Ron Kaufman helps companies on every continent build a culture of uplifting service that delivers real business results. Making transformation his mission, Ron is one of the world’s most sought-after thought leaders and experts on achieving superior service. With a clientele of government agencies and multinational corporations including Singapore Airlines, Xerox, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Wipro, Ron delivers powerful insights and global best practices, enabling organizations to gain a sustainable advantage through service. Below, Ron provides 14 questions you need to ask about your company’s service culture:

1. Is our leadership team in agreement on key business goals and priorities? Do they understand the importance of a strong service culture to achieve these goals?
2. Do our service training programs teach the same fundamental principles to the entire organization? Are these principles being applied to create measurable value for our customers?
3. Does our organization share a common language from top to bottom and across departments when talking about service? Do we use this same language to talk about external service to customers and internal service to colleagues?
4. Do all our employees and partners clearly understand our service vision and act to make it real every day?
5. Are our recruitment processes aligned with our service vision and values? Are we hiring people who make our vision and values stronger?
6. Do our orientation programs describe the service culture of our organization and help new hired understand how they can contribute to make it stronger?
7. Do our communications to employees regularly feature service issues and achievements? Do we include “voice of the customer” comments in our communications?
8. Do we recognize and reward superior external service to customers and internal service to colleagues?
9. How do we capture “the voice of our customer”? Do we share it widely throughout our organization?
10. Are our current measures aligned with our service vision as well as business priorities?
11. Does our service improvement process seek new ideas from every employee?
12. When service breakdowns occur, do we focus on bouncing back to increasing customer loyalty?
13. Do we benchmark our service performance with companies inside and outside our industry?
14. Are our leaders and managers excellent role models of service? Are they aware of the essential role they play in building a superior service culture?

Ron Kaufman/July, 2015