Regarding Sprint

Before Christmas, I wrote a bit about why I chose to work at Sprint. Two things happened this week that are compelling me to broach this topic a second time. First, the quarterly earnings report came out, along with the formal announcement that Sprint wrote off billions of dollars in goodwill. That triggered several media events, including a local radio talk show that hosted listeners calling in to rant about how much they dislike Sprint. The second thing that happened is I got a chance to talk to my Dad this week. Our discussion that day served as a sharp reminder of just how bad Sprint's reputation is.

Internally, lots of folks feel that the media is being overly harsh--that things aren't really as bad as "they" make it sound. As one who has only just recently joined the Sprint workforce, I can say I don't hold that view. I personally remember some very bad customer service experiences, and because of that, I think that the bad reputation is deserved. Compound that reputation with the low stock price (dipped way below $8/share this week) and news about yet another quarter of poor earnings reporting, and you get...depressed.

It is from within this context that I am now feeling the urge to defend my optimism about Sprint's future. Here are some things I'm seeing...

First, I've not had, nor have I been aware of anyone who has had a bad customer service experience in recent months. The steps that have been taken to resolve the bad customer service issues are working. The organization truly seems to be rallying behind its customer experience improvement efforts.

Second, I'm impressed with Sprint's new leadership changes, and it seems to be making a positive impression with many folks. During my first few weeks at Sprint, whenever I'd notice problems with processes or systems, fellow employees would often physically recoil, duck their heads and pleadingly say, "I know. Its...its bad, I know." This statement was followed by an apparent resolve to shrink the circle of influence just a bit and get back to work on the things they could directly affect. In more recent weeks, that has been changing. I'm seeing greater and greater examples of change. More folks are stepping into roles of accountability. Fewer end-to-end processes are "un-owned." We've still got a long way to go in this arena, but I'm definitely seeing positive momentum in this area.

Third, I'm excited about Sprint's new pricing model available to customers and prospective customers alike. Customers can get a flat rate with unlimited calling and data services (i.e. web, chat, email, etc.) for under $100/month. If you want to restrict the number of minutes of talk time, you can get a less expensive plan that also has unlimited data services. That's significantly cheaper than similar plans from any other competitor, and its on a significantly faster network. I love the data service I get on my Sprint phone. I have access to all of my personal and work email on my device all of the time, and its fast and easy to use. No waiting for things to download or upload. I like it. And I use the Internet and I especially like the Google Maps application on my phone...highly cool for finding where I'm going.

It takes time to turn around this many years of bad customer experiences, bad employee experiences, and lack of accountability for internal systems and processes. It takes time to fix the culture. But I buy-in to the whole "Good to Great" concept of the fly-wheel, and I'm seeing the right pieces coming together to help a large workforce move in one direction. The only question in my mind is, "Do we have time to course correct?" And for now, my answer is simply, "I sure hope so."

I'm having such a great time influencing positive change. This is work I love to do.