ARCHIVED - Brief Case Studies of Exemplary Practices

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DFAIT Canadian Trade Commissioner Service

The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (CTCS), as part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), works closely with its partners and clients to promote Canadian economic interests abroad by helping Canadian companies meet their international business development objectives. The CTCS' partners include business associations, other government departments and provincial and municipal governments, and its clients are export-ready Canadian companies, which have researched and selected their target markets.

Headquartered in Ottawa, with 135 offices abroad at DFAIT posts, the CTCS works with businesses, governments, industry associations and other agencies to help its clients succeed in the global marketplace. In 1998, the CTCS carried out an extensive series of focus groups with its clients across Canada to gain a clearer understanding of their needs and expectations. This resulted in the CTCS undertaking a major organizational renewal, known as "New Approach to Serving Canadian Business Abroad". Under the "New Approach", the CTCS provides clients with the following six core services:

• advice and intelligence on potential for doing business in the foreign market, and on opportunities and barriers
• identification of foreign contacts with local knowledge who can help its clients refine and implement their international marketing strategies
• information on foreign organizations or companies in its clients' target market
• advice on the preparation and timing of its clients' business trips, including local customs, business practices and etiquette
• hold face-to-face briefings with its clients to learn more about their organizations' objectives, review the latest market and policy trends, provide guidance and discuss their future needs
• troubleshooting by helping clients to explore solutions to important strategic or urgent market access issues and helping advocate Canadian positions

The CTCS delivers its services to its clients through several delivery channels: e-mail, in-person, Internet, telephone, trade fairs and, to a much lesser extent, mail. The CTCS Service Commitment applies equally to all delivery channels.

Service Standards in Use

The CTCS is applying the National Quality Institute's Framework for Effectiveness as a tool to facilitate the implementation of the New Approach and improve service. The CTCS is a Gold Member of the NQI, and the Overseas Operations Division, which is a headquarters unit, has achieved the NQI's Progressive Excellence Program (PEP) Level One certification. The Division's mission is to help the CTCS in Canada and abroad deliver the best possible service to its clients by fostering continuous improvement, developing service policies and supporting their application, and promoting the CTCS.

The CTCS initiated the use of annual client satisfaction surveys to determine whether clients were satisfied with the changes being undertaken as part of the New Approach. The CTCS conducted client surveys in 1999 and 2000 with almost 2,000 randomly selected clients, based on input from each CTCS office abroad that submitted a sufficient list of clients. Telephone interviews with client partners and companies were carried out by an independent consulting firm under contract to the CTCS (and not as part of an evaluation carried out by the DFAIT evaluation unit) to find out the client satisfaction levels with the six core services and their suggestions for service improvement for each trade office.

As well, employee surveys were carried out to find out about their concerns related to assisting clients and the New Approach.

As a result of the consultations preceding the New Approach, the CTCS developed and published its service standards, within the context of a Service Commitment, in its brochures and on its Internet website http://www.infoexport.gc.ca/ so that both clients and employees will have a clear, shared understanding of the type of service that clients should expect. The Service Commitment service standards require CTCS to:

• contact the client within five working days of receiving the inquiry
• treat all requests confidentially
• provide the services listed above at all of its trade offices abroad

Although the CTCS has a timeliness service standard, it does not yet have a mechanism in place in the trade posts worldwide to monitor performance against this standard. At this time, it relies on its client surveys to monitor if clients believe that they are contacted within the five days.

In its efforts to achieve the client-focused New Approach, the CTCS is undertaking a cultural shift, with (a) greater emphasis on a clearer statement of what services are to be offered to clients, (b) clearer service standards, (c) client and employee surveys to obtain their input on what service improvements are required, and (d) detailed performance measures. In turn, the cultural shift required not only strong leadership from the ADM and the Deputy Minister for International Trade, but also an experienced and credible headquarters supporting team dedicated to facilitating the ongoing transition. This team, the Post Support Unit, within the Overseas Operations Division, views the CTCS field officers abroad as its clients and is dedicated to helping CTCS clients and staff make the service transition through provision of service policies, guidelines and best practices available to staff worldwide on an Intranet website.

