“If things are not going well with you, begin your effort at correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering, and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it.” Roger Babson
So how is your service? Is this something you ask yourself regularly? This is a question that individuals and organisations alike should regularly ask themselves.
Oh yes, of course! Organisations already do – it’s called a customer satisfaction survey. Now I don't know about you, but I generally try to fill these in constructively, in the (I hope not mistaken) belief that they have a sound purpose and that my comments will be read and will help the supplier improve their business. Yet, I wonder – I haven’t yet been asked a question about the spirit of the service. Have you?
So how significant is this? Well, what makes good service stand out is the positive attitude, the friendliness and the courtesy with which it is provided. Thus I would have to go along with Babson and say the omission is actually a glaring oversight.
This being the case we clearly need to ask – both as individuals and organisations – in what spirit are we serving?
Marian Wright Edelman, the first African American woman admitted to the Mississippi bar and the founder of Children’s Defence Fund said that “Service is what life’s about” a sentiment that she might have gleaned from Warren Harding who said, “Service is the supreme commitment of life.” Even Henry Ford said “The only foundation of real business is service.” So there is no getting away from it, service is vital.
If we are not delivering service in the right spirit, it is questionable whether what we are delivering warrants the name, and it should hardly be any surprise that things “are not going well” – personally or organisationally.