The Efficiency vs Quality battle

The NSW Public Sector Commission recently released the State of the Public Sector Report “How it is.” Here, productivity is rated as the most important measure of public sector performance.

However, increased productivity is only one part of the picture. Increases in productivity must also consider the impact of quality on the final product. Delivering a poor quality service more efficiently is really no gain at all.

Central to this is listening to your clients, your stakeholders, your end-user, about what “quality” looks like for them, rather than assuming that you already know the answer.

Whilst we all say that our customers are "Number 1", just how customer-centric are we really? Are you aligned with best practice? Are you certified to the International Customer Service Standard (or similar)? Do you regular communicate with, and listen to, your customers and client base?

Unless you integrate your customers into the fabric of your business and have them being the drivers of your reason for existing as an organisation, you will most likely be at variance to what your customers expect and require from you. If that happens, these days they have a choice to go somewhere else (and more often globally).

The question is, "How can you increase service and efficiency at the same time ?" What are your thoughts and experiences across?