Challenge:

For the challenge to set the context I am in the role of assistant head of department in a award  winning premium hotel chain that has very high expectations on delivering exceptional service  and are known to exceed the expectation of guests on a regular basis. However the past month  has seen a decline in the NPS (Net Promoter Score) metric that we use and more vocal feedback  across third party websites such as Trip Advisor and Booking.com. We saw a decline in the  ratings across all these platforms and wanted to immediately address this issue. It was not as  simple and straightforward as we offer a truly world class product and backed up by award  winning service. This alone should have accounted for a very successful operation as well as  very positive reviews.

Selection:

The design thinking tool I used the concepts of Visualization and storytelling to address the issue  stated above among the team members in order to deliver superior service to the stakeholders  and guests and bring more zeal to the team. I used the concept of the straw man, to orient the  team on service standards, along with prompt questions to tune into the areas that were causing  the most pain points. The scope of the assignment was to bring the problem areas in focus and  understand the key elements that were missing, the relationship between the various elements in  the project and opportunities for improving the operation and making it more efficient.

Application:

Initially the straw man technique was used as a visualization tool, to demonstrate the difference  in the customer experience under different circumstances in the same setting. I had achieved this  by using an example of a travel agency employee offering advice at various points to a potential  client by using an ideal situation and the worst case scenario. We were able to map the different  experiences the client faces. We then correlated this finding to our unit to demonstrate what we  should do. The team comprised of 6 employees across different designations, work experience  and intra department functions to bring different perspectives to the process.

Next they were given prompt questions and asked to write their views on the post it and place it  on a whiteboard. Post which they were asked to view all the points across the parameters and  rank the top three points which they thought were the most important points. This was placed on  a separate board and from an initial list of 120 post its, the final 30 post its were placed  separately. The team had discussed their findings and we found that there were patterns  emerging based on the discussions. (While we could have at this stage worked on these points it  may not have given us a good solution) Other tools used like ethnographic interview, was  conducted in the form of a questionnaire for each team member, to give specific examples of  service excellence with a strong emphasis on the emotional aspect. This was studied and we  further found that there was a common thread in all of the interviews which was the ‘connect’  the team felt with the particular guest that had prompted more personalized service and the  subsequent feeling of validation and appreciation received. To further assist in the process a few

techniques like journey mapping of the guest’s experience from ‘guest questionnaires’ were  analyzed and differences in their experiences were observed, noted and mapped against the ideal  case to show the various areas that were potential problem points.

At this point we looked at the value chain analysis and traced all the touch points that the client  faces and the team then were asked to deliberate on the best practices, according to us, that could  be implemented to minimize any inconvenience the guest faces. We then used a tool called job to  be done (JTBD) that focused on the functional job and emotional job that accounts for the clients  overall satisfaction and looks at the different metrics of success and outcomes to void. This  helped us reframe the way we looked at our declining satisfaction scores and made us look at the  problem through the lens of the guest, understanding that it was more than just our product and  service we offered but the ‘job’ the guest guest expected this to carry out, thereby instilling a  more ‘customer empathy’ approach.

After this the team was asked to discuss the various types of guest we get who offer feedback  and using various metrics we were able to classify them as various ‘personas’ as a form of  segmentation by looking at it from the view of purpose of visit, segmentation, amount paid,  duration of stay and many more filters. We then used a 360 empathy tool to show what the guest  perceives and looked at latent needs that he or she may have that were not looked at earlier for  each of the ‘personas’.

After using all these tools to collect such rich data, we were able to spot a few trends that gave us  tremendous insight in areas that could be improved. At this point the team was asked to  brainstorm on the insight’s that were observed and expand on how we could improve the various  areas that were identified as pain points.

The team then offered solutions and ways to improve the current processes. We even looked at a  couple of new processes which were implemented.

All the exercises were recorded and digitized in form of a power point presentation. The process  was shared with the entire team later post this exercise to align everyone and we worked on the  various suggestions offered.

Insight:

My learning from this exercise was that initially through the graphic representation, the team  understood the broad picture and while we knew that there was a problem there was no data that  showed what caused the problems. Using various tools to gather data, we were able to get so  much insight, the discussions and shared learning that the team and I received was especially  valuable as we were able to identify blind spots, propose few alternate styles for different  personas. The straw man graphic initially used was very powerful to keep the focus on our  agenda as during the various discussions the group would build more on different scenarios that  were steering away from the topic. The question bank prepared oriented the participants to focus

on themes rather than quick fixes. We were able to ‘co create’ solutions and this also increased  the accountability of the team as they were a part of the process.

Approach:

In future I will use the visualization activity and the various tools as each one brings such a  different perspective to the table. This enabled so much insight, learning and developed empathy  for each stakeholder in the cycle. This was definite more constructive than the more linear  analytic approach that I take which focuses on just one or two aspects. The ‘personas’ and ‘360  empathy’ tools were especially powerful in the entire exercise as it gave me a different  perspective on the topic that has definitely impacted the way I approach my decision making at  work. This exercise has definitely made me look at this from a broader perspective and proved to  me that the process of co-creation is far more invaluable as the team gets on board with more  focus and vigor.

(PS: I would like to share that after doing this exercise, we have improved our guest  questionnaire collection rate from 1.6% to 4.2% which is over 150% increase than before, the  NPS score has increased by 12% over last month and we have regained the top position in Trip  Advisor.)

