Customer Service is a very complex area. To get it right organisations need to have appropriate operating systems and procedures that enable them to meet customers’ needs, but this is not enough. The staff who run these systems must understand that their route to success is through establishing and meeting their customers’ needs whilst meeting their own business targets. It is not practical to reflect all of this complexity in one learning activity, but several of MTa’s activities introduce and develop some of the key concepts. These include:
- The processes needed to establish, focus on, and meet customer needs
- The personal attitudes that support customer service
- Core personal behaviours like questioning and listening that enable individuals to work effectively with others.
Time:90 mins to 6 hours
Level: Introductory to Intermediate
Participants: 3-15
MTa KanDo Lean is an activity based learning pack which focuses on customer service through Lean processing.
It is a table top activity for anyone in the office, factory or supply chain who needs to understand, do, or influence the way jobs can be done to best effect.
The activity introduces emphasises the importance of focussing all activities on meeting defined customer needs as efficiently and effectively as possible. KanDo Lean introduces concepts like 'pull systems', 'balancing workloads' and 'continuous flow'.
Time:10 mins to 4 hours
Level: Introductory to Advanced
Participants: 3-24
Customer Service demands a wide range of skills combined with appropriate attitudes. One MTa KIT activity in particular (Over the Bridge) is particularly well suited to developing customer service: the participants' brief is incomplete, so participants have to question the customer carefully. This proves very difficult as it is so enticing for them to get on with the task, working to their own ideas, rather than finding out what is really required. Customer service....what's that? !!!
Time:15 mins to 60 minutes
Level: Introductory to Advanced
Participants: 3-24
Although none of the 50 plus MTa Insights activities have a 'customer service' title many of them pick up on the attitudes and behaviours that lead to customer service, e.g. flexibility, concern for others, questioning, success orientation.
Most of these activites can be found in the volume 'Business Priorities'.

