The first workshop with the client's managers. The head of customer operations is against the project and says so before the agenda starts. The programme lead knows something important about one of the centres but doesn't say it. The engagement manager has to let the critic speak, stop him filling the room, and bring in the quiet voice.
Good morning, and thank you for giving us a whole morning. Let me start with what today is, and what it isn't. Today we want to understand how the work is done in your three centres. It isn't a decision meeting, and there are no numbers on the wall.
Owen describes the purpose, then what the meeting will not do. For a nervous audience, "this is not a decision meeting" is the most important sentence of the morning. It lowers the stakes, so people can speak openly.
Before we start, can I say something? I'd rather say it now than sit here for four hours thinking it.
Please. That's exactly what I told Philip we wanted. Your view first.
I think this project starts from the wrong question. Somebody looked at a spreadsheet and saw that Leeds is the biggest and the cheapest per call. So now everyone talks about moving everything to Leeds. But a call is not only a cost. Behind every call there is a customer with a parcel that didn't arrive.
Let me check I've understood. Your concern is that the project looks at cost per call, and not at what happens to the customer. Is that fair?
That's fair. And the people. You don't move a team of experienced agents with an email.
Owen doesn't defend the project. He repeats Javier's concern in his own words and asks if it's right. A critic who feels heard usually becomes calmer. A critic who feels argued with usually becomes louder.
Meera, can you put both of those on the wall? Customers and people. We'll come back to them at the end, I promise.
Done. "What happens to the customer" and "keeping experienced people." Javier, is that the right wording?
Yes. That's it.
Then three simple rules for the morning. One conversation at a time. We disagree with ideas, not with people. And if something important comes up that doesn't fit the topic, it goes on the parking lot, so we don't lose it.
Agreed. As long as the parking lot isn't where my concerns go to die.
If they do, you can hold me to it. They're the first thing on the wall for a reason.
Good. Then let's start.
Let's start with one real example. A customer calls because their parcel hasn't arrived. Javier, can you walk us through what happens in Leeds, step by step?
Sure. The call comes in, an agent answers, checks the tracking. If it's simple, a delay, the agent tells the customer the new date. If it's lost or damaged, the agent opens a case and sends it to the claims team. The claims team calls the customer back, usually in two or three days.
Sorry, can I check one thing? When the claims team calls back, is it the same person every time, or whoever is free?
Whoever is free. It's a queue. That's how you keep it efficient.
And during those two or three days, what does the customer do?
Honestly? Many of them call again, to ask what's happening. Then a different agent answers and has to read the case from the start.
Thank you. That's useful. So in Leeds, one problem can mean two or three calls.
Meera asks a small, specific question: same person, or whoever is free? Details like this often matter more than the big picture. "Can I check one thing?" is a polite way to slow a fast explanation down.
Thank you. That's Leeds. Is it the same in Bristol and Glasgow?
More or less. Bristol is the same process on a different phone system. Glasgow has the oldest phone system, so some things are slower, but the process is basically the same. The main difference is size. Leeds has about a hundred and forty agents, Bristol ninety, Glasgow sixty.
Well, in Glasgow...
And of course Glasgow is the most expensive per call, because it's the smallest. That's simple maths.
Javier, hold that thought for a moment, because I want to come back to it. Joanna, you started to say something about Glasgow. I'd like to hear it.
Joanna starts to speak and Javier talks over her. Owen stops Javier politely, with a promise to return to his point, and gives Joanna the space by name. A facilitator's job is not to let the loudest person decide what the room hears.
It's only that Glasgow works a bit differently. The first agent usually keeps the case. They don't send it to the claims queue. They call the customer back themselves.
That's a local habit. It's slower per call. The agent is on the phone longer.
Maybe. It's just how they've always done it there. The customers seem to like it, but I don't have the numbers to show you.
How long have they worked like that?
About five years. It started with one team, and the others copied it.
That's interesting, and I don't want to decide today whether it's good or bad. Meera, can we put it on the parking lot? "Glasgow: the first agent keeps the case. What's different, and does it matter?"
Owen doesn't let the discussion turn into an argument between Javier and Joanna, and he doesn't drop the point either. The parking lot keeps it visible until there is evidence. "I don't want to decide today whether it's good or bad" protects both people.
On the wall. And Joanna, for the data your team is collecting, do we have handling time per centre?
We have handling time, yes. For all three.
And repeat calls? I mean, how often the same customer calls again about the same parcel.
That's harder. Leeds and Bristol record it. Glasgow's old phone system doesn't, not in the same way. I'd have to check what we can get.
Thank you. Even a rough number would help. If one centre takes longer per call but customers don't call back, that changes the picture.
Javier measures the time per call. Meera asks about repeat calls. A centre can look slow on one measure and be the best on another. Asking "how do we measure this?" is often more useful than arguing about who is right.
With respect, I've run these centres for six years. You've been here two weeks. I know where the problems are.
You do, and that's exactly why we need you in this room. We can count calls. We can't see what you see after six years.
Then listen to me when I say Leeds can't simply take everything. In Bristol, half the agents have been there more than five years. If the work moves to Leeds, they won't move with it. They'll leave, and what they know leaves with them.
That's an important point, and it's one we can check. Do we know length of service per centre?
HR has it. I can ask for it this week.
Thank you. Meera, add it to the data list. And Javier, I'm listening. Let me turn it into a question, so it doesn't become your view against ours. If you imagine this project a year from now, what would a good result look like for you?
"You've been here two weeks" is personal. Owen accepts Javier's experience, then moves the discussion from who is right to a shared question: what would a good result look like? It is much harder to argue with a question than with a person.
A good result? Customers don't notice the change. Nobody calls three times about the same parcel. And I don't lose the people who really know the job.
Thank you. Meera, those are three success criteria. Joanna, would you add anything?
Only that the agents hear about it from us first, not from a rumour. Last year there was a rumour that Glasgow would close. We lost six good people in a month, before anything was even decided.
Yes. That one too. It took us half a year to recover from that rumour.
So here is what I'm hearing. Philip's question is about cost. Yours are about customers and people. Whatever we recommend has to pass both tests, not only one of them.
If you really mean that, then this morning was worth it.
Let me sum up before we finish. We have the call process for all three centres on the wall. We have four success criteria: customers don't notice, no repeat calls, keep the experienced people, and agents hear it from us first. And one item on the parking lot: what Glasgow does differently.
Next steps. Joanna, the data by the end of this week, including whatever you can find on repeat calls. And Meera and I will visit all three centres, starting with Glasgow.
Why Glasgow first?
Because it's the one we understand least, after this morning.
Fair enough. Tell them I sent you, or they'll think you're from head office. One more question. When do I see the numbers?
Before anyone outside our team. You'll see them before the steering committee, and you can challenge every one of them.
Then we're done. Thank you both. That was better than I expected.
Owen sums up in three parts, then gives each action an owner and a time. Javier's joke at the end is a good sign: the critic is now helping. A workshop is successful when people leave with the same picture and a clear next step.
Joanna, before you go, can I ask you one thing? You know Glasgow better than you said in the room.
I used to work there, for four years. I'd rather you saw it for yourselves before I say anything. If I explain it, it'll sound like I'm protecting my old team.
That's fair. We'll go and look, and then we'd really like to hear your view.
And nobody will think you're protecting anyone. You told us where to look. That's the most useful thing anyone said this morning.
Some people won't speak openly in a group, especially in front of their manager's peers. Owen asks Joanna privately, after the workshop. Many important facts in consulting are learned in the corridor, not in the meeting room.