Taking charge - be a problem OWNER

I was at a dealership on Tuesday night trying to get our car fixed .... once again. Basically there is a glitch in the computer system that tells us we have low air in our tire basically all the time. I was mad this time because we DID have a low tire and the tire was almost flat. We had taken the car in before and they fixed the signal only to have it turn right back on the next day.

This time I pressed them a little bit on it. Now they told me it was an issue with the model in general. Their answer for me ... call the car company or send them a letter and they will then ensure it gets fixed. This had me more mad because I was wondering ... Don't you work for an authorized dealer of the same company?!

I am sure we have all been through this before ... someone at a company telling you they cannot get something resolved because it is either not their "department", they are not "authorized", or their company is set up where they are "just a contractor" or something like that.

All we want in these situations is COMFORT that our situation will be resolved. We want ownership of the problem. We do not want to know it is not "their problem" because we believe "our problem" is always their problem.

Remember this when dealing with your teams. Encourage "problem ownership". If you work with outside and/or inside "clients", empower younger staff to be problem owners when they arise at clients. They do not have to be "problem solvers"... maybe only someone else can do that. But the client wants to know someone will take charge for them and own the problem.