Check out this post by my blogger buddy Dennis McDonald on whether everyone in an organization should have customer service responsibilities. He picked up on my earlier comment about community management, where I said that community management should be part of everyone’s responsibility who deals directly with customers or members.
I am pasting here the comment on Dennis’ post:
“I think there is a third challenge here – beyond organizational structures and managerial responsibilities. It goes back directly to Maddie’s comment that community management devolves to everyone “who already deals directly with members.” That means, in essence, every individual in an organization who may come into contact with the public – what you call ‘external groups.’ That includes, for practical purposes, every member of the organization – from the receptionist at the front desk, to the call center employee, to senior management.
Every ‘touch point,’ as you call them, becomes the face of the organization, and potentially the initial contact point. The impression made by that interaction leaves an indelible stamp in our minds that reaches beyond the particular exchange to the organization as a whole. I am not sure this can be ‘structured’ or ‘managed,’ although this doesn’t argue against a useful role for a ‘social media community manager.’
What it does call attention to, however, is how many organizations have missed the boat when it comes to customer service. They mistake what is a universal duty as one that can be assigned functionally to a department/segment within the organization, totally missing the obvious – that any ‘touch point’ in an organization encompasses a customer service component insofar as the impression left on the customer can far outweigh any corporate mission statement or public commitment to customer excellence.”
Obviously, I agree with this, but I think many organizations are still trying to hold on to that pesky myth of control. I think we need to realize that everyone speaks for their workplace, to a greater or lesser extent, already, and when the “greater” extent is enabled, your organization’s reach can be much wider. It’s not hard to put in place some basic common sense guidelines of how your staff should represent you, then let them just do it.
For me the other side of the coin is in terms of what a community manager’s role should be, namely NOT one of “listening” (which everyone should be doing) but that of pulling together all those conversations in a way that makes sense across the organization for strategic and leadership purposes.
What do you think?
Tagged: collaboration, communications, community, community managers, conversation, sharing
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