The Issue:
Oceanic Time Warner Cable provides a diverse selection of entertainment and information services to nearly three-quarter of the households, schools and businesses across the state of Hawaii. Oceanic is a kamaaina, or Hawaii-grown, company that currently employs nearly 1,400 highly trained individuals statewide. An ongoing learning and development program is essential to meet the demands of the ever-changing dynamics of the industry’s technology, and this presented a tremendous opportunity to leverage Everything DiSC®.
Oceanic recognized a gap in staffing in 2004 and Everything DiSC® was rolled out to the senior leadership team. With a number of leaders on track for retirement, Oceanic was in need of clear succession planning, so leaders could transfer their skills and operations knowledge to the next generation of leaders.
As Oceanic offered the training, it became evident its sales and front-line customer service representatives could also benefit from the program. One of the core objectives for Oceanic was getting employees to communicate better, to enhance relations between co-workers and supervisors, and ultimately, enable the front line to deliver a world-class service experience to customers. Having a consistent training program could help achieve that objective and also impact its bottom line.
The Solution:
Oceanic Time Warner Cable has utilized a variety of Everything DiSC® solutions for its employees.
- DISC for the Workplace® – This was used in resolving issues between co-workers, improving communications within departments and providing customer service best practices with front-line employees, including Oceanic installers.
- DISC for Leaders® – This helped providing managers and supervisors with tools to conduct lively and productive discussion with employees. With successful results, it has become part of Oceanic’s curriculum for its Leadership Program at all levels.
- DISC 363® – This has also been utilized as part of the Leadership Program, helping to serve as a great baseline from which leaders are able to make quality changes.
- DISC for Sales® – Oceanic has customized this program to teach salespersons on how to better read and understand their customers and how to deflect any anger and minimize conflict with the company.
The Results:
The impact of the training programs have made significant impact on Oceanic Time Warner Cable, creating a workforce that is highly satisfied and loyal to the organization, and delivering top customer service that earns one of the highest satisfaction scores across the nation for parent company Charter Communications.
For front-line staff, they are better equipped to anticipate customer needs and questions, and better manage and resolve issues. For salespersons, they are better equipped to handle customer inquiries and empowered to implement the right and appropriate sales approach. For managers and supervisors, they are better equipped to manage their employees as well as their peers, opening the door to partnership, mentorship and collaboration.
The customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) have increased over 200 basis points in two years. The net promoter scores (NPS) have also seen a rise over 500 basis points in the same period. Hawaii’s Oceanic ranks as one of the highest customer scores in the Company across the nation.
In a 2016 Culture Survey, an overwhelming majority of employees responded and placed “training opportunities” and “the Company’s investment in development of talent” in the top five elements they are most proud of. Indicative of employee pride, Oceanic has one of the lowest attrition rates. Employees are also highly engaged outside of work, putting in thousands of volunteer hours in the past few years across many local community organizations.
Oceanic’s training and development programs have evolved into a high demand and sought-after learning opportunities, motivating employees to challenge themselves, transfer knowledge to others, and create a strong culture of continuous improvement.
