A lot of people complain about the weather but they never do anything about it. Similarly, a lot of people, (and organizations), talk a lot about providing service but don't go too much further with it. Allow me to introduce to you the Quality Service Initiative (QSI) at North Carolina Central University (www.nccu.edu). In the fall of 2007, under the leadership of new Chancellor Charlie Nelms, NCCU introduced one of the most comprehensive quality and customer service programs I have ever seen. Its goal is "to create a respectful, responsive and encouraging environment for students, faculty and staff that will lead to greater retention and graduation rates." There are so many good things to say about this initiative, I hardly know where to begin so let me provide the highlights. Employees sign a covenant whereby they pledge to serve others in a respectful caring and timely manner; they participate in training and apply the training on a daily basis; they are expected to participate in all assessments to measure progress and;  commit to continuous improvement to enhance the program.

Training is extensive and continuous. Supervisors and leadership positions go through a foundation course for creating service based culture. They then join all other employees (yes, ALL employees including faculty),  in three more seminar based programs that deal with relationship strategies, exceeding customer expectations and working with dissatisfied customers with the goal of building customer loyalty. In addition to these in- person seminars, there are also web based programs on among other things, telephone skills.

Perhaps the most impressive part of this program, and there is a lot to be impressed with, is that service excellence is built into the employee evaluation system. How many schools have taken that step? I know of no other that has created such well thought out program and implemented it across campus. If you know of more please let me know. This is especially impressive as NCCU is a school of over 8,000 students.

As many of you know, I am a strong advocate of approaching education from a services perspective. (I have a book coming out in September on the subject.). I wish I had known about North Carolina Central's QSI when I was writing it. I would have devoted many pages to this outstanding example of client focused systems. NCCU truly understands that quality service is not a gimmick but a strategic response to the expectations of our constituents in an ever increasingly competitive world.

Congratulations go to North Carolina Central University! They are setting quite an example!

- Tom Hayes