I had a friend who serves as a principal recently ask me how you improve customer service on your campus.  I think this is something that is often in the hearts of leaders, especially campus principals.  The tough thing is that most people believe that the way they are treating others is the proper way to treat folk.  And it’s certainly easy to forget how important it is treat those you serve in a school with all of the hustle that happens in those spaces.

I think we all can agree that it is important for all individuals at a school (students, faculty and staff, and families/community members) to be treated well while they are at the campus.  We can all agree that the leader must make it a priority in order for customer service to improve.  It is also important to note that it doesn’t happen overnight.  But with intentionality and focus on the matter it will certainly improve.

So how can you improve customer service on your campus:

• It should be a campus goal. With the input of your staff, if you want to be intentional about improvement in customer service it should be some type of campus goal, or a strategy toward a larger goal.  As a goal you can constantly bring it up in all meetings, and how you are going to achieve it.
• It should be modeled. In every interaction as a leader folks should see you and your team leading out when it comes to customer service.  Every interaction should foster the highest level of customer service regardless of the situation.  This is very important in how they see you treat students.  If you do not want them to yell at students, you should never yell at them.  If they see you yell at students, then they have a mandate to do it.  Do not forget your interactions with faculty and staff.  Every interaction, public or private should remind them of the goal of good customer service.  You simply have to treat people well every single time.  When parents/guardians come to the school upset it is your job to model a high level of customer service.  If they see this, they know that we treat parents great.  Even when they are off base!
• Set your expectations high! Be clear about the goal and how you plan to get there.  In setting the expectations let the campus know that this is who we’ll be.  We will treat everyone great!  Hold yourself to it, and hold them to it.  When you see negative interactions that do not line up with the expectations and goal simply take every opportunity to coach those individuals and show them your expectation.  If you set the expectation and do not follow it up with action you are certainly failing those you serve.
• Always start with why! Before you do any of this all in your school community need to know why it’s important to have a great customer service environment.  However you sell your why is up to you.  For me it would be simple.  We cannot be a great school, if we don’t treat people right.  Our school should be a beacon of light for the students, staff, and the community you serve.  For this to happen folks have to be treated in a great manner.

This is certainly not a one-sized fits all approach.  Think how you feel when you arrive at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant as opposed to other fast food joints.  Most of the other places only focus on speed, and that’s good because we all want our food fast.  But Chick-Fil-A starts with customer service.  Think about it! Be intentional about it and watch the change.