When we think about designing services, we must remember it takes a number of elements. ITIL v3 says there are four elements of service design:
- People
- Process
- Products
- Partners
I like to think of these elements as the “ingredients” of a service. The most important “ingredient” in any service is the “people”. We can have effective processes, efficient products, and loyal partners, but without people the service will get nowhere.
So how do we ensure that the people-element of services is truly engaged? Here are some ideas:
- Identify roles and responsibilities early in the design of a service and tweak or improve them as the design gets more complete
- Develop and execute a parallel Organizational Change Management (OCM) effort to occur alongside your service design
- Look for and incorporate feedback from stakeholders of services from the beginning of design not as an afterthought
- Identify measurements and metrics that encourage a culture of improvement, not a culture of punishment for failure
- Learn and apply some basic human interaction good practices within your organization (listening, interpersonal relationships, communications, work-life balance for example)
Most important is the need to see people as both the glue that holds a service together and the engine that drives the delivery of value. Do not simply say “people are your most important asset”, rather act and behave as if they really are your most important asset.