ABSTRACT
Focus groups can be set up to give people opportunities to brainstorm their ideas about customer service and to realize the potential of team involvement. One comment may spark another and so on. Focus groups should begin with questions that are prepared. Being a strategic partner means understanding where the organization is going in the future and helping it get there. It involves taking into account what leaders think is important regarding major outcomes and mission, and partnering to achieve those results. An assessment of future directions usually identifies emerging issues and trends that will have a major effect on a business and its customers over a two-to three-year period. The assessment helps a business develop goals and programmes that proactively anticipate and address the future, and position the organization to influence the future. Results of an assessment provide a rationale for developing company and departmental goals and for making policy and budgetary decisions.
