Ms Sindiswa Nhlumayo Deputy Director General: Department of Tourism

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Ms Sindiswa NhlumayoDeputy Director General
Department of Tourism
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NATIONAL TOURISM CONFERENCE 2009
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TOURISM SERVICE EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE A Public
Private Partnership
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Introduction

• South Africans are some of the proudest people on
  Earth. We take our spirit, attitude,
  connectedness and vibe very seriously.
• Visitors to South Africa may leave with their
  suitcases stuffed with curios and keepsakes, but
  what is most precious to them will be the
  personal stories which they share once they
  return to the places they call home.
• What memories of South Africa do we want our
  visitors to return home with?

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DNA for Service Delivery
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WTTC Competitiveness Report

• South Africas service is not where is
• should be.
• In fact we were rated to be 111th out of 124
• countries.
• Together lets change that!

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Background
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2009/10

• Adopt multi-phased approach with customized
  program content to drive and sustain results
• Three phases
• Discovery
• Tourism Board Executive and Area Leadership buy
  in
• Service Workshop Rollout

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Discovery Phase

• Observe current ways of working in multiple sites
  and ascertain the current service current way of
  working and use it as a base to develop a South
  Africa Service Signature focusing on
• Customer service approach- how to measure
  satisfaction and what value is delivered
• Employee experience and HR Practices why do
  employees remain loyal, parameters to select new
  employees, employee orientation and training
  programme
• Leadership practices what leaders should start
  or stop doing, strength of leadership and systems
  to keep leaders accountable
• Organizational culture- how it is communicated,
  how culture align with systems and what is the
  ideal culture
• Creativity and innovation how they look like,
  how improvements take place and how to base
  creative success
• Customer and employee loyalty strategies brand
  identity, how to deliver superior value and how
  to develop positive relationship with employees
  and customers
• What are the gaps and what are the
  recommendations for way forward

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Rationale

• Each step of the journey represents a series of
  touch points.
• Each touch point represents an opportunity to
  make magic or tragic moment in the eyes of the
  guests
• It all begins with people need to know what to
  do to ensure success

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Where are we now?

• Disney Research Team is currently in the
  country
• Observational audit and Focus Groups have been
  held
• in all 9 provinces
• Airport intercept surveys completed
• Border intercept surveys to be completed next
  week.

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Interim Research Findings

• Research was conducted from the 24th of September
  2009
• Research will be completed by the 8th of November
  2009
• Complete research findings will be received by
  end November 2009
• LETS SEE WHAT THE DISNEY INSTITUTE HAS DISCOVERED
  

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Katie Sanchez Business Programs Consultant
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Disney InstituteResearch Team

• Ben Reed
• Business Programs Facilitator
• Hugh Kincaid
• Business Programs Facilitator

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Project Objective

• To understand current customer service delivery
  gaps in South Africa, in order to transform South
  Africa into a globally competitive service
  economy and the worlds destination of choice.

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Data Collection Methods

• Focus Groups
• Airport Intercepts
• Observational Audits
• Port of entry

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Describe South Africas Customer Service

• Warm
• Friendly
• Inconsistent
• Indifferent
• Breaks down across racial lines
• Lacks enthusiasm, motivation and passion...
• Appalling, pathetic and non-existent

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World Class vs. Excellence Customer Service

• Most preferred South Africa to work towards
  Excellence vs. World Class customer service
• World class was equated to first world
  standards or was viewed as a myth.
• I want to first be an excellent service
  provider.
• We dont have first world infrastructure to
  deliver world class service.

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Ranking of South Africas Customer Service

• On a scale of 1 (poor) to 7 (excellent),
• participants ranked South Africa a four (4)
• PUBLIC 1 2
• PRIVATE 5 - 6
• Service is inconsistent...it is very good to
  very bad which averages to mediocre.
• Public sector is apathetic and has non existent
  customer service, which brings the levels down.
• I dont think we have the passion.

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Customer Service in Organizations

• Lack of leadership skills...managers dont
  inspire just order employees.
• Once people are hired they are more interested
  in their rights than in their contribution to
  success.
• Public sector has no concept of customer
  service...just entitlement.
• The wrong people with poor skills are hired into
  the public sector, because of high unemployment.

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Challenges Barriers

• ...dealing with 11-15 cultures.
• Most employees have not experienced the service
  we expect them to deliver.
• The effects of apartheid...
• Poor training, product knowledge and refresher
  training.

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Challenges Barriers

• Africans have time, while others have watches.
• Labor laws drive poor service because you cant
  rid yourself of poor workers.
• Culture of not complaining...
• Affirmative action...a rush to right the wrongs
  of the past. we dont take time to prepare
  people.

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Challenges Barriers

• Frontline rarely are told the whys of what is
  expected of them.
• Autocratic management vs. participative
  leadership.
• Private sector has deadlines and the public
  sector has red tape.
• Output based vs. outcome based mentality.

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Key Trends and Patterns

• Not Knowing who is a customer
• Attitude
• Inadequate training/ education at all levels
• Technical focus vs. people focused
• Management vs. leadership
• Impact of apartheid
• Recruitment and selection

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Areas for South Africa to Focus on Most

• Attitude...listen, respect and understand the
  customer.
• Create a culture of customer service excellence
  in all of South Africa.
• Right people in right jobs.
• Empower front-line, explain the whys.
• Understand, as a country, who are customers.
• Dont just focus on 2010.

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Tools to Improve Customer Service

• People (soft) skills training.
• Education, training and proper facilitators.
• Consistent customer service refresher training.
• Leadership training.
• Communication of the vision for buy-in.
• Experiential training for product knowledge.

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You can dream, create, design build the most
wonderful place in the world but it requires
people to make the dream a reality. Walter Elias
Disney
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What Next?

• Feedback to industry in December 2009 of the
  final results from research
• The TSEI Strategy to be aligned to the research
  results
• Web site for TSEI will be launched

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Anticipated Result?
A service culture across South Africa that we
can be proud of! A common Service Signature
for South Africa!
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Join us in transforming South Africa into a
competitive service economy
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THANK YOU