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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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The Service Organization summary
Kate Tarling
How to Deliver and Lead Successful Services, Sustainably
17 mins
Brief summary
The Service Organization by Kate Tarling guides us in transforming service-driven businesses to prioritize customer-centric approaches. It offers strategies to align operations with user needs, fostering meaningful interactions and sustainable growth.
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The Service Organization
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Key idea 1 of 6
Your organization is a service provider
Let's talk about something that affects virtually every large organization today: service delivery. But what exactly is a service? Simply put, services help us accomplish things – whether that's commuting to work or paying the correct amount of tax.
Not sure whether your organization provides a service? Let’s clear that up: it almost certainly does. And if it doesn’t yet, it will soon. Every industry is transforming into a service industry. But here’s the challenge: many large, established organizations weren’t built to deliver seamless services from beginning to end.
Redesigning these organizations to support smooth service delivery? It’s tough. There are countless moving parts to coordinate. But you know what’s even harder? Delivering services poorly. This frustrates both users and employees alike. Imagine an airline whose internal booking system becomes more complicated with each upgrade rather than simpler, causing flight attendants to struggle with meal service because catering and reservation systems don’t communicate properly. Unlike redesigning a simple app, improving airline services requires coordinating dozens of interconnected systems across multiple departments.
So how do you begin to streamline services? First, define your organization by the services it provides – not by its internal structure. Organizations often think in terms of departments and functions, but users think in terms of outcomes. A bank provides mortgages, but customers want to buy homes – which is why NatWest now bundles other home-buying steps into their mortgage service.
Remember: define a service in terms of an outcome – buying a house, working in a different country, or getting trash collected. A complete service is end-to-end, and includes all interactions among the user, the provider, and other actors involved.
Thinking of your organization as a service provider is the first step to delivering better services.
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What is The Service Organization about?
The Service Organization (2023) argues that as all organizations evolve into service providers, their traditional structures and practices prevent successful end-to-end service delivery in our rapidly changing digital landscape. This guide offers practical, accessible tools for transforming underlying organizational conditions rather than simply modernizing individual services.
Who should read The Service Organization?
- Organizational leaders seeking to transform outdated service delivery models
- UX professionals responsible for improving customer experiences
- Operations managers struggling with fragmented service processes
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