It’s a poor joke…
The computer says “No”.
It wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t true. But the computer does say “No” with alarming regularity.
Well not the computer, but the bloke who programmed the computer. The same bloke who created all the policies, rules and red tape.
The demoralising computer
The computer is demoralising, it demoralises customers and it demoralises staff.
The man who programmed the computer, who wrote the rules, wasn’t a bad man, he didn’t set out to demoralise everyone, he just had different targets, different needs. He wasn’t worried about customer service or employee engagement, he was worried about financial control and risk mitigation and operational expenditure (and other equally exciting things).
He was saying “No” for a reason, and it seemed like a good one at the time. He just didn’t understand the implications of “No”.
How to stop saying “No”
Of course it isn’t just one bloke, or one rule, there are hundreds of them. So you have a choice. Roll over and accept the situation, or do something about it. Here is how…
- Find all the reasons why you say “No” to customers. Get some data, create a tally chart, Every time your staff say “No” to a customer get them to write down why.
- Create a Pareto chart, then, starting with the biggest reason, find out “who” and “why”. Who wrote the rule and why did they write it?
- Challenge the rule. If the rule is there to avoid risk, work out how much risk you are avoiding. Is there a better way? If the rule is there to avoid expense, how much is the rule costing you, how many handoffs and unhappy customers is it leaving in its wake?
- Change the rule, find a better one.
- Repeat, working your way down the list until you reach the bottom.
But it isn’t that easy
The bloke who wrote the rule wrote it for a good reason, at least in his mind, if not yours. You will need help persuading him of the error of his ways. Try tying the rule back to customer complaints or bad PR. You will find an army of reinforcements there.
Failing that get your management team to go and face off against the customers. Get them to say “No”. See how keen they are on the rule then.
Some rules aren’t meant to be broken
Of course, some rules are hard to break, and rightly so, bank managers shouldn’t lend money to everyone and I don’t want my doctor handing out drugs to my daughter.
But a lot of the rules don’t stand up to too much scrutiny.
Sometimes the computer is wrong.
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Hello James,
Another fantastic post, it really speaks to me given that I pride myself in challenging rules. It occurs to me that we live in a society dominated by the impersonal and the universal in which there is no space of the individual flesh and blood human being to show up. But differently “the computer says no” is the most pithy of the kind of society that we have created and become accustomed to.
25 years of consulting suggest that many rules have outlived their usefulness in many organisations. It is as if the Present is shackled the past.
Yet as you rightly NYC point out some rules should be followed.
Wisdom is the difference that allows us to see which rules should be challenged and which will should be followed. Courage is the existential quality that allows us to challenge the rules that have outlived their usefulness.
Maz
Hi James,
I’m with Maz in that I like to challenge rules. However, getting everyone else to see our point of view can be hard and there is a danger we are just seen as heretics. Therefore, I like your suggestions of getting your managers out in front of their customers more often. Then, see how often they find ‘No’ to be effective.
Nice post,
Adrian
Glad you liked it. I guess the trick is to challenge the individual who created the rule. Maybe all rules should have an owner written on them. That would make life easier all round.
James