broken windows - part 2

i promised a follow up with my thoughts on broken windows, finally i have the time to do it!!

Our vice president gave a talk at a meeting a couple of months back, about the need to improve our customer service as a company. we have slipped to the third largest market share of Energy Services companies in the UK. This was a direct result of poor customer service. He showed the analogy of the broken windows and how it relates to our company. When someone is performing badly, and others witness this, they see it as being acceptable and copy it. Before you know it the majority are performing poorly. Then this poor standard becomes the norm.
I was really impressed with the presentation, maybe not so impressed with how the problem would be addressed internally. But it certainly made me think. Then that night me and Kim went to Tesco to do some shopping. When we were done we put the shopping in the boot of the car. Kim then went to drop off the trolley. But instead of putting the trolley back in the bay they are kept in, she just left it on the walkway. When she got in the car I asked her why she did that. "Well" she said, "look over there, someone else has dumped their trolley as well" It kinda hit me, this was our VP's broken window analogy in practice again.
I couldn't get it out of my head, it stayed there for a few days, mostly thinking of how it fitted into a work environment. Then I realised that the broken window analogy was typical of my life cycle. I start a diet on a Monday, three four days it is going fine, i am exercising and eating well, then maybe one thing goes wrong, i have to work late, or i have bad day, and the diet goes out the window, followed by the fitness routine, then it all goes to pot. Everything works in relation to everything else. So the key to all this is to stop the broken windows, or if one does get broken to repair it straight away!!