Many of the most profitable companies today are also recognized as "best places to work" in their respective industries. Leaders of these companies have made a conscious decision to put their employees first. Turning your organization into a profitable, best place to work isn't about lavishing employees with incentives, perks, and creative work schedules. It's about providing the knowledge, tools, and direction to help employees see how their daily performance makes an impact on the company's success. I mean, let's face it, people don't get out of bed each day, brew their coffee and run off to work simply to make their boss and/or company owners more money. They do it to earn a living and to feel like they're making a difference. And the majority of companies often fail to make the connection between mission statements, values, brand promises, strategic goals/objectives, etc., and the day-to-day work of employees. Without giving employees direction on how to do all this "stuff," they can't possibly embrace it, commit to doing it, and (most importantly) take action to deliver great experiences for each other and for customers. Best companies to work for solve this dilemma by putting into practice what I call the “How Factors.” The How Factors are a simple, logical framework for ensuring that employees aren’t frustrated by an overload of “strategery” that they don’t know how to do or how to impact. There are three How Factors that every company should do: - Set clear behavior expectations. Develop and integrate proprietary brand-driven behaviors that clearly define what successful performance is at the company level and individual level by job function.
- Deliver strategic and consistent communication. Integrate expectations for doing these behaviors into critical leadership and human resource practices, including recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and performance assessments/evaluations. Then, continually educate and motivate employees through a strategic, performance-focused recognition program. If executed well, this program can also be used to capture and share the best practices that have the highest impact on achieving business results.
- Drive accountability for success. Measure employee understanding and action on the behaviors and experiences that bring the brand to life through performance assessments and evaluations. To fully evaluate success, managers also should measure performance against the clearly defined company strategy.
Companies that do these How Factors are rewarded for their efforts beyond financial benefits. If your company isn’t building respected and trusted relationships between management and employees, or employees aren’t taking pride in their work, get laser-focused on the How Factors. Set and communicate behavioral expectations and watch how accountability for success flourishes, putting your company on the pathway to being a more profitable, best place to work.
Every employee in your company comes to work each day with a set of beliefs that they have crafted through years of life experience. Employees have their own individual belief systems, which encourage them to behave in certain ways at work. Most companies are inconsistent at best in delivering a productive work culture and profitable customer experiences. Why? Because most companies have not defined what it is that employees should believe each day at work. By establishing a belief system for your company, you are able to set clear expectations for employees on what they are to "think" about your brand and what it means to the company, employees and customers. If you don't define your company's beliefs, you leave it up to each individual employee to define their own set of beliefs about your company and you lose the opportunity to guide their thoughts and actions. This ultimately leads to inconsistencies in employee behaviors (how employees do your brand) and in the experiences delivered to employees and customers. Think about companies you've interacted with that clearly don't have a belief system that employees buy-in to... Now think about the companies that do enroll their employees in a belief system that unites and drives the entire organization... Ask yourself...who would you rather work for or do business with?
Here's an image I've created to go along with the Experience Gap I wrote about earlier this week. Where does your company fall? What ways are you engaging employees to deliver consistent, above average customer experiences? 
Recently, I was sitting on an airplane next to a woman from Bain Consulting. She told me about a study that revealed 81 percent of senior leaders believe their organization delivers superior customer service while only 8 percent of their customers agree. The study refers to the problem as a “Customer Service Gap.” I call this the “experience gap,” whose root cause is a lack of employee engagement.
The largest opportunity to improve sales and increase productivity (lower costs), which leads to better profits, is to engage the workforce in the delivery of WOW experiences. WOW experiences require employees to understand, commit, and take action to behave the branded experience. Ask yourself: Where does my workforce, team, or department fall on the Employee Engagement/ Customer Experience Continuum?
Level 1: “I‟m not engaged.” Level 1 employees typically have an “I don’t care” attitude, distrust management, provide inconsistent customer service (usually due to lack of process and training), and do not see how they make a difference every day at work. They are unhappy at work and regularly act out their unhappiness.
Customer Experience Result: Bad experience; low retention; no consistency = no loyalty
Level 2: “I‟m somewhat engaged.” These employees may have some understanding of your organization’s purpose, brand, and promise made to customers; however, a lack of appreciation and recognition for a job well done helps fuel uncertainty regarding whether or not the workforce as a whole is really committed to taking care of customers. These employees may not leave your organization voluntarily, and in fact, many of them “quit and stay” (ouch!).
Customer Experience Result: Unreliable experience; not satisfied or loyal; low retention
Level 3: “I‟m engaged.” Employees at this level begin to understand how their actions make a difference on the organization’s overall success. They understand performance expectations and have walked a mile in the customer’s shoes, yet they still distrust management somewhat and lack confidence in the organization’s ability to deliver a consistent customer experience.
Customer Experience Result: Inconsistent experience, which sometimes leads to frustration; somewhat satisfied, but still not loyal
Level 4: “I‟m very engaged. (I think, speak, and behave the brand.)” Employees here clearly understand the brand of the organization and the experience being promised. They are focused on what to do for customers and are becoming more committed to behaving the brand and delivering the desired experience. These employees feel empowered (properly trained) on how to do the right thing.
