{"id":459,"date":"2006-05-16T00:10:24","date_gmt":"2006-05-16T08:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/?p=459"},"modified":"2006-05-16T05:06:08","modified_gmt":"2006-05-16T13:06:08","slug":"relationship-management-ii-managing-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/?p=459","title":{"rendered":"Relationship Management II – Managing Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote<\/a>, in part, about outsourced service providers\u2019 client satisfaction programs which monitor how satisfied clients are with performance.\u00a0 At any given point in time, there are a number of clients who don\u2019t believe their service providers are meeting, let alone exceeding, expectations.<\/p>\n

What causes dissatisfaction?\u00a0 Of course, it\u2019s easy to say that poor service will create dissatisfaction, but is that all it takes?\u00a0 By definition, dissatisfaction comes from unmet expectations.\u00a0 So a critical piece is what are those expectations, and how are they managed?<\/p>\n

Essentially, outsource providers are responsible for managing client expectations.\u00a0 And after over 20 years in the business, I can truthfully say that many outsource providers fail miserably at effectively managing client expectations.\u00a0 Too often, expectations are set during the sales process, and are never addressed again.\u00a0 That\u2019s right: the sales process when salespeople say what is needed to close the sale and buyers hear what they want in order to make it happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Too often the sales process itself dooms a relationship to failure, or at least significant problems.\u00a0 Promises are made to provide services that aren\u2019t even offered by the provider.\u00a0 Unrealistic timelines are agreed to.\u00a0 Bad data from the current environment isn\u2019t recognized or discussed.\u00a0 Ultimately it is all handed over to an implementation team that is caught between a rock and a hard place.\u00a0 They can\u2019t push back because contracts were already signed and agreed to.<\/p>\n

At times, externally engaged search consultants can help a company to avoid this pitfall, but not all companies engage this assistance.\u00a0 At times, even with this assistance, outsource providers insist on their ability to deliver in order to close the sale.\u00a0 The fact is, many companies want to believe that once a function is in the hands of an outsourcer their job is finished.<\/p>\n

After implementation, the ongoing processing team picks up the ball and runs with it.\u00a0 Scrambling to correct the errors that resulted from an ineffective and late implementation, the processing team struggles to catch up while continuing day to day operations.\u00a0 Resetting client expectations falls far down the list.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t sound too pretty, does it? \u00a0What can be done about this expectation gap?\u00a0 I am happy to say that it isn\u2019t a lost cause.\u00a0 There are tools and methodologies that can cast a bright light on the expectation gaps.\u00a0 A good place to start is in complete identification of responsibility for specific processes.\u00a0 Following is a case study example:<\/p>\n

CASE STUDY<\/strong><\/p>\n

A fortune 500 company outsourced group benefits administration to a well known third party outsourcing provider.\u00a0 Both the plan sponsor and the outsourcing provider were asked to independently complete responsibility matrices identifying the responsible organization\/department for specific process steps.\u00a0 What resulted was startling.\u00a0 There was disagreement on responsibility for over 35% of the process steps.\u00a0 Gaps, redundancies and ambiguities in process were clearly seen.\u00a0 Some of the combinations of disagreement were as follows:<\/p>\n