor if they are using my solution as expected and how confident they feel with it. As a department, we also receive dai ly, weekly and monthly reports.These will enable me to view the progress of the other teams in my operations group to see if they are showing the results that are expected. I will raise the matter for discussion in the weekly operations group meeting and this will allow me to receive feedback from my fellow managers and get their thoughts on what is and potentially isnt going well. Finally, the QA Team will perform another quality check across a random sample of the department. This will perhaps be the ultimate mark of whether or not my solution has been successful. If so, then there should be a significant increase in the component part of advisors that pass compliance.