Every day, there are many tasks that you need to do for your customers. Often, the method used is to allow employees to pull work items from lists or Salesforce queues.
As a result, the most critical question you and your team face is – ‘what work item should we do first?‘
Many companies leave that question to their employees – whether those employees process claims, make site visits, or respond to inquiries. Allowing an employee to pick, means their choice of next task is subjective and affected by their behavior.
When your employees cherry-pick their own work, inevitably:
- The most important tasks are not always done first
- The most important clients are not always served immediately
- The most difficult tasks get left over
The larger the team, and the more volume and variety of tasks, the more “cherry-picking” makes teams inefficient and provides poorer customer experiences.
Cherry picking is a key issue with the pull model of doing work, regardless of team size. In small teams it is often possible to manage them to keep things running smoothly.
For larger teams other issues with the pull model become visible:
- There’s less management time per person to reassign priorities, manage and coach employees
- Time is wasted as employees think about what to do next. Also, picking incorrect tasks can introduce additional work that otherwise would not have been required
Read about our client’s story and issues they have been experiencing here.