Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 12, 1 December 2016 — Self-Assessment's Second Question: Who ls Our Primory Customer? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Self-Assessment's Second Question: Who ls Our Primory Customer?

We 1 c o me to my Decemb .e r eolumn of the Ka Wai Oial Hau'oli Kekemapa! Mele Kalikimaka! Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Last month, we looked at the first question of SelfAssessment whieh was: What is our Mission? This month, I will discuss the

secona question: Who Is Our Primary Customer? We don't have "Customers"... that word is a Marketing term! We have elients, recipients, patients, kupuna, and students! Rather than debate 'language,' I want to ask the question: "Who must be satisfied for OHA to achieve results? It's when you answer this question that

you define your customer. I know it is very tempting to say, "But there is more than one primary customer"! But effective organizations resist this temptation, and keep to a focus — the primary customer. Identify The Primary Customer Let me give you a positive example of identifying and concentrating on the primary customer in a eomplex setting like OHA. Right now, the latest survey results of our mission to our beneficiaries show the following as its high priority: To increase people's eeonomie and social independence. OHA has over 35 programs or more, and for over 36 years, they have been to help the physically handicapped, single mothers who want to get off welfare, older workers who have

been laid off, kupuna and elderly with no plaee to live and who need caregivers, people with persistent mental illness, those struggling against long-term ehemieal/aleohol dependency, and those in need of affordable rentals/housing. All of these people belong to the Primary Customer Group: Persons with Multiple Barriers. Our primary customer

is not necessariiy someone you ean reach, someone you ean sit down with and talk to directly. Primary customers might be infants, or endangered species, or members ofourfuturegeneration. Whether or not you have active dialogue, identifying the primary customer puts your priorities in order and gives you a reference point for critical deci-

sion-making. Customers Are Constantly Changing Often, the customer is one step ahead of us. Their numbers will change as they will heeome more diverse. Their needs are more critieal in this environment today ... their wants and aspirations will evolve. They are customers that we, OHA, must satisfy to achieve our results. These may be individuals who really need the service, want the service, but not in the way it is available today. An OHA that is devoted to 'results' — always with regard to its basic integrity — will adapt and change as their Customers (Beneficiaries) needs do. Know your Customer, your Beneficiaries! Be safe, Malama until next year! A hui hou, Trustee Leina'ala Ahu Isa ■

Leina'ala Ahu lsa, Ph.D. Trustee, At-large

Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou from Trustee Ahu lsa, Lady Garreft and Alvin Akee. - Courtesy photo.