Customer Experience Result: Consistent, above average experience; sense of belonging that leads to loyalty
Level 5: “I‟m extremely engaged. (I am an experience stager.‟)” These are your star performers who are passionate advocates of your organization’s brand. They love working for your organization and tell people about their experience. They feel appreciated for their efforts and are confident in their ability to provide consistent, above average, and sometimes even WOW experiences to customers.
Customer Experience Result: Extreme brand loyalty, which leads to increased referrals; customers here feel as if they are “members” of your brand, i.e., a part of your cult following.
As you've probably heard, Zappos was recently acquired by Amazon. Prior to this announcement, Zappos had already made quite a name for itself, consistently being featured in well-known publications (from Fortune and Entrepreneur to Inc., just to name a few) for its outstanding culture and focus on the customer experience. How will the Amazon acquisition affect what has made Zappos so successful? If Zappos Ceo Tony Hsieh's e-mail to employees is any indication, it won't change a thing. The CEO e-mail is a huge employee communication touchpoint, one that can easily be strategic, compelling, and effective or fall flat, hurt the work culture, and diminish employee engagement. What makes Tony Hsieh's e-mail so great? Well there are a few things I will call out specifically: 1. He gets right to the point. Employees are probably wondering/worrying about what the Amazon deal will mean to them and their current job. One of the first things Mr. Hsieh writes in the e-mail is, "We plan to continue to run Zappos the way we have always run Zappos." 2. He documents the benefits to the company and employees, first in a concise bulleted list, and more extensively later in the email. 3. He anticipates and addresses employee's questions, such as "Will I still have a job?"; "Will the Zappos culture change?"; and whether or not the leadership will remain the same. 4. He ties the decision and reasons behind it back to their core values and emphasizes that the employees are the true driver of the brand and work culture. This is just a summary of what makes the e-mail successful. If you are interested in reading more, the full text can be found here: http://blogs.zappos.com/ceoletter. Tony Hsieh understands what it takes to build a strong culture, and it's no surprise that Zappos has been so successful. If your company was going through a similar change tomorrow, how would you communicate to your employees?
I was speaking to an audience of business leaders a few weeks back and one of the leaders asked me a great question, the gentleman asked:
"What is the greatest "branded" experience you've ever had?"
I thought for a second and then almost broke into tears of joy in describing the experience I had with the "man in the white jumpsuit"...
 "You look like you might need some assistance. May I help you get to your next Disney adventure?" the man asked as he approached us. Naturally, my wife and I obliged." Your daughters would love the Beauty and the Beast Show that begins in 45 minutes. I would suggest one of you get in line for that now. Also, in about five minutes, Mickey Mouse will be coming out 30 feet behind me. Why don't one of you take the kids there and then meet up at the Beauty and the Beast Show line? That way, your kids won't need to wait very long for either attraction." He completed the experience by providing precise directions and a map on how to get to the Beauty and the Beast entrance.
What is truly amazing to me about this experience is that Disney recognizes that their maintenance workers are major frontline customer touchpoints. Therefore, they should be trained and equipped with the capabilities, skills, and knowledge to be social coordinators. They also realize that positive experiences will be communicated by happy customers to potential new customers. While this man was dressed and accessorized for cleaning the park, he was equipped with way more than a broom and dust pan. Not only was he friendly, professional, and knowledgeable of daily attractions, he knew quite a bit about avoiding long lines.
Don't think for one second this gentleman showed up for work his first day understanding how to deliver a flawless customer experience as a maintenance worker. He was enrolled in the Disney culture/brand and trained on behaviors that demonstrate everyone in the company, regardless of title, role, etc., is responsible for delivering a memorable customer experience.
Is your company a theme-park where you make "dreams come true"? Probably not... but, like Disney, you should be fanatic about designing and delivering memorable customer experiences no matter what industry you work in.
What does it look like in your business to orchestrate and deliver meaningful experiences that delight your customers? Give it more than lip-service and philosophical nods of importance, and get to work designing your customer experience.
Recently I was checking in to a hotel and was greeted by the front desk receptionist. She was wearing a button with bright red letters that read, “Service 10.” This caught my attention and I immediately asked her what “Service 10” was all about. Unfortunately, for the receptionist, here’s how our conversation went: Me: What is “Service 10”? Receptionist: (Blank stare) Me: Certainly it must mean something? Receptionist: (Looks over to manager at next terminal and asks, “What is 10 Service? Can you help me explain it?”) Me: Never mind. Now, this was not a random motel on the interstate. It was a high-end hotel chain that any leader in corporate America would know about—a chain selling rooms for more than $150 per night. Later that day, I found a sign in the lobby telling customers that “Service 10” was the company’s goal to provide great customer service. Considering that the main point of contact for checking in a guest didn’t even know the definition of great service, I knew that my stay probably wouldn’t deliver an experience worthy of rave reviews. This is a great example of why some companies have employees who are consistently poor at delivering customer service, while others seem to be able to “outbehave” the competition, leading to stronger business results. Winning organizations understand that employees are constantly onstage, exhibiting behaviors as part of their performance and orchestrating the memorable experiences that help attract and retain business.
|