Why I Hate the Term "Internal Customers"

For me “customer service” has a special meaning, and is almost like a sacred calling. Yet, I don’t think it applies well in internal settings. When applied internally, I believe it sells our responsibilities to our organizations short. I certainly understand where the reasoning comes from, and I truly value the intent behind it. I just feel the concept is misguided. Allow me to explain.

What is Customer Service?

I remember reading a passage from a Peter Drucker book in graduate school that defined bureaucracy.*?It went something like this:

“Bureaucracy is when the policies and procedures of an organization exist to serve its own needs and not the needs of its customers.”

This quote has always guided my thinking and approach to my HR role. I have always strived to focus heavily on customers and to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.?

This philosophy was further engrained when I began my professional career where the customer service attitude of my company, Walmart, felt very natural to me. I joined about a year after the company’s segendary founder, Sam Walton, passed away.?Walton’s dynamic influence was, and continues to be, revolutionary. Walton’s Golden Rule of Customer Service was:

“Number one, the customer is always right; number two, if the customer is not right, refer to rule number one.”

Although there is ample evidence that he didn’t invent this philosophy, he certainly took it mainstream.

One of my favorite items at the Sam Walton Museum in Bentonville, AR is a thermos that was accepted as a return because it leaked, even though it was purchased 8 years before the first Walmart store even opened. This is the kind of culture he instilled in his company.?

I experienced this first hand when I was a young Assistant Manager Trainee. During the Holiday season a customer had reserved and partially paid for some large Christmas lawn ornaments.?When she came to make her final payment and pick them up, we could not find them, despite a furious search of the warehouse. She left justifiably upset. Fortunately, later that day we did find them after some continued searching. I had the privilege of packing them in my car and driving a couple of miles to her home. She was there with her family and a large number of friends. They were blown away that not only would I make a home delivery of their items, but also that we were not charging them due to the hassle they had gone through.?

No marketing could create such loyalty in customers as such experiences. This, and others like it, shaped my attitude towards customers and customer service at an early age. I would move mountains if necessary to satisfy a customer.

Partnership is More than Customer Service

So what’s my problem with the concept of Internal Customers??Simply, that internal stakeholders are not actually real customers. Real customers are those who pay for our services or products. The rest of us are partners in helping serve those people

That's why when I think about the customer service approach as it relates to my role as an HR professional (or equally for any support function – Finance, IT, Legal, etc.), I cringe at the thought of treating the business stakeholders as customers. The reason is that what the internal stakeholders want and what the business needs are not always aligned. Moving mountains for internal stakeholders may sometimes be necessary and good, but what if the mountain shouldn’t be moved? My job is not necessarily to give them what they want, rather to help the business achieve its objectives. Certainly, service is part of the equation, but it is only a part of it. Getting high grades for delivering great customer service can feel good, but it can also be counter-productive on those occasions when what is asked for is the wrong thing for the organization.?

It bears repeating that I understand and value the intent of creating a service oriented mindset. Many organizations have customer service as a core value or behavior.?Holding staff employees to equally high standards of customer service, therefore, often seems like a logical approach.?But I believe it has the potential to be damaging to the organization, the reputation of the support function, and even to the so-called “internal customers”.?

I believe the better model is that of partnership.?Line management and support functions should be partners together in serving the real customer – the one that opens his/her wallet (literally or figuratively), thereby giving us all an opportunity for our employment.?For me partnership requires a higher level of accountability than customer service. Finding ways to please customers is not really difficult when one has the right mindset. Partnership, on the other hand, means that I am accountable to the organization, to the shareholders, and to my partners (fellow employees at all levels) to do what’s right for the organization, not to just please my internal stakeholders.

In fact, a quick Google search on the definition of partner reveals the following:

"A person who takes part in an undertaking with another or others, especially in a business or company with shared risks and profits."

"Shared risks and profits" puts it into perspective for me. Whatever I can do to enable the best possible customer service will help us be successful together. This is why I’m partial to the title “business partner” for functional support groups (e.g. “HR Business Partner”).?

“So That …”

A number of years ago I used to keep a sign in my office that said “so that …”. It was a reminder to me that I should be able to work any activity into a sentence that can finish with “so that,” then a description of how it actually serves the ultimate customer. For example, if I’m working on succession planning, I could say, “I’m working on succession planning so that our organization can have the right leaders with the right preparation to deliver the service our customers expect.”?Or “I’m working on compensation so that we can attract and retain the talent that will inspire our customers”. It is really not difficult to make a connection for things that matter; but if the connection cannot be easily made, then my sign would remind me to focus on the things that matter most – for the customer.

Let’s be real about this.?Sometimes HR (and other functional) professionals must give tough feedback to internal partners/stakeholders, which sometimes includes our bosses, because that’s what will serve customers best.?Sometimes this means disagreeing with what they are asking, because there is no good “so that” equation. If I see those stakeholders as customers themselves, meaning that I would do almost anything to please them, then how can I deliver that tough message effectively??Yet, I have seen this behavior far too often in my career. It often sounds something like this: “they are the customer, I just need to give them what they want”.?I believe this mentality can get in the way of doing our jobs properly and truly adding value to the business.

What is Partnership?

So what does it mean to be a great partner? I believe the following things are an important start:

• Alignment on who the true customers are and how we should serve them, as well as on the levers that add value to this equation, and clarity about responsibilities towards them.
• Mutual accountability for everybody in the organization to achieve the expected results (see Partners in Leadership who have an awesome model around this, or the Oz Principle series of books).
• Commitment to help each other succeed in our joint endeavor to serve our customers and to help each other succeed.
• Open and honest communication about what we're doing, what's working and what's not working.
• Trust, transparency and openness that allow us to give honest and meaningful input and feedback.?This includes the ability to disagree and debate on the right course of action while on the path to alignment.?This is critical.

Summary

The things that make us great at customer service can impede our ability to be great partners. The opposite can also be true: the things that make us great partners are not necessarily the way would want to treat customers.?I believe the great leader understands how distinguish between the two.

*I cannot find the exact quote, despite a long search, although I'm fairly certain I read it in a Peter Drucker book. If any reader knows the source I would be very grateful if you could share it.

Brian Walker?is a global Human Resources executive.?He is passionate about strategic HR, transformational HR and culture.?Brian currently resides in Flower Mound, Texas.