The human element
Article 4
Creation of the SNCF “Université du Service”: innovation in customer service
Rail & Recherche n°41 - September/October/November 2006
Every year,
900 million travellers
come through the doors
of SNCF stations. The
“Université du Service”
created by SNCF is a place
for training its
30,000 employees
who deal directly with
them as well as a
laboratory for the study
of customer relations.
Staff of the TGV Est trains, that began running on 26 June,, have been taking a new kind of training. In courses on what constitutes a flawless journey for customers, improvisation sessions and management coaching practice, they are learning skills largely neglected until now that will enable them to keep pace with changing customer expectations.
Higher expectations, unpredictable needs
“Rail transport is increasingly a “self-service business,” says Franck Marsal, director of the Université du Service. “When customers come to our staff members, it’s because they haven’t found the answer themselves.” Since their needs are less predictable, SNCF staff must be quick on their toes to respond. The programmes at the Université du Service teach the skills to do this and thereby significantly improve customer service.
Searching for a common grammar
What does the notion of customer service comprise? “We realised that we were all talking about service without referring to the same thing”, recalls Marsal. “A theoretical framework was lacking at SNCF to describe service and customer relations during a trip.” Semiological studies were done of the experience of travellers and the personnel’s attitudes toward service.
“An innovative pedagogical approach was developed that considers all skills and jobs in relation to the customer’s total travel experience”, says Hubert Joseph-Antoine, director of services management. Staff members have their respective jobs, but they are all trying to satisfy the customer. To take this notion of “co-production” further, the “Université du Service” has worked with sociologists and psychologists, who have tracked a group of customers from the preparation of their trip to their arrival to understand their experience. “Knowing that the train is a place where time stands still and that the station is a place of transition and anxiety, then what are the “moments of truth” in customer relations that need the most work?”, asks Marsal. Staff and managers have taken the findings of these studies and put them together with work already done to redesign the training. “An important step,” says Marsal. “The staff feels that their input counts, the subject matter is familiar, and they can quickly get into it.”
Innovative training
The “Université du Service” called on actors and the ACCOR Services Academy to adapt theatre improvisation techniques for its service training programmes.
New technologies are finding applications in them, too. Besides methods like the situation simulator, which is already being used to train conductors, a video conferencing system is also under study. Exercises based on the observation of behaviour, in which managers watch how their staff members deal with customers, are used to teach service management, and a recent study is helping managers understand the mechanisms for acquiring these new customer service skills. The Université du Service also has contacts with several educational institutions. Director Franck Marsal notes that “SNCF is a great observation laboratory for the human sciences, and we all have something to gain”.