Who do you work for?

One of the Hospitals known for its advanced technology, faced a peculiar problem – In room number 101 that was meant for ICU patients, the patient died on 3 successive days exactly at 10.45 in the morning. Entire medical staff was completely foxed – In all the cases the patient concerned was fairly stable as per the morning 10.00 AM check-up. After expensive brainstorming session that involved senior specialists nothing really was conclusive. At the end of a 6 hours meeting, a senior doctor said – let’s just observe the room if the room undergoes any specific change at 10.30 in the morning – sounded little bizarre but they all agreed for the want of a better solution. As a couple of doctors observed the room 101 quietly from the corner next day morning, a sweeper came at 10.25 to mop the floor....he put down his bucket and started mopping the floor...came near the bed.....pulled a plug on the wall...neatly rolled up the wire that was spread on the floor...mopped the floor.... at about 10.35 as he finished the room, he put the plug back...mopped his hands on apron...looked at the room with a smile and walked away......both the doctors almost fainted...the plug that sweeper had pulled off was that of ventilator......

On enquiry it turned out that he was a new sweeper from Housekeeping Department. During an enquiry he made a very interesting statement – “During my brief when I joined, my supervisor told me that we support the doctors.... they are really our internal customers.... so do your job with dedication and don’t cut the corners... One of our core values is dedication which means do your job with you yourself as a supervisor!” While the entire hospital worked for ONE customer – “the patient” our innocent friend was working for some other customer.... with all good intention he just killed 3 customers!!

This story flashed in my mind as I was listening to Dr Wayne Brockbank from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. The topic of discussion was interesting...the concept of internal customer!

Many of us in HR and support function have been brought up on this beautiful concept of “Internal Customers”....apparently to make us accountable for something may be. Having worked in HR as well as Sales, I found Sales relatively easier in spite of being a qualified HR person....sounds little weird but this is how perhaps it works:

When I work with the external customer, I am at the forefront...I exactly know what stakes are on the table....what’s in it for me and what’s in it for my customer.....we both have a clear agenda....my customer knows what and why is he paying and I know his expectations....works out pretty fine

In this whole transaction a couple of things clearly help:
1. My awareness of the market conditions (competition being a subset of it) which gives me a fair idea of the customer’s options as well as my own bargaining power
2. When I sign up a customer, I know that he is going to work along with me to make it a success as he has put his hard earned money on the table...there are no other agendas!
Though the concept of internal customer sounds perfect, the support functions suffer on couple of accounts:
1. You just know a piece of work that you have to deliver, many a times without a big picture - unless you have a clear visibility and a direct access to the market and more importantly to the customer concerned
2. If your defined customer is sales or production (delivery in service organisations like IT)... you have a problem..... you would never know whether they are up to the mark servicing “THE ONLY CUSTOMER” an organization has.....not to mention at the end of it you have more than a suspicion if you are a scapegoat in case of a failure
While the onus clearly lies on HR professionals to come to the party with knowledge of marketplace along with their own functional competency.....we all must understand that the choice is really between HR as a partner or HR serving the internal customer..... you just can’t have your cake and eat it too!!!!