The Wisconsin Problem: What Customer Service Managers Can Learn from the Union Controversy

I may be missing something, but isn't the government supposed to work for the people, just as the Contact Center is supposed serve the customer to the best of its ability? The parallel got me thinking about the recent case of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker vs. the People of Wisconsin in regard to the fight for unions to keep collective bargaining on the table.

If Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker were a Call Center Manager, he’d have led his company to bankruptcy by now.

Mistake #1: Ignoring the Problem

If a company makes an error, and a customer complains about it via Twitter, for example, the company likely wouldn’t hesitate in diffusing the issue by replying back and mending the problem, or offering some kind of compensation to the disgruntled individual to avoid a complaint call, merely escalating the problem. Scott Walker’s solution to his disgruntled customers is to simply ignore their problem by signing a bill that goes against what the majority wants. Why aren’t taxpayers given the same respect as angry customers?

Mistake # 2: Refusing to Compromise

When a company’s mission statement doesn’t reflect its customer’s needs, it’s time to change the mission statement, revamp operations and alter procedure. In other words, if your clientele changes, so should you, right? If Average Handle Time or First Call Resolution suddenly doesn’t work for your contact center, for example, wouldn’t you revisit whether or not they should be utilized? Scott Walker and most of the Republican members of the Wisconsin State Senate decided to surpass all suggestions or requests from the Democratic Senate members, and go with the original plan.

Republican Sen. Dale Schultz cast the only "no" vote in the Senate meeting last Wednesday. "I voted my conscience, which I feel reflects the core beliefs of the majority of voters who sent me here to represent them," Schultz said in a statement. Schultz gets it. Why doesn’t Walker?

Mistake #3: Forgetting that the People are the Main Objective

CMIQ recently ran a Peter Drucker inspired article titled, The Purpose of Business is Not to Make a Profit, which resulted in a few strongly-opinionated comments, including the criticism that it’s ‘dangerous to demonize profit.’ And while the piece may have been controversial, the ideal behind the article rings true. A business should ultimately benefit the people, and not the other way around.

Tripp Babbitt’s article, also featured on CMIQ, touches on the Wisconsin debacle when discussing management vs. unions. Tripp writes, "For Gov. Walker, whatever he can squeeze out of labor will not help him reach his shortfall. Calling out labor as the problem is trying to solve a management problem by blaming the worker." Blaming the worker is like blaming the customer. If a customer called your contact center about a vacuum purchase that wasn’t working properly, would the CSR reply, "What’s that? You say your vacuum doesn’t work? That’s your fault isn’t, it? There’s nothing we can do to help you." No. At least, I hope she wouldn’t.

Sill unconvinced of the parallel? Let me ask you this: If 80,000 of your customers are asking you not to do something, would you still do it?