|
It is common for those in regulatory roles to forget that it can be more efficient to build cooperative relationships than to have adversarial relationships. It is also common for people to define their role as enforcing rules, rather than working with clients so that the clients choose to follow the rules. The difference is subtle but important.
Learn about the payoffs to your goverenment organization when you focus on creating a cooperative relationship with your client. Also, learn how you can figure out what kind of savings, in time and salary, that you might realize by moving to a service approach. Improving Cost Effectiveness
Many government departments and branches must ensure that regulations, laws and policies are followed. While there is an increased emphasis on customer service in government, there is no getting away from the fact that many times we must enforce rules, deliver bad news, and apply sanctions. The question is: Is it possible to be customer focused while at the same time playing a regulatory role? Is it a good idea?
Regulatory Vs. Service Roles
There is a sense within government that if a branch is responsible for regulation and enforcement, that the branch cannot also be in the service business. While trying to do both roles does cause some difficulty, it is not an either/or enterprise.
If you define the primary role of your organization as regulatory, the next questions is: How do you generate cooperation with your clients so that you can succeed in that function? Answer: By adopting a service mentality.
The simple fact is that the extent to which clients will work with you in conforming to regulations and procedures is directly related to the following:
- The degree to which conforming is seen to further their interests and concerns.
- The degree to which the "regulator" is perceived as helpful, understanding and service oriented.
What this means is that providing prompt, helpful services without heavy overtones of enFORCEment will help in generating cooperation. It is possible to carry a big stick, but being blatant with that stick will not usually generate long term commitment. There is the opposite tendency, where the regulator is perceived as "the enemy", and clients then move to figure out ways to "outwit" the regulatory authority.
Payoffs For Cooperation
Think about it for a moment. How much time does your staf spend in the following:
- meeting with non-conforming clients (over and over),
- attempting to defuse hostile situations with clients,
- explaining and re-explaining the policy or regulation,
- trying to catch or identify areas of non-conformance while the client tries to hide that non-conformance.
How much time do you have to spend dealing with non-conformance situations that have gotten worse and worse?
You may be able to cut this time down considerably so you can do more. You will never be able to eliminate it completely, but it is possible to make a good dent in the amount of time spent dealing with problems.
The Cooperative Relationship
In order to achieve time savings, there needs to be a shift in mind set on the part of the organization. The shift involves moving away from a regulatory relationship towards building cooperative relationships. Really, it is a move twards a "let's work together" perspective, rather than an "us versus them" approach.
The cooperative relationship focuses on developing a sense of common purpose, relies on trust between the parties rather than power, tends to require less monitoring for compliance, and is more likely to result in true long-term compliance rather than short-term superficial "pretending to comply".
Creating Cooperative Relationships
Cooperative relationships are built on the basis of mutual benefit, and incorporate elements of effective human relations and communication, and even a bit of "selling". To make these relationships work, it is important that staff work from the client's point of view, working from what is important to them, and working with them to achieve their goals.
Communication approaches focus on using team words (.e.g. we), and the emphasis is on dialogue rather than "telling". Employees use a problem-solving approach with the client, again working together to encourage compliance, and highlighting the benefits of that compliance.
Calculate Your Cost For Adversarial Relations
You can figure out what kind of savings, in time and salary, that you might realize by moving to a service approach. You can do this by estimating what your costs are currently, and then estimating how much of these costs could be recovered with improved effectiveness. Use the table below:
|
Calculate Your Cost For Adversarial Relations |
|
Here are some questions to answer to help you calculate your personal costs and the cost to your staff: |
|
Your Personal Costs |
Your Staff's Cost |
|
#1. As a manager how much of your time is spent dealing with referred clients who are irate, or will not cooperate?
|
#3. Ask your staff how much time each spends trying to defuse adversarial situations, following up on difficult clients or other activities typical of adversarial relationships.
|
|
#2. What percentage of these situations could be avoided if you and your staff were more effective in building cooperative relationships?
|
This is your staff's cost. Just for fun figure out, using their average salry, exactly what this costs in money terms.
|
|
The answer to #1 is your own personal time cost. Only some of that is avoidable (but more than you would think). Multiplying #1 by #2 divided by 100 will give you your personal recoverable time. You can also calculate the actual money cost by figuring your salary into the equation.
|
#4. Not all of this time is recoverable, but estimate a worst case scenario that 20% of this time could be eliminated by moving to a service orientation. Figure out the recoverable time.
| |
Customer Service 
