Situation:

In a global company, global functions and divisions (like HR, Shared Services, R&D) defined themselves as service-provider to their colleagues and internal customers in other parts of the company. One function experienced several customer complaints in different countries and faced contradictory explanations from those involved in the problems.

HC Alignment Consulting:

To take a comprehensive look at the management of interfaces between internal customer and function, we developed a “two-tracks” analysis which focused on the customers as well as employees of the respective function. A global online survey for both populations was part of the analysis phase of the project. Analysis and interpretation were the basis for initial work on improvement strategies on the function side and then part of subsequent high-level senior management meeting between key customer units and function leadership.

Results:

This analysis focusing on two target populations at the same time made misunderstandings about expectations and needs visible and identified issues in the function’s work environment that had a negative impact on cooperation at the interfaces. The trust and cooperation between internal customers further improved once regular monitoring along this approach was introduced.