Case Study
Purpose
Imagine the possibilities, even the power, when everyone is pointed in the same direction with the same higher purpose in mind. If there is an example of this, it might be found in, of all places, the federal government. After being mandated by Congress into making performance improvements, the Office of Federal Student Aid set about to identify “best in business” practices on how to deliver world-class service.
Process
FSA selected The Public Strategies Group, who became their transformation partner. They then worked with Jeff Kober at the Disney Institute, whose approach to customer service is world-renowned. The Management Council first participated in a custom-designed program developed for FSA by Jeff and the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida. From there, they brought Jeff Kober on board full-time through the Public Strategies Group to establish a new service mission to “Help Put America Through School”. It also identified service initiatives to implement FSA’s service standards, based on Jeff’s own experience working with other organizations at Disney to establish their service standards.
Payoff
Over the next few years, the following occurred:
- FSA’s scores on the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index dramatically rose.
- Student loan default rates (close to 20%) were driven to record lows (down to 5%).
- Collections were driven to record highs.
- Employee satisfaction surveys shot from 38th out of 48 federal agencies to fourth, recording one of the biggest one-year improvements on a Gallup employee satisfaction survey ever recorded for a federal agency.
Moving forward the agency worked to modernize and integrate its systems, secured a clean audit, was removed from the GAO’s high-risk list, and has trimmed its budget. All of these initiatives had their beginnings from creating their own balanced scorecard of improved customer satisfaction, improved employee satisfaction, and reduced unit costs.
