I have just returned from another
trip – this time from outside Africa – and as it often happens, trips like
these leave you with more questions than answers. On the one hand, these trips are long – very long
and they leave you with lots of time to think and reflect on many aspects of
life. On the other hand, one has occasion
to see many different things at work. The
one word that has been on my mind a lot on this last trip has been ‘world-class’. I spent a few days in New York City, a few
days in Washington DC and a day in London. In each of these cities, I had many occasions to
see many world class companies, delivering world class products and services to
their world class demanding customers.
On one occasion, I took a long interstate
bus ride, and even on such a mundane event, had the occasion to observe world
class at work. One simple constant
element on this trip was time management.
The bus departs from the side of a street and not some glorified bus
terminal – but even so, the bus arrives just five minutes ahead of departure
time, passengers board by showing prepaid online tickets, and the bus leaves
perfectly on time. There is a ten minute
break to the four hour trip and again, the bus stops for precisely ten minutes
and onward to an on time arrival at its destination. This is over and above the
high quality customer service, high quality buses that are also very well
driven, on very well built and very well maintained roads.
The thought that has been running
on mind therefore has been – what makes a world class service? What make a simple business like an
interstate bus service provide a world class service? What creates a world class service that is
evident from a bus service to the road the bus runs on, to the airport it
transfers you to. What creates a world class culture? What makes people demand
a world class service? For the record, I
know and observe many world class organisations in Africa. In my view, Kenya Airways, for all its woes,
provides a world class service in a highly demanding world class industry. I know great schools in Kenya that provide
world class education that matches any in the world, and whose students join
their peers in world class universities across the world. I know many hotels and restaurants, across the
African continent, which provide world class accommodation and meals that can
match any in the world. There are many
banks and telecommunication companies across Africa that have world class
innovations and customer care that can match any in the world.
My concern is that while we have
many world class pillars in Africa, the links that connect them are not
anywhere close to world class and therefore killing any hope of an all-round
world class experience. When we create a
world class highway, we fail to provide it with world class maintenance and
world class constant improvement and therefore, the world class status is short
lived. One final example: When Heathrow airport unveiled terminal four,
some fifteen years ago, it was hailed as the top, world class, airport of the
time. However, the creators also knew
that that status would not be valid into eternity and while they have
maintained terminal four at the initial world class condition, they have seen
the need to create a terminal five that then maintains the airports status as world
class in the current time.
What will it take for more and
more organisations and systems in Africa to be world class, maintain world
class standards and provide world class good and services? What will it take for the African customer to
demand and receive end-to-end world class service? How do I mobilise my team to
rise to world class?
No comments:
Post a Comment