To help achieve the New Approach, the CTCS engaged consultants to prepare a plan or "blueprint", outlining how the CTCS must sustain and build on the service improvements envisaged by the New Approach. The blueprint is entitled New Approach@Work, and complements the SII, with its focus on people and eService and information tools, including the development of an electronic Client Relationship Management (CRM) or eCRM system. The blueprint recommends that skills and competencies and tools be identified and developed so that CTCS managers and staff can be trained appropriately and be better able to implement and sustain the New Approach.

Exemplary Practices

The CTCS has exhibited the following exemplary practices in its approach to developing, implementing, monitoring and using its service standards:

• commitment to annual client surveys and to sharing the results with interviewees. Summaries of the results from the 1999 and 2000 surveys were sent to each interviewed client and was posted on the Internet website. Interviewees were asked if they wanted to discuss anything with an appropriate CTCS manager; and then the manager called them back to discuss the specific issue.
  
  The client survey planned for 2001 will ask questions more specific to the SII, and may adopt the Common Measurements Tool (CMT) approach.
  
  
• responding to client needs and expectations by implementing service improvements based on their priorities for improvement. The clients' response to the survey and to the CTCS' reaction has been very positive.
• a toll-free 1-888 Client Feedback Line, instituted in 1999 and highlighted in CTCS brochures and its website, to allow clients to voice complaints, compliments and suggestions. CTCS pays attention to client feedback.
• encouraging posts to submit any letters or communications that they receive from clients to the Overseas Operations Division so that the Division will have a better handle on client complaints and be better able to identify opportunities for improvement.
• having CTCS senior management and the Deputy provide specific feedback from client surveys to the CTCS post managers and Heads of Missions. The 97 posts, which had the sufficient number of clients in the survey, received its individual customized feedback report on the Client Survey 2000 on two separate occasions between January and March 2001. In January 2001, the Chief Trade Commissioner sent a personal e-mail message to each Trade Program Manager and the post report was attached; the Director General of the Geographic Bureau and the Director, Overseas Operations Division were copied on the message. Posts that did not participate in the Client Survey 2000 received a message that their participation is expected in the next survey.
  
  Following this, the Deputy Minister for International Trade sent a personalized and hand signed letter to each Head of Mission referring to the post's performance in the client survey. Along with this letter, the relevant section of the EX PMP (Performance Measurement Program) was attached (making it clear that the Head's performance assessment will be based on part on the post's participation in and response to regular client and employee surveys), as well as a copy of the post report and the overall report.
  
  
• annual employee surveys (1998 and 2000) of all CTCS employees worldwide to find out about their concerns related to assisting the clients, e.g., workload, communication, training and tools, their level of satisfaction, their suggestions for service improvement, and their perceptions of client needs and expectations. The surveys were carried out by an independent consulting firm.
• working to increase client and employee satisfaction in tandem. CTCS management recognizes that satisfied employees are essential to achieving satisfied clients, but acknowledging that satisfied employees are not sufficient.
• commitment of CTCS senior management to responding to results from employee survey. CTCS senior management developed an action plan of 37 commitments in response to the 1998 employee survey, and in 2000 took stock with employees by reporting that DFAIT had made a positive effort on two-thirds of the identified commitments. Some of the improvements include more focused training, additional staff and over-time pay.
• strong support from the Deputy Minister for International Trade. The Deputy wrote to the Clerk of the Privy Council in February 2001 to inform him of the progress and success of the CTCS innovative initiative in citizen-centred service delivery, i.e., the New Approach for improving assistance to Canadian exporters. In the letter, the Deputy talked about the CTCS dealing with clear service standards, client surveys and performance measurement. The Deputy acknowledged that strong leadership and an experienced and credible supporting team, along with extensive consultation and communication, are crucial to facilitate the transition from the old culture to the New Approach and to achieve buy-in. The letter brought a positive response from the Clerk.
  
