CLIENT: The Senior Vice President of Human Resources at a global financial services corporation.

BUSINESS NEED: Based on a growing number of service delivery problems, negative management feedback, and marginal employee survey results, the corporate human resources organization recognized that it needed to move toward a more customer-focused approach to its role in the corporation. This goal was reflected in two of the department's annual business plan objectives:

• Continuous improvement in the provision of client-focused, innovative, yet efficient and effective tools and practices
• Development and maintenance of client relationships incorporating high service standards with sensitivity to people issues

A critical element of the challenge facing the human resources organization was promoting understanding — on an individual human resources employee level — of what quality customer service looks like, and how to satisfy the needs of a demanding and often arrogant client base.

SOLUTION: At the organizational level, they began to plan and execute a long-term, comprehensive service delivery system overhaul that contained service quality metrics and attention to organization design, resources and staffing, and training components.It was also important to provide some immediate support to the human resources staff to deal with their frustrations, to help them more effectively serve their more challenging customers, and to begin to sensitize them to a customer-focused approach in their work. The DiSC Talk! Action Planner was selected as a first-step in an ongoing staff development process.

DELIVERY METHOD: A quick and effective in-service program was presented at the next regular monthly human resources department staff meeting:

The program was built around the DiSC Talk! Action Planner.

• A flyer was sent around in advance to promote the session.
• The session took only 30 minutes!
• Applicability: The DiSC Talk! Action Planner is a simple tool that can help you figure out how to best approach different customers; it can be used in negotiations and conflict resolution as well as to manage constructive interactions; the tool will add to their customer-centered skills.
• The WIIFM (What's In It For Me): "Better understanding your customers' styles, and adapting your responses, can significantly reduce conflict and stress… and it can help you get your needs met more of the time."
• Participants individually applied the DiSC Talk! Action Planner to an internal customer and then shared insights with partner. As a group, we discussed new insights and on-the-job applicability.
• Handout: Dimensions of Behavior chart.

RESULTS: The audience was actively engaged in the in-service session. Participants felt acknowledged by HR management and empowered to more effectively manage client interactions.

• Participants expressed confidence in their ability to use this simple tool in their work.
• Participants committed to applying their new insights on the job.
• Participants requested longer DiSC training session in the future.

Over the next week, the staff reported several examples of how they used the new tool. HR management was pleased with the staff reaction and commitment. Management believed the message about customer focus was communicated effectively and non-judgmentally.

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