A recurring theme, as felt by me as a ‘customer’ of many services, is that the front-line person (apparently) ‘helping me’ with my need(s) has treated me like an idiot.

I’d expect that this has been experienced by most of you.

The front-line ‘helper’ has (subconsciously) slipped into ‘you’re an idiot’ mode because it’s sooo obvious (to them) as to how to do the thing that I’m currently struggling to achieve.

Whether it be: what to do; where to go; who to talk to; how to fill in a form; understanding how the process will unfold…etc. etc.

Things like:

“You shouldn’t have done that!”

“What you’ve gone and done there is…”

“You’ve already been sent/told what to do…”

So, for all of you (us) in roles that interact with customers (or support others to do so), please be aware that you are at high risk of adopting an ‘inside out’ view of the world.

Sure, you might know exactly what the customer isn’t doing or is doing incorrectly BUT:

• You have likely performed the same task(s) hundreds, if not thousands of times so OF COURSE it seems obvious to you!!! In fact, your familiarity with the features and foibles of your work risks making you blind to them.

• Your customer might never have done the task before them or, if they have, it might have been last month/ last year/ many moons ago (“what’s my password again?!”) …and they will have done a million other things within their lives in-between these times.

To reflect upon: How do you think about your customer? If you find yourself ‘blaming’ them for aspects of what occurs – why?

Do you think they deliberately ‘screwed it up’?

Do you think they want to slow down getting what they need?

Do you think they enjoy such an experience? Unlikely.

The customer is ‘outside’ the organisation/ human-designed system that they are needing to interact with. It is (and should be) but a black box to them.

The simple question is: How capable is your black box at meeting their need in a manner that matters – and makes sense – to them?

A note on equity: Sadly, an ‘inside out’ view will discriminate against those that are the least ready and able to navigate your black box.

A thought: If you were interested in ‘digging in’ to this, you could note down every time you thought something was/ should be obvious but, for the customer, it actually wasn’t.

Every one of these interactions contains information…which is worth reflecting on.