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CSA Professionalism Model
Background
A corporate outcome in the Agency Agreements is to maintain our level of professionalism.
The CSA professionalism model was developed to look at how we offer service to customers. This is achieved through monitoring the service commitments made in the Charter in terms of operational delivery and technical excellence.
Our first measure of professionalism used items adapted from the 1995-97 CSA Customer Satisfaction Index. These were:
- staff are polite;
- overall satisfaction with recent phone contact;
- staff give clear, accurate and consistent answers;
- information about the customer's case is correct and up to date; and
- the issue or problem being addressed is resolved quickly.
Using these five items allowed for comparison of performance across four years. A sample of 600 customers were asked to rank CSA's performance in these five areas. The result gave an indication of customer satisfaction with CSA's professionalism in 1997/98 compared to the previous three years.
It was recognised that these five items do not allow for a complete measure of professionalism. A more complete professionalism model was developed based on a literature search, consideration of key corporate documents (e.g. the Charter) and codes of conduct and guidelines from a range of professional organisations.
Under the terms of the 1998/99 Agency Agreements, the interim model and the complete model will be reported on.
Feedback from customers was analysed, resulting in some modification to the professionalism model. The resultant model is shown on the facing page. This model will be used as the basis for questions in measuring the next Customer Satisfaction Index.
Personal characteristics of staff
Typified by a sincere desire to help
- Open and honest
- Polite and helpful
- Sincere
- Able to listen
- Act with integrity
Professional characteristics of staff
Typified by pride in their work
- Competent
- Accessible
- Responsive
- Take pride in their work
- Take responsibility for their actions
How the customer is treated
Typifies by dedication to empathy with the interests of the customer
- As being an honest person
- With respect in terms of their opinions and interests
- As an individual with specific needs
- With empathy for their situation and point of view
- Communication is clear and easy to understand
Outcomes of the interaction
Typified by a commitment to quality and fairness
- Customer needs understood
- Customers kept informed about the details of their case
- Customer provided with consistent and accurate advice
- The matter handled fairly and reasonably
- The matter handled efficiently.
