PIPs Instrumental In Changing Behaviors At Sprint

In the Winter 1997 issue of Performance Management Magazine, Ron Proctor, director of Network Systems and Services at Sprint, and Pam Turner, manager systems planning and training, discussed their experience with PM Basics. PM Basics is a modular, in-house, train-the-trainer approach for organizations that choose to introduce Performance Management (PM) to managers and supervisors through their company's own training resources. Proctor's and Turner's initiatives with PM Basics have resulted in several successful performance improvement efforts at Sprint, such as the two following implementations described by Edith Price, technical writer.

Sprint, a global communications company, is a leader in integrating long distance, local, and wireless communications, a specialist in data communications, and the world's largest carrier of Internet traffic. Network Systems & Services (NS&S), a department within Sprint's long distance division, is using Performance Management together with Sprint Quality to achieve its objectives. Two groups within NS&S, Network Translations and Systems Management, employed performance improvement plans (PIPs) that focused on improving employee behaviors regarding trouble tickets. Translation's goal was to improve and streamline the trouble ticket process while Systems Management sought to implement an auditing process for trouble tickets. Both groups found Performance Management, coupled with existing Sprint Quality tools, to be effective in achieving their goals. Network Translations When confronted with the issue of trying to properly process trouble tickets, Sprint's Network Translations group devised a two-pronged attack. Armed with Sprint Quality tools and Performance Management, Translations came up with the only possible solution, to create a PIP that changed the way people treated the trouble-ticket process.

At Sprint, translation describes inputting the correct information into databases or switches so that the system routes incoming calls efficiently and without congestion. A trouble ticket is a form used to report any problems and is generally initiated by a customer service agent when a customer reports an incident, such as disruption of phone service. The ticket is then routed electronically to the proper fix agency. To process trouble tickets more effectively, Translations targeted two areas for change: the process needed to be improved and people needed to alter their treatment of trouble tickets. With the existing process, translation specialists spent little time, on an individual basis, working tickets. As a result many perceived that Translations spent more time getting rid of the ticket than resolving the problem.

With the PIP established, Translations spent more hours internally fixing tickets; however, measurements to resolve the ticket and escalations (the behavior of routing the problem to a higher level to be resolved) both dropped dramatically. The number of escalations decreased by 50 percent, and although the total time working trouble increased by 17 percent, the number of tickets received was reduced by 13 percent. Thus the increased work effort resulted in fewer trouble tickets and a lower repair interval for our customers. According to Kathy Eichholz, manager of Sprint Network Translations, "We stopped looking at the ticket as a piece of paper we needed to get off of our desks and on somebody else's desk and started looking at it as a problem we needed to focus on. We started looking at it as a customer with trouble. We stopped measuring how long each individual was working a ticket and started measuring how well the ticket was worked." The PIP, which has six phases, was started by the Trouble Ticket team in January 1996. It is currently in the last phase. The team was comprised of six individuals representing each work group within Network Translations. Due to Eichholz's strong philosophy that people who do the job are the best decision makers regarding that job, by design there were no members of management on the team.

Systems Management Like Network Translations, Systems Management had been plagued by the issue of improving ticket management. With this goal in mind, Systems Management created a PIP to increase percentages of accurate and timely updates to its trouble-ticket reporting system. The primary measures were the timeliness and the quality of the tickets worked on by the group. Initially, the management team had to determine how to collect the data and ensure that there was a continuous flow of data. They focused on two areas: if tickets were completed and activated on-time (timeliness) and if information on the tickets was thorough and accurate (quality). They devised an auditing process that measured the accuracy of the trouble tickets and established a reporting schedule that gave management the ability to review and monitor problems weekly. The PIP was implemented in the summer of 1996 and has resulted in a reduced amount of unnecessary auditing and rework of trouble tickets. "Some people now have a better appreciation for the importance of the administrative part of their jobs, that is recording and documenting problems that they're having with their systems," said Bob Teglia, manager of Systems Management, who feels that the process has definitely changed behaviors. "Before, they didn't understand the significance of that." While the results have been impressive, Teglia knows that regular positive reinforcement is needed for continued success. "We need to keep in place the infrastructure to continue to motivate people. We are in this for the long haul."

Lessons Learned

1. You get what you measure and you get what you reward.
2. Measure and reward the right things.
3. People don't come to work to do the wrong things.
4. People want to be productive; they want to do the right things.
5. People want to deliver something that adds value.
6. Their concept of what is valuable is based on what behaviors and results the organization rewards.
7. People who do the job are the best decision makers about how the job should be done.
8. The Performance Management process embraces basic principles of positive reinforcement.
9. PM can be readily implemented once behaviors are pinpointed.
10. A work group can implement Performance Management once the supervisors and managers understand the basics.
11. You don't have to wait for everyone to get training.
12. The key to managing performance is people-focus. The focus is on behavior rather than process.

Edith Price is a technical writer for Sprint's Network Services and Systems department.