Peak performance
Previously a high impacting unit, Bishops Stortford delivery office has seen a transformation over the last year with everyone working hard to achieve their USO and Tracked targets.
Brought into support the unit during last year’s peak operation, Customer Operations Manager Matt Howlett said, ‘There was a lightbulb moment for me during peak last year when performance was poor with lots of failures, I started by setting small standards to a group of people to clear the work who absolutely rose to the challenge and were surpassing anything I had set them.’
Being asked to stay on to transform the office Matt says, ‘Ongoing engagement with the team has been key, we have daily huddles and displays and since the start of the year everyone in the unit has grown in their knowledge of compliance levels – they just get it traffic forecasts, vehicle checks, inward sorting data, by having regular weekly WTLL sessions it’s just gone from strength to strength.’
Having this framework to engage with his team has really paid dividends for Matt who says, ‘Explaining the situation and being upfront with the issues means that staff are coming up with their own ideas with new ways of doing things – it’s resulted in a transformation of our indoor performance meaning deliveries going out earlier, giving people the chance to succeed and as a result our USO performance has increased significantly’.
‘It’s about being open and honest, there are no secrets. We look at our daily performance update on our display board and everyone understands it. It’s important that they know why we are doing things and by explaining the plan means we now work together and it’s now a really nice place to be’.
Matt continues to say, ‘It’s been a privilege to come into this unit, we’re all working as a team, including our Sawbridgeworth SPDO colleagues. That’s how we have approached peak this year – they knew the challenges right from the start with any gaps in recruitment. During our daily huddles we can highlight where we’ve had any failures so that they are recovered the following day. The incentive scheme has really helped this peak, but it’s more than just the money, people are starting to feel proud again and buying back into the whole customer experience to deliver a great service for our customers’.
