Allow staff to resolve issues

Do your staff have the authority to resolve issues presented by donors or prospective donors? Or, do they have to escalate most issues to you to resolve?

I recently called a US company to get an issue resolved and my call was transferred from person to person. After the third transfer, and more than 45 minutes on an international call, the “supervisor on duty” could not resolve the issue. I was placed on hold multiple times throughout the call. It was as though the issue I was presenting had never been dealt with before. The most frustrating part of the call came when the employee of this company disconnected me (this is a polite way to say she hung up on me).

My next course of action was to tweet about the matter. I simply could not understand why something so simple had taken so long and was still not resolved. The interaction on Twitter continued over the course of a weekend. It was not until Monday morning when the issue was finally resolved by someone on the corporate’s social media team who told me the matter could have been and should have been resolved by the first person I spoke with the week prior. Instead, the matter went through three people on the telephone and was blasted on social media to millions of others.

It must be frustrating to staff to not be able to resolve issues. I can tell you it is frustrating to consumers when staff of companies or organisations do not deal with issues direct. Perhaps they cannot resolve even the simplest of matters. Put the power in the hands of your staff and let them easily resolve matters before they bubble up. Escalate only the matters which cannot be easily resolved by front line staff. This will empower your staff and donors alike.

What procedures do your organisation have in place to deal with complaints or issues? How many people do your donors have to deal with before getting their issue resolved?