| |
Last month I was invited to share the platform with Mr. Tom Peters, Dr. Steven Covey and many other service gurus at the World Conference on Customer Service Management. I was honored to have the opportunity to share some private time with Dr. Steven Covey who presented me with two thoughts I suggest we all think about.
ONE: Dr. Covey asked, "What is your purpose?" What a great question considering I recently read that, "Ninety-five percent of all managers today say the right thing. Five percent actually do it". With the wide variety of companies that I work with, I find it to be true that very few managers are actually know what their purpose is. He then stated that once we define our purpose, that would define the entire organization. I honestly believe that the majority of the managers I come in contact with really want to do a good job, they just have not been taught the difference between the two.
TWO: He stated that we don't manage people, we manage things.
The real tragedy is these are the individuals who are being given the awesome responsibility to lead a workforce of individuals (the front-line employees) who are interfacing with the customer and will ultimately determine the success or failure of the company.
I spent months working with one property that has a tremendous amount of potential. Unfortunately the property manager's response to almost every suggestion for improvement was, "I just don't have the time." Of course he always made sure he was compensated with additional time off when he was required to work late or on weekends. This "manager" had no sense of what the responsibilities of leadership were. There was very little understanding of what dedication, commitment, communication and teamwork is all about, not only to the company, but to his employees as well.
The successful leaders will be daily coaches and trainers who have achievable, measurable goals and objectives established. They will have a sense of urgency and a pro-active vision for the future that is focused on meeting and exceeding the needs, desires and expectations of the customer and front-line employee.
As stated by Mr. Warren Bennis, "whips and chains are no longer an alternative. Leaders must learn to change the nature of power and how it's employed." Excellence in customer service is not achieved in the corporate boardroom, but rather on the front-line. If the company leadership is going to require that the front-line employee create a superior experience for the customer, then management had better have a plan and be prepared to create this same experience for the employee.
A yearly pat on the back, review and annual raise won't cut it. Employee moral, motivation, teamwork and loyalty cannot be bought. This is where many "managers" fail miserably. To be an effective leader, one must be an effective communicator. This requires being taught how to be an effective listener. Everything a leader does is based on communication, half of which is seeking feedback.
I find the employees answering the phones (Approximately 82% of potential customers make the decision whether to do business with a company based on the way the phone is answered.) and working on the front-line have great ideas about the future success of the company. They deserve to and should be included in the decisions that affect their employment and the company. Weekly, or a the very least, monthly focus groups with employees should be taking place in which the employees are encouraged to participate in the decision making process concerning the "issues of the day."
The sharing of information between company leadership and the front-line employee must be continual, occur on a daily basis and go far beyond just the interests of the individual. These employees may not always have the answers or the best ideas, but they deserve to be given the opportunity to find this out for themselves. This can be successfully achieved without sacrificing service.
Effective communication will go a long way in the establishment of a team where the individual efforts of the employees are focused on and directed towards the success of the organization as a whole.
Creative and flexible systems must be in place, which allows the employee to serve the customer best. A job design enabling the employee to complete the task assigned with a sense of accomplishment and achievement is mandatory. In addition, the employee must be given the freedom to honestly fail and learn from those failures.
Front-line employee moral has been proven to directly affect profits. The higher the moral, the higher the profits and if this is to be achieved, successful leaders will be those who can get a group of different individuals all moving in the same direction with a common goal, clear focus and a purpose.
Back to Published Columns Page |
|
