BJA - Our Work - Service Excellence and Lean Operations
BRINGING ABOUT CULTURAL CHANGE AND DELIVERING SERVICE EXCELLENCE - Front of House Review
A major museums group was concerned with the way that the service was being delivered, the management structure, the role of the management and staff, the cost and the staffing levels. There is also a major refurbishment programme taking place which will generate more visitors and a broader audience when the Museum is re-launched. As a part of this the client wanted to deliver a quality of service which would be in keeping with the style of the new museum. BJA provided advice as to the potential layout and locations of all the key front of house services and trading activities. BJA developed the objectives and structure for a new front of house service including departments, organisational and operational implications, roles and staffing levels. The Board of Governors approved all the recommendations and the client has fully impemented the re-structuring, following BJA's implementation plan. As a result the client has developed a much more dynamic, quality and customer focused structure and operation across both museums which operates more cost effectively, delivers cost savings, will engage more fully with the public and enables the client to be in a much stronger position to achieve the commercial potential.
RE-FOCUSING AND ENERGISING THE BUSINESS - Business Review
An important historical venue needed to find a strategy to overcome its declining market and growing deficit. Following a comprehensive review of the operation, the competition and the market, BJA streamlined the business objectives to focus on:
- differentiating itself from its competitors by being a high quality destination attraction
- driving conference and events sales
- providing an entertainments programme with a broader appeal to a younger audience
- more emphasis on quality rather than quantity
- setting clear service standards
- putting the management and communication systems in place to drive performance and motivate the whole team
BJA recommended a new much more sales and visitor focused structure and developed an action plan to help with the implementation. The report was very well received, approved and is being implemented.
DEVELOPING SERVICE STANDARDS
This world class museum group wanted to develop a set of customer service commitments and standards for the organisation, covering every aspect of the service and the customer experience. The aim was for everyone to be working to the same objectives ensuring that exceptional standards of service were offered at all times. BJA led this exercise working with staff and managers at all levels across the organisation developing the commitments and standards so that there was ownership, commitment and so that they were achievable. The process also included putting the monitoring systems in place, identifying and addressing the tools needed to deliver the standards, identifying where responsilbity lies and then the roll out of the standards. The standards are now used in staff induction, training, job descriptions, personal objectives and the client's appraisal system. The standards apply to everyone whether they are in-house or contracted staff and have been incorporated into service level agreements and contracts with outside suppliers.
The impact on the standards and quality of service has been dramatic and there are many areas of the operation where there have been clear and distinctive improvements in service delivery as a result. Everyone is clear about their role, how they can help the organisation and the process has been an integral part of bringing about cultural change and establishing a customer service and commercial culture.
An historic and important regional venue needed to differentiate itself from local competition and be more competitive both regionally and nationally. One of the strategies the client identified was to deliver exceptional customer service and quality to the venue's three key target markets i.e. daytime visitor attraction, conferences / events and the entertainments programme. Integral to this was developing very clear service standards which the staff and the management team would be committed to and could not only aspire to but could go on to deliver. BJA working with the management team and staff developed these service standards, which are now integral to the recovery and success of turning the business around.
IMPROVING STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE - Mystery Shopping, Service / Commercial Audits
BJA worked with a major museums group who wanted a mystery shopping exercise which went a lot further than just measuring the standards. BJA identified areas where significant improvement could be made in service, standards, sales and the operation. In addition to quanitified standards, BJA provided clear recommendations and solutions to improve service, sales and make savings. All of the recommendations were practical and many could be implemented easily at little or no additional cost. The reports findings motivated the management teams to set up working groups and develop their own action plans for bringing about change. BJA was retained to complete a second wave later in the year, the results were much improved. BJA were then retained to complete the exercise the following year, to see what trends emerge and providing clear recommendations identifying how further significant improvements in service, standards and the commercial potential could be made.
Working with one of the world's leading museums BJA focused on measuring the service provide by the staff, visitor management and the general quality standards. BJA's measurements and insight identified the need to develop a more proactive, sales oriented and welcoming staff, who would engage more with customers and more actively promote what the Museum has to offer. Following the report presentation, the management teams developed their own action plans to bring about the change needed. BJA provided practical and simple recommendations which would help the Museum to achieve their goals in the short and long term. Following this BJA were retained for a second year, this included extending the mystery visit exercise to focus more on how well the staff up sell and promote the services the client has to offer. The brief was also extended to identify ways to improve:
- the service, the operation, visitor management issues and help achieve the commercial potential of the catering throughout the venue
- the visitor experience, dwell time, the service, standards and generate more on site sales from the late night openings
CHANGE MANAGEMENT- Interim Management Support
BJA provided senior management cover for a major museums group for a newly created post as Head of Visitor Services. The client approached BJA to provide this cover as their managers have years of experience gained from working as senior managers at some of the UK's most prestigious venues where they have delivered major programmes of change and improvements in service, standards and the bottom line. The Museum did not expect the person covering the post just to keep the service going, but to make service and commercial improvements in the department and across the Group.
