Remediation programs can be perceived as legalistic, time consuming and expensive processes that wear the customer down. They are known to cause significant challenges for organisations, their customers and employees.

But they don't have to be like that.

Instead, remediation can be a key 'moment of truth' in an organisation's relationship with a client. How the organisation steps up will determine how their relationship plays out.

More and more, organisations are moving towards customer-centric remediation programs. It's a great start in getting the best outcomes for customers and for organisations. But a bigger, bolder step is needed.

A purpose-led remediation program

By embedding their own purpose and values into their remediation program, organisations have a golden opportunity to turn what was once a negative process into a positive experience that inspires customer and employee loyalty – and keeps regulators happy along the way.

It's when the going gets tough – and values are really tested – that organisations can shine, and make a lasting, positive impact on their stakeholders.

How to make this a reality is complex, and requires consideration throughout the three stages of the journey: setting the context, designing and then implementing the program.

1. Setting the context through purpose-driven measures of success

Anything purpose-led must start at the top. Organisational leaders need to deeply consider how remediating customers aligns with their purpose and values. These are personal and specific to each organisation – so a 'cookie-cutter' approach won't do. During this process, leaders will set out the key philosophy, principles and goals that will inform their program.

Organisations must have clarity – considering customers, regulators and employees – around what success should look like.
It's at this point that organisations often falter, setting financial or time-based key performance indicators, when their purpose and values may point to customer loyalty, retention or equity. By setting purpose-driven measures of success, leaders set the tone for a remediation program that reinforces their values.

2. Designing the program

Once the philosophy, key principles and goals are established, the remediation program must be designed to reflect them.

Key components to consider include:

• A governance framework that has mechanisms in place to ensure purpose and values are embedded in the program and enables appropriate oversight of them throughout its lifecycle
• Customer advocates to ensure customers' needs are genuinely being built in, and that customer communication is not just limited to the beginning and the end of the process
• Clear and measurable KPIs, reflecting the purpose-led objectives that leave little open to interpretation
• Regulatory requirements, ensuring alignment between purpose and regulator expectations. Regulators expect organisations to execute remediation programs as quickly as practical, demonstrate fairness and consistency and adhere to any regulatory direction or guidance.
• Decision making frameworks that are consistent with the organisation's purpose, vision and values and empower employees to make decisions framed around metrics that reflect them.

When difficult decisions are required, organisations can show their true colours. And when an organisation is brave and bold enough to put their purpose and values above all other metrics, customers will reciprocate with their loyalty”

Donna Worthington, Partner

3. Implementing the program

There is an important difference between establishing the direction of a remediation program and how people interpret it – its deployment. Firstly, organisations need to get the policy right. Secondly, leadership has to make sure that people are applying it with the right intent.

How individuals interpret the program and consider what it means in the context of a particular remediation is where success – or failure – can ultimately lie.

Like with any program relating to culture, testing is critical. Employees need to buy into what the organisation is trying to achieve, and independent reviews, as well as internal testing, are critical in giving leadership comfort that their purpose and values are being applied at every level.

In remediation, no matter how much is codified and systemised in the program design, there is always a requirement for subjectivity and judgement calls. Applying a purpose-led lens gives individuals working on the remediation a principle to fall back on. So even when decisions are difficult or subjective and the impacts are costly, the intent behind them is consistent and sound.

In addition, a common language and a common framework can accelerate decision-making, as all individuals involved have a clear sense of direction.

Partnering with external service providers

When external service providers are employed to support an organisation's remediation program, they are seen as an extension to the organisation. Organisations need to partner with service providers that have a shared set of values in relation to customers.

In practice, decision-making around external service providers is usually driven by cost and technology. However, if those are the only considerations, organisations are missing an important component. When service providers are measured only by their cost or speed, it drives a certain type of behaviour and outcome which may contradict organisational values.

Organisations need to consider a number of additional factors when partnering with external service providers. For example, they need to understand the external service provider's purpose and values. How are they tried and tested within their organisation? How are the organisation's purpose and values transferred to external service providers throughout the program?

Likewise, performance metrics within contracts with external suppliers should be aligned with the same values-based measures of success. If not, the organisation may risk a misalignment of incentives. For example, performance metrics to achieve a set number of file reviews per day could drive behaviour towards quick file assessments, which may result in the inadequate consideration of the customer's situation, thereby having a direct impact on the final assessment outcome. This would be an inequitable approach that may contradict organisational purpose and values.

Managing regulator relationships

Regulation requires organisations to handle remediation in a timely way. The risk, however, is that it pushes organisations to work harder and faster through remediation's – which can be at the expense of other values.

Organisations that apply a purpose-led narrative around their remediation programs have stronger grounds for decision-making. This gives a much more defensible context if regulators and other stakeholders raise concerns.

Taking a purpose-led approach gives organisations the opportunity to demonstrate how they have framed the whole program. This allows organisations to be transparent with regulators and give them confidence in the program.

A strong foundation for managing customer relationships

Designing and implementing a purpose-led remediation program gives organisations a strong foundation to tackle one of the more challenging parts of customer relationships. Giving all stakeholders and staff a common language in which to solve problems through their joint purpose and goals means that vulnerable customers can be heard and their needs genuinely considered.

By stepping up and turning remediation into a productive, empowering experience for clients, an organisation's key 'moment of truth' will reflect well on them – and their relationship with their clients will become stronger.

Then remediation will stop being viewed as an automated or machine-like process, and start to become more human-focused and ethical.

Contact us to find out more about partnering with us to develop an end-to-end remediation solution that reflects your organisation's purpose and values.