I have been running a series of Speed Thinking sessions for a major airline as part of their emphasis on customer service.  Why Speed Thinking? Well if you are stuck in a line you hope that the person behind the counter can look after you quickly and efficiently. Speed is the new expectation of customers world-wide. They are comparing the broadband speed they achieve over the internet with the slow response times of business to their complaints. Not surprisingly, customers are not happy.

So what to do about it? Teaching front line staff to think quicker might be one option.

Lets return back to the airline–in the past two groups (39 people) I have asked people to rate themselves on how fast they are thinking at the beginning of the session (on a ten point scale, 1-slow, 10 very fast).
 
Their average score was 6.10
 
At the end of the 1.5 hour session I asked them the same question and their average score increased to 7.46 -this is an increase of 22.3%!
 
This is a small sample and it is self-scored but imagine how more productive your team can be or how the service experience can be enhanced by being able to think 22% quicker.
 
Imagine being able to free up 20% of your time. You could go to the gym or spend more time with your family or just go home early. Not to mention that Speed Thinking also has a positive impact on your mood and morale as well.

Imagine the edge you will have on your competitor. You can be better, faster.