Continuous improvement of customer service never ends and requires an ongoing commitment to change. Salisbury, North Carolina, City Manager David Treme found this to be true when a survey showed that residents were ambivalent about how they were treated by city employees. It was then that he decided the city needed to take action and address the uncertain response by transforming organizational culture.

The August PM magazine cover story "A Customer Service Intervention in Local Government," explains how this transformation took place. The article was written by William Rivenbark, professor, School of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and ICMA member Evans Ballard, budget and benchmarking analyst, Salisbury.

The online article also includes a video with Treme and Ballard and more information on the strategies that were implemented.