I was giving a series of speeches to the good folks build the Geo Prism back in the eighties. Toyota and Chevrolet decided to get together to build the new car in their Freemont, California plant. Go figure, they utilized a Japanese management team and an American Union Labor work force, mixing oil and water.

The plant had something it called Mayday. Mayday identified the problem area utilizing a specific kind of music that played. Everyone would drop what they were doing in other departments and help the problem area with a solution. I had to ask the question: "What did the union have to say about that?" Their answer: "They had never heard of that."

There's a scientific fact about a boat… you can't sink half of one. The whole boat floats or sinks. Keeping the plant afloat is the key!

Two of my recent speaking engagements were remarkably similar and yet totally different kinds of audiences. The first was to the good folks at the Diocese or Orlando, Florida and the second was before the Clerk of Courts Office for Osceola County, Florida.

The Florida connection isn't the only similarity. My presentation to both these groups focused on customer service and was based on my new book titled "It's the Customer, Stupid!" (John Wiley & Sons).

The obvious thing that comes to mind is the whole issue of customers. After all, neither the benevolent people in the Diocese or Orlando nor the Clerk's Office has traditional customers who come in to buy something. However, I contend they have both internal and external customers.

The co-workers one works with, for and around are the internal customers. One of the big challenges speakers and consultants like yours truly face is getting the team members to actually talk to one another.

Departments typically operate in their own little silos and often don't so much as venture down the hall to see what their peers in another silo have to deal with on a daily basis.

The fact is that people who walk into both the Diocese of Orlando and the Clerk of Court's Office both have similar and specific problems that need solutions. The Diocese is often dealing with people in dire need of financial help, counseling and other problems.

The same could be said for the Clerk's Office, who entertains a wide variety of problems ranging from probate to divorce. The same frustrations and angst tends to exist in both places and the folks who work in both venues are often the target of the client's frustrations.

Each entity has internal and external customers. Getting the internal customers (the co-workers) to communicate with one another is a major challenge. Many don't cohabitate in "other silos" or "departments" and don't know that a department down the hall might be exactly what the judge ordered, not to sound too metaphorical. They need to be cross-trained in order to better serve the client's needs.

In today's unique "it's all about me" world, I'm reminded of the now famous photograph that first appeared on the internet years ago where the line painters from the Arizona Department of Transportation actually painted over the road kill that lay decaying I the middle of the highway. It was titled "It's Not My Job!"

The fact is… serving the external customer is everyone's job, whether they are traditional clients who come to you to buy something or if they are there to request help. The internal customer is a fellow co-worker down the hall who may have the solution to the external customer's problem. And while it's not your department to solve the client's problem, it would be nice if you were cross-trained to at least know who could provide the solution.

Traditional hierarchal thinking is not to mix the silos. Both Karen Beary, who oversees the Diocese of Orlando's programs and Malcolm Thompson, who is the Osceola County Clerk of Court, have similar problems. They need to get their respective departments to communicate with one another in order to better serve the client, thus the reason for customer service training.

One solution we consultants have recommended to our clients over the years is a weekly WebEx or Go to Meeting session which allows the silos to talk directly to one another. Getting each silo to host a session is the key. They get to tell what their department does and how they do it, which cross trains other departments.

The end result is hopefully both Malcolm Thompson and Karen Beary can better equip their people to reach out and help the clients they serve with practical solutions.