We’re almost there! One year into the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) and although many landlords will have been using the data throughout the year, this is the time to have some in depth analysis and some deep reflection. It’s time to get behind the figures and think about what you can do to make sure those scores go in the right direction. In my view, the second year will be the most important. The first year is a baseline, be it good, bad, or ugly. All the expectation hangs on what you do to improve from that baseline.
What can your tenants do?
To meet (and even exceed) the expectations of the social housing white paper, the revised consumer standards and increase satisfaction, there needs to be a commitment to working in partnership with tenants. This means openly sharing information and discussing all aspects of your organisation, even those you’d feel more comfortable keeping on the down low.
In my experience, tenants have new and creative insights and often reveal that our priorities are not aligned with theirs. Tenants are less likely to limit their thinking because of budgets, workplace culture or fear of getting it wrong, which means there is space for true ‘blue sky’ creativity. They have never failed to amaze me with their brilliance and if you don’t use this resource, you’re missing a trick.
But how can tenants help analyse the information?
The beauty of engaging with tenants is that there are a myriad of ways to get effective results. Here are some of the approaches I’ll be taking.
Which TSM has the biggest impact?
Insight colleagues and tenants should work in partnership to find out which TSMs make the most difference. For example, tenants know that there’s no quick and easy fix for repairs problems across the sector, but there are no insurmountable barriers to treating people with respect.
We all know that we can’t do everything at once, so action the measures that make the biggest difference to tenants.
What’s the ideal?
Once you’ve narrowed your focus, work with tenants to understand what a perfect world looks like. How does it look? How does it operate? How does it make them feel? Really explore that vision with them because often, the achievement of that vision will lie in an unexpected step.
Using this technique will enable you to see the gaps and tenants can tell you the steps you need to make to get to something better.
Keep the conversation going
Don’t allow analysis of the TSMs to be an annual event. Talk about them all the time, so they become part of the language for colleagues and tenants. Give your frontline teams a monthly theme and ask them to gather feedback from tenants they see day to day (where the situation is appropriate).
The research shows that sharing your results helps to improve them. Tenants will feel confident you know what the issues are and will be informed about what you’re doing to resolve them. They’ll know what to look for, rather than hanging on to old experiences that might not reflect the changes you’ve made.
Even more importantly, you’ll get real time feedback, so you’ll know if the changes you are making are working or not. And if they’re not? Foster a workplace culture that means you can chalk something up to experience and move to the next idea.
Close the feedback loop
Make sure that all the feedback and ideas you get from your tenants are acknowledged, and they receive information on what you did and how it worked. Not only is this good practice, but it will also make sure the flow of feedback keeps coming.
Find out who is happy and find out why
It’s easy to get caught up in solving problems and addressing concerns, but this mean losing sight of the good things, and forgetting to continue with them.
Look at areas where satisfaction is highest and take the time to find out why. It may be due to the style of the colleagues in that area, it may be down to the type of buildings, or how many trees there are (or aren’t). Whatever it is, tell your other tenants about it and find out if it is something that can be replicated.
Remember social housing stigma
If you’ve read some of my other blogs, you’ll know how crucial I think stigma is to satisfaction. It ties in with many of the TSMs and consumer standards and until we acknowledge it’s there and action it, we’re never going to achieve high satisfaction.
Helping tenants analyse the TSMs
If you’d like support to get your tenants involved with analysing the TSMs, Tentacles Consultancy can help. Visit the website or get in touch at info@tentaclesconsultancy.co.uk. I pride myself on ensuring a fun and interesting approach to getting your tenants engaged.
