Please introduce yourself

I’m Diane James-Mcfee, Interim Head of Service Delivery, Lambeth Service Centre

Can you explain what your role is?

I am responsible for leading the staff and managing operational functions of the Lambeth Service Centre (call centre) and local Area Housing Office counters. This includes ensuring that a customer service driven environment is developed and sustained across these services.

What is the most challenging part of your job?
Balancing resources with the demand for services – Whilst this is challenging it is also exciting.  Having to look at ways to deliver excellent customer services with an ever-reducing budget is challenging but allows for innovative thinking, whilst at the same time maintaining quality through good management practices. For instance, I’m currently considering applying a ‘lean’ process to help identify any waste in our processes. The recession has hit every sector and it is key that our service demonstrates good value for money.


What would you like to do if you weren’t working in the Customer Service sector?
I can’t imagine my self outside the customer services sector, be it operational, strategy or policy; I guess the only other sector would be travel. I would love to be a tour guide – only if it came with free holidays!


Lambeth Service Centre is the first point of contact for phone calls and emails to Lambeth Council, do you think this service shows Lambeth Council in a good light?

We are ambassadors for the Council.  Being the first point of contact it, is important that we demonstrate excellent customer services at all times. Customer Satisfaction results show that 87% of our users are satisfied with the service they receive from our call-centre agents, if not necessarily with the overall council service. Our services cover a wide remit from Parking, Housing Repairs, Homelessness, Social Services, etc and another part of our job is to help these departments identify areas of dissatisfaction and improve on them.  Some of these services affect very vulnerable people and are often governed by national policies that we have to adhere to; this means we can’t always give our customers what they would like so the job is also about managing expectations.  We continue to attain recognition for how we deliver customer services.  In 2005 we were awarded the European Call Centre of the year Award.  We are current holders of both the Charter Mark Award and Customer Excellence Award.


What does community mean to you?
Community is about life – Our Citizens are at the heart of our community, the community helps to shape the success of our country.  No two people are the same, neither are communities.   Within Customer Services it is key that we have an understanding of what the community needs are and are able to tailor our services accordingly. We have to listen outwards as well as inwards.

What would you like to see more of from the Service Centre?
It would be great if our staff were able to see all enquiries through to resolution, so the caller can leave satisfied that their action has been attended to. The current organisation of our business does not always allow for this and therefore enquiries are passed to the service units where specialist and trained professional complete the end task.

We understand you recently received a letter from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
How did you feel when you received the letter and Can you explain why the PM wrote to you?
It was a nice feeling, more importantly it was good to see that the Prime Minister took the time to acknowledge excellence in Customer Services.  The letter acknowledged our recent award of ‘Customer Service Excellence,’ a new accolade aimed at ensuring that public services meet the official government standard for organizations in the public sector effectively.  This award can only be obtained following a far more rigorous assessment process which challenges the strategy and principles behind delivering excellent service to customers rather than simply ‘ticking the boxes.’


What is a typical day in the office for you?
No two days are the same; our Service is driven by customer demand which guarantees a different challenge every day. I oversee an operation that handles an average of 5000 telephone calls each day. My day can comprise anything from monitoring call volumes, redeploying resource based on volumes or staff shortage or handling customer complaints or dealing with an incident in an office front Counter. I’m frequently meeting with our internal partners or liaising with our training and development teams about updating staff on changes to services. That’s not to mention reporting performance issues up the line, hosting visits from a huge range of internal and external guests, and getting involved with arranging staff motivational events. Actually, one thing that is typical is that the days are always long!


What CD would you have at home in your CD player at the moment?
I love music so my collection varies.  At the moment I have the Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Lady Gaga because I can workout to their tunes. I look to Bob Marley for inspiration.  If I need to chill out then it’s anything from R&B to Jazz


What do you think is the most important aspect of working in Customer Services?
Customer Service might not be rocket science, but there’s a lot to consider. It’s about getting it right first time wherever possible, listening to the customer to learn and make improvements, and communicating very clearly. It starts with respect. If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honour their right to be treated fairly and honestly, everything else thereafter is much easier


If you could adapt your role, what would you introduce?
I would spend more time in the Community running focus groups to improve Customer Services across the Organisation.


What was the last book you read?
The Time Traveler’s Wife it’s a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage.


How has the ‘Lambeth Promise’ improved communication with customers contacting the service centre?

The Lambeth Promise is our pledge to our customers that we will work hard to provide them with the very best service.  As a result of the pledge our Customer are now more aware and comfortable about discussing their problems with us and our  staff also understand and appreciate the importance of the pledge and ensure this comes across when communicating with customers.


Do you think more could be done to integrate and encourage communication between residents associations?
Although I have worked in the Lambeth Service Centre for a few years, I am new to managing the Housing element of the call centre.  I am a firm believer that more can always be done to manage the communication flow and build working relations with our partners, and I’d be keen to embrace ideas about an improved consultation mechanism with our RAs. I know that our colleagues in Revenues and Benefits hold regular meetings with these groups and I’m looking into how could perhaps share in that arrangement. Marshalling the range of views held by a variety of resident groups could be a significant benefit in helping develop the service further, but it’s important that such events are managed with a positive and constructive approach.


Who inspires you?
Maya Angelou because of her inspirational work which is centered on themes such as identity, family, and racism. Gandhi because he was a great leader and Richard Branson for the range of creativity, leadership and entrepreneurial skills he instills.


How many telephone calls does the call centre receive on an average day?
On an average day we receive around 5000 calls, that’s over a million calls per year.

How many emails does the call centre receive on an average day?
Typically, it might be around 150-200 emails, but we’re hoping to encourage expansion in this area over the coming year.


How many members of staff work in the Lambeth Service Centre?
We currently employ 104 staff working within the Lambeth Service Centre including all of its support functions. However, this number varies throughout the year. Staff handle enquiries for up to 16 different service areas, each with considerable seasonal variation in demand.


If residents are unhappy with the service they receive from the service centre, how can they complain? Similarly, if they would like to comment on good service, how can they do this?
The Council has a complaints/ comments policy which applies to the Lambeth Service Centre.  This can be accessed at www.lambeth.gov.uk/complaints and leaflets are available at council offices. Alternatively, our customers can contact the Service Centre on 0207 926 1000 and ask to speak to a manager, who will record the feedback provided appropriately. While Matt Cooper (the Assistant Director for the service) and I are always happy to hear the views of our users directly, contacts which avoid the official complaints procedure risk not being properly logged or tracked, so it’s definitely best to follow the above process – our Complaints team always ensures that we are made aware of any escalations which need our attention.