WISDOM IN A NUTSHELL

Zap the Gaps!

Target Higher Performance and Achieve It!

By
Ken Blanchard, Dana Robinson, and Jim Robinson
Published by HarperCollins Publishers 2002
ISBN 0060503009
126 pages

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If you wish to learn more about Zap the Gaps! visit: http://www.zapthegaps.com.

The Big Idea

A fictitious character by the name of Bill Ambers is this books protagonist. Bill is
the classic director of customer service in a call center. He faces the challenge
set by his new boss, Angela Krafft, the arctype of the results-oriented boss.
Angie simply wants him to turnaround the numbers and improve the call
centers customer service, without the support of a big budget. Together with his
HR counterpart Sarah, and with the help of a mentor, Landscaper Michael St.
Vincent, Bill learns to systematically dig to the root of the problem, discovering
how to Zap The Gaps in his departments performance.

Introduction
This book is about identifying gaps and their causes. Gaps cost companies
billions of dollars, and this book aims to give you a better understanding of how
to dig for the right solutions and close the gaps between what your company is
hoping to be, and what it is right now.
Our story revolves around the human-dependent business of a call center. Bill is
supposed to discover how the best Customer Service Representatives handle
calls and effectively resolve their customers problems on the first call.
Trees and Companies (and the people and teams who work for those
companies) Have a Lot in Common
Were going to have to get to the root causes. Bill Ambers studies his two
Mexican fan palms, wondering why there was a huge difference in their growth
rates. Although both were planted on the same day in the same spot, one was
taller and the other dwarfed. Finding the root cause of a problem would be the
first of many lessons Bill would learn over the next few weeks.

The Announcement
a. Bill meets the new division president of Dyads Business Services,
Angela B. Krafft.
b. Shes refreshingly candid, informal, and very different from his past
bosses. Shes been brought in to turn around the numbers. Decrease
the call abandonment rate of the call center. Reduce the five-minute
waiting time for customers down to two minutes. Bills role is made
clear: Change the numbers or we all lose our jobs.
c. Find a solution, she tells Bill, in two weeks.
d. The getting-to-know-you meeting ends with Angie asking Bill to play in
her stead for a charity golf tournament. Bill obliges and takes his leave.

On The Greens
Bill plays in place of Angela Krafft. He meets a gardener or big-time landscape
businessman Mike St. Vincent. Mike learns about Bills problem at work, and
offers some business advice.

Identify The Business Needs.

The first thing one needs to know is: What are the needs of our operation?
Key question: What is our reason for being?

Identify Performance Needs.

When it comes to call centers, the metrics are:

a. Resolving the customer problem upon first-call or First Call
Resolution.
b. Customer call abandonment rate.

Key question: How do you know if callers who do get through are satisfied
with the way your people handle their problems?

Identify Work Environment And Capability Needs.

a. Bill thought a simple answer like more training would suffice.

b. Mike St. Vincent pointed out that maybe Bill needed to dig
deeper to find out what the Customer Service Representatives
needed to improve to achieve peak performance.

Lessons from Grass

Mike and Bill make a golf date for the next sunny Saturday. During a break after
finishing the first nine holes, Mike discussed business needs of a golf course
with Bill
More, Better, or Differently
The question posed to Bill that afternoon was, What would the golf club
management have to do more, better, or differently to compete with other golf
courses in the area?
The answers: Maintain a championship-level course, provide clean and
comfortable facilities, and offer great food. Friendly employees are the absolute
necessity, Mike added.

The golf course management addresses even the smallest concerns

immediately. The chefs are from the best cooking schools, the waiters know how
to open a bottle of fine wine, and the staff knows how to handle members, the bill
is always correct.
Performance needs determine both the work environment needs and the
capability needs
People need the right tools and the right systems to perform. The ground
beneath the grass of a golf course has to be prepared and tested for precise
particle size, so ten years hence, the course still functions well and drainage
works as it should. The superintendents attend turf programs and have two to
four year degrees in turf grass science. There are a lot of things you dont see on
the surface of a golf course. Any company needs to understand how to
determine the performance requirements of its people, and how to meet the
business needs.

Should is Good
a. Bill teams up with his counterpart in HR, Sarah Jane Becker.
b. The two meet and discuss how they will face Angela Kraffts challenge of
going for the win without any budget whatsoever.
c. They schedule a lunch with Mike St. Vincent
d. They learn the lesson More, better, or differently always equals the
should be. Going for the shoulds means closing the gap between your
what you should be, and your reality right now. The answer is to do more,
better, or do things differently.
e. Over lunch, Bill and Sarah learn from Mike about what they should be
doing. The star performers among the Customer Service Representatives
must be doing something different than other CS aRs in the same call
center.
f. Discover the performance shoulds by observing what your star
performers are doing differently.
g. Bill and Sarah decided that the budget-friendly idea of taking their star
performers out to lunch to discover their secrets would be the first major
step in going for the win.