BJA managers became a part of the organisation and not only ran the departments effectively until the post was filled, but made significant progress in bringing about positive change. As a part of the interim management cover the client involved BJA with many projects that affected the way the service was delivered including capital projects, making improvements to the physical services offered and the introduction of new systems to ensure that good service is delivered all the time.
With another major museums group BJA are working alongside an existing operational management team:
- Developing a much more 'hand's on' management approach, including finding ways to release managers to spend more time on the shop floor
- Developing much more effective two way lines of communication between the management and staff and across all departments, particularly those that impact on the front of house service
- Helping to improve standards by developing a management team that know what to look for, have eyes that see, identifying and putting systems and proceedures in place to ensure that the standards are being monitored and that there is continuous improvement
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT - Mentoring
BJA provided mentoring for a manager who had been given responsibility for overseeing the operational set up and launch of a major new re-developed museum which was of major significance for the Trust and the region. The mentoring service included:
- Identifying the key objectives, priorities and timescales including the launch of the new museum while not loosing site of the existing venues
- Identifying the standards to be achieved by seeing best practice at other venues
- Project planning
- Regular site visits with the manager
- Reviewing progress, identifying key issues and solutions leading up to the opening
The opening of the Museum was a great success, the star of the show was the operations manager, ensuring that everything was in place, tested and that on the opening day despite high visitor numbers the service was seamless, and that the pr and 'word of mouth' publicity that followed was excellent
BJA are working with the Visitor Business Manager and team to ensure that this very prestigious stately home has the most efficient and cost effective staff rota and staffing levels in place ready for the new visitor season. BJA will also bo working with the team to look at how else the service and commercial performance can be improved in the short and long term
FINDING THE RIGHT MANAGEMENT OPTION - Options Appraisal
To find ways to make long term sustainable financial improvements without having to sacrifice the service a major seaside authority authority wanted to review the management options for tourism and leisure in the borough. BJA provided a strategy and recommended the management option that was the best fit for the borough to ensure that:
- the service could continue to improve
- the finanical savings could be delivered
- could achieve the commercial potential
- was the best option in terms of long term sustainability
We identified how to make the most of the opportunities, how to avoid the pitfalls, how to minimise the risks including the future development of tourism and leisure in the borough and provided an implementation plan to follow. The report was very well received and is being implemented.
DELIVERING WORLD CLASS SERVICE FROM CONCEPT STAGE TO LAUNCH - Operational planning of new developments
For a major museums group BJA provided advice on the layout of the front entrance and how the service should be delivered including the welcome, visitor orientation, key services that need to be promoted and better locations for catering and retail to improve the service, penetration and sales. BJA then provided advice on the entrance, layout and service delivery for a major new museums education and learning centre
For another high profile museum group BJA identified changes needed to make the front entrance and layout more welcoming, able to communicate key messages and to generate more revenue. One of these changes included identifying the need for a re-layout of the shop to be more visible, inviting and encouraging more visitors to pass through it. The result has been that the entrance area is much more welcoming, communicates key messages more clearly, provides better visitor orientation and information and has resulted in a 40% increase in the shop sales.
BJA provided the visitor services strategy at the concept stage of a multi million pound visitor centre. This was the first phase of a $1b ski resort which will host the Asian Winter Olympic Games. The strategy covered every aspect of the operation including the overall visitor services objectives and standards; visitors making their way to the centre; the welcome and arrival; the visitor reception services and visitor flow; the retail, catering and events strategy / locations; the operational front of house and back of house implications and all other key back of house visitor service considerations such as cleaning and maintenance.
A client was concerned that a £45m major regional and national arts venue was not going to be ready to open on time. With eight weeks to opening BJA worked with the client and the management team and ensured that all aspects of visitor services / the operation were ready, staffed and opened on time with greater control of the costs and in a better position to deliver a quality service and make more from the commercial and visitor services activity.
EXCEEDING VISITOR NUMBER TARGETS - Marketing Strategy
BJA worked with a small independent charitable museum to develop a marketing strategy and marketing plan. The strategy focused on: improving the visibility of the location; reflecting in all the publicity material and signage the Museum's programming work which was broadening and diversifying the audience; and developed strategies to help improve secondary spend areas further. The strategy included providing a more contemporary feel to all the marketing and signage, while at the same time remembering its role and unique position in the market i.e. local history. The strategy and plan contributed to visitor numbers being 46% ahead of the previous year and forecasts having to be revised upwards.