  As mentioned above, the Deputy sent a personalized and hand signed letter to each Head of Mission referring to the post's performance on the Client Survey 2000.
  
  
• establishing an appropriately resourced Post Support Unit dedicated to helping staff and clients make the service transition through provision of service policies, guidelines and best practices available to staff worldwide on an Intranet website.
• to better serve clients and to monitor performance against service standards, CTCS will be improving its electronic service delivery by developing an eCRM system for implementation in 2003-04 at all trade posts worldwide. An eCRM system, as outlined in the blueprint New Approach@Work, will support contact management with clients and allow tracking and co-ordination of activities, time spent and interactions with clients across the full client management cycle and service delivery process. The eCRM will facilitate monitoring of performance against service standards, especially timeliness. As well, the eCRM will allow for client surveys to be carried out on-line.
• learning from the "best". CTCS spent some time visiting a number of companies, especially American Express, to learn from other organizations that are recognized as being in the "best" category.
• current testing of the internationally recognized NQI's Framework for Effectiveness as a transition facilitation tool. The CTCS adopted the NQI Framework to replace its in-house Performance Management Initiative (PMI).

Lessons Learned

Need for a Plan

1. Developing a five year strategic plan or blueprint to guide the implementation of service improvements, such as the New Approach@Work, allows clients and all levels of staff to "connect the dots" and buy into a common vision and a comprehensive and coordinated approach. This approach creates expectations, but also consolidates commitment.

   Need to Gain Credibility with Clients

2. Encouraging feedback and more specifically information on expectations and priorities from clients through the surveys and feedback hotline, and then informing them of how their input has influenced CTCS' decisions and actions increases CTCS' credibility with its clients.

   Need to Earn Commitment and Credibility of Staff

3. Providing customized feedback to specific groups of staff, especially from the Deputy and other committed senior managers, heightens staff accountability and commitment to service improvement.
4. Recognizing the link between employee satisfaction and client satisfaction, and taking action to improve employee satisfaction enhances credibility and commitment of staff to service improvement. The CTCS clearly recognizes that people provide services. Since the CTCS' services require a combination of knowledge, commitment and problem-solving, high service quality requires a staff that is well trained and highly motivated. The CTCS has moved to address this need by instituting a variety of activities that serve to maintain high morale and to make the best use of the available human capital.
5. Seeing an active demonstration of commitment by CTCS senior management and especially the Deputy to collecting and using both client and staff information gives the overall service improvement initiative greater credibility. Furthermore, having a headquarters unit, headed by a Director, dedicated to planning, promoting and coordinating service improvement for front-line service delivery organizations and staff and supporting the staff in the trade posts facilitated the acceptance and implementation.

   Using Technology well can Help

6. Harnessing technology to monitor performance against service standards and to provide better information on performance and service improvements. This is to be achieved by implementing the eCRM system in 2003-04.

   Learn from Others

7. Learning from the "best" in the private sector and elsewhere (in this case from American Express) was very useful in helping CTCS decide on what it wants to achieve and how to do it.
8. Using an established and credible management framework (in this case the NQI framework) and working to achieve certification and recognition from an independent body further enhances the credibility of the overall service improvement initiative among clients and staff. Such a management framework also provides a recognized and clearer road map for achieving the desired improvements that was relatively easy to adapt, and allows the organization to expend its resources on achieving the service improvements rather than on developing a road map.

   Focus on Drivers of Client Satisfaction

9. Recognizing that client satisfaction is driven by more than just timeliness, in its surveys CTCS also focuses on knowledge, competence and the ability of trade officers to go the 'extra mile'. The fact that these 'drivers' are difficult to measure has not reduced CTCS' commitment to them.

Contact

For more information on the services provided by the CTCS, please contact:

Peter MacArthur
Director, Overseas Operations Division
Trade Commissioner Service Overseas Programs and Services
International Business and Chief Trade Commissioner
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
613-996-2964

Claire Newell
Trade Commissioner
Overseas Operations Division
Trade Commissioner Service Overseas Programs and Services
International Business and Chief Trade Commissioner
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
613-944-0493

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