Value is in the Eyes of the Beholder: Responsiveness

In an earlier post, I introduced six Key Value Factors that I consider to be drivers of high value perception:

• Timeliness
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Responsiveness
• Quality
• Integrity

In this post, I will expand upon the fourth factor:  Responsiveness.  I will do so by defining what it means and discussing what it entails.  While the focus of this post is based on my experience and approach at Remote DBA Experts, these factors are universal and thus applicable in multiple individual and business contexts.  Being timely, efficient, effective, responsive, and delivering quality output with high integrity will score big on anyone’s value scorecard.  That is why awareness of them is so important!

What is Responsiveness?

Responsiveness is being responsive to something or someone.  It means reacting to requests for information or action quickly and appropriately according to expectations, conditions and circumstances.  Responsiveness is a mindset or attitude.   Responsiveness is one of the top value drivers for service providers.  Time and again customers want service providers to respond quickly and consistently, especially when it regards critical issues as shown in the graph below.

Source: SSPA Benchmark Data

What does Responsiveness entail?

In the context of service delivery, Responsiveness involves several aspects:

• Acknowledging
• Timely Action
• Updating
• Closure

Acknowledging means getting back to the person who requested information or action from you as quickly as possible.  It is a powerful act and it is critical to a high responsiveness perception.  When you acknowledge quickly, you give the other person importance. Action means doing what is necessary to satisfy the request in a timely manner.  Updating means keeping the person(s) informed of progress along the way when closure takes time and effort.  Lastly, Closure means ensuring the action taken addressed the need of the requester.

The biggest challenge with Responsiveness is the volume of things most of us end up with on our plates on a given day: Calls, messages, IMs, tweets, emails, SMS, etc.  Need I say much more — We have way too many input channels!  The key to responsiveness is prioritization and systematization.  In order to be responsive, you need to carefully choose who you need to be most responsive to as well as when and how you respond.  You also need to minimize the input channels and filter the noise out when possible.  And you need a system to handle it.  The following approach can help you become more responsive:

1. Identify and prioritize your key internal and external customers.
2. Set and manage responsiveness expectations and commitments (SLAs).
3. Develop a responsiveness strategy and system for each of the customers according to your priority list.
   • Who
   • When
   • How
4. Establish a way to measure and monitor responsiveness.
5. Seek feedback and continuously adjust and improve accordingly.

The best way to get the importance of responsiveness as a value factor is to recall or imagine how it feels not to be responded to in a timely manner.  How do you like waiting for someone to answer the phone, reply to an email, etc.?  How do you feel when you do not know the status of your request? Responsiveness is best when you apply the Golden Rule: “Do onto others…”  And never forget, you are as good as your last response.  That means your responsiveness approach must yield consistency.  It is not being responsive once, it is being responsive repeatedly and consistently!

The BEST is Yet to Come!

Epi Torres, CEO