Angels flying in to assist staff on site
JONES LANG LASALLE Management Services has turned to its 'angels' to ensure its 3,000 staff - distributed across some 300 buildings under its management - gave clients the very best of services.
These 'angels' were hand-picked from its more experienced and service-oriented employees. Fifty of them went on a one-week intensive training course to become trainers and pass on what they had learnt to the other employees.
'We need to differentiate in the market with our service level to achieve excellence and enhance customer satisfaction,' said Eric Lee, head of management solutions. 'We are in the service industry. Our people are the key component, so we have to put in resources to develop our talents.'
Through meetings with customers, employees and mystery shopping exercises, the company defined areas in customer services that had to be addressed. The training, designed by the customer service and training committee, was conducted at two levels: in the classroom, where trainees were trained to be 'angels', and on site, when they went out to share their knowledge with their colleagues.
'The 3,000 staff members all have different jobs,' Mr Lee said. 'They can be cleaners, technicians or security guards. They have different education backgrounds and experience levels. It was difficult to decide how to take the different backgrounds into consideration. The angels had to use what they learn in the classrooms to train the others.'
The company used 3G phones to monitor on site and in real time meetings between the 'angels' and the building management team so that other teams could share the experience.
'The angels are not professional trainers. If anything is amiss, we can retrain them,' Mr Lee said.