Go, No Go
a. Sarah convinces Angie that they need to take the star performers out to
lunch because the one-on-one interviews would give them more
information, since they would be asking high-yield questions, as opposed
to simply listening into the star performers actual handling of calls. Angie
agrees to the proposal and approves the lunch budget of 600 dollars.
b. Bill and Sarah compiled a report of their findings: The 12 distinct
behaviors of the star performers of Dyad were:

1. Asking open-ended high-yield questions to gather information

about a customers problem instead of simple questions that
were answerable with a yes or no.
2. Listening well and acknowledging the customers problem.
3. Adjusting to the customer responses based on his or her
emotions or feelings.
4. Refraining from being argumentative or defensive.
5. Using the customers name frequently during the conversation.
6. Clearly specifying the action the company will take.
7. Offering a realistic time frame in which the problem will be
solved.
8. Exhibiting patience and allow the customer to vent.
9. Performing multiple tasks at the same time without disrupting
the flow of the call.
10. Redirecting the conversation to get back on track.
11. Apologizing for the companys errors.
12. Thanking the customer for calling and ask for the degree of
satisfaction with the outcome.
Despite such a great report, Angie still did not approve Bill and Sarahs proposal
to provide uniform training to every CSR. She cited there were not enough warm
bodies to go around and keep things running while the others went to attend
training. Also, the important question remained: How did they know that most of
the CS aRs lacked the specific skills they outlined or that uniform training would
make a difference? Bill and Sarah didnt have a ready answer. Angie wanted
them to hand in a more specific proposal, targeting the issues that really affected
customer behavior. As it was, Bill and Sarah couldnt say for certain that all the
CS aRs didnt measure up, or name which were the six most crucial items to
tackle. The two teammates took their leave of Angie and decided to call on Mike
St. Vincent again.

The Is Is Where The Gap Is

a. Bill and Sarah learned the next important lesson: Everything we are
doing now equals the is. The is is where the gap is. Analyze the is!
b. The Mike St Vincent is referring to here is the performance reality within
your company. Bill and Sarah understand that they cannot assume all 12
behaviors have gaps and need attention.

The Gap Zapper

The 3 factors for successful on-the-job performance are:

a. Factors external to the organization (economic, political, competition,

government regulation).
b. Factors internal to the organization (work environment needs: clarity of
roles, coaching, incentives, work systems, access to information, tools,
people and job aids), and;
c. Factors internal to individuals (capabilities: skills, knowledge, inherent
capability or talent).
Bill and Sarah met with Angie Krafft once again to propose another idea: using
focus groups to zero in on the most crucial performance pitfalls of the typical
Customer Service Representatives.

Missing Pieces

Mike St. Vincent surprises Bill by bringing him and Sarah over to Bills own
garden. He asks them to observe the two Mexican palms from the
beginning of this story. Mikes company has taken samples of the soil in
Bills garden to dig up the root causes of why one palm tree developed
normally while the other was dwarfed. Mike shows them how the surface
factors as sunlight or water may not be the real cause, but maybe there is
a rock under the ground blocking the normal tree growth, or a problem
with the components of the soil. Mike tells them the same principles apply
in any business or life problem: Never assume the more obvious surface
factors are the causes, but dig deep underneath to find the root causes.
Never jump to solutions. Asking the right questions will lead you to finding
the right answers.

Hocus, Focus
a. Spicing up the focus group discussions with a bit of creativity, Bill and
Sarah announced the new Bulls Eye Teams activity. Why Bulls Eye?
Because they needed to Zap the Gaps and target the right questions to
find the right solutions!
b. They met with different groups composed of eight participants for a few
hours, followed by shorter meetings over the next few weeks. The goal
was for everyone to provide feedback. Here are some of the things they
discovered:

1. Training can give you the facts, but Experience is the best
trainer.
2. Specialized skills in specific problems allow for quicker first-call
resolution.

3. Communication problems with other departments cause delays

in service.
4. Inadequate information systems slow down customer service.
5. Unclear expectations: Do we work to resolve the problem on
the first call or just keep calls as short as possible?
6. Managers listen in on calls but never coach or provide feedback
to CS aRs on performance.
7. Screen displays and interface must be designed in a more
user-friendly way.
8. CS aRs needed to learn to deal with irate customers.
After six meetings with the Bulls Eye Teams, Bill and Sarah met up with Mike St.
Vincent again. Mike reminds them they have to carefully pick the right solutions,
based on the right causes, because Sometimes the wrong solution is worse than
no solution.

From Cause to Solution

Bill and Sarah came up with these solutions:
a. Job aids: laser-printed cards that are quick reference guides for CS aRs
that they can easily tape to their computers. Programming function keys to
perform special shortcuts.
b. Sending e-mail survey to CS aRs with a catch subject heading, requesting
turnaround in 48 hours.
c. Hiring outside help to create an internal site so the screens are optimized
d. Callers were given a range of options where they could press a certain
number to access the CSR who could deal with their specific problem.
Simple questions would be fielded to the new hires.
e. Declaring First call resolution comes first in an internal memo so
everyone would be clear on the expectation/goal.

Good News!
a. One week later, Bill and Sarah received warm congratulations (complete
with balloons and streamers) because First-call resolution was up by 12
per cent!
b. When asked to explain how they did it, Bill and Sarah were surprised to
discover that Mike St. Vincent (their mentor) was boss Angie Kraffts
father!

The formula for GAPS!

G for Go for the shoulds!
A for Analyze the is
P for Pin down the causes
S for Select the right solutions