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“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customers. I think you build one with your employees first.”
That statement was from Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberrys and now headed to Apple as new retail and online leader. She joins them this week.
Employees First, Customers Second was the title of a book a few years back by CEO Vineet Nayar of HCL Technologies. He wrote that by putting employees first and his customers second, he was able to build the world’s largest IT Firm.
I have always marveled at how leadership within a company always
extols the value of building the customer value proposition. They eat,
breath, and sleep it. Everyone on the team is striving to make it happen
every day.
Employees as a value proposition
However the other — and most important – value proposition is, and
should always be, the major focus of all organizations today, and that
is the proposition around employees.
When I read Vineet Nayar’s book, I got it right away. The notion is
that if you take care of your people they will surely take care of your
customers. If you do not take care of them, they will not adequately
take care of your customers. That is just plain old common sense.
That thinking is more important than ever today because the worker
mindset is different. They are in no way obligated to working for you.
If they are talented, they can pick up their ball and move to another
playground. No longer are you the only ship in the sea. If you do not
take care of them collectively, they can just as easily “walk across the
street.”
Actions speak louder than words
If organizations managed their employee relationship as they do their
customer relationships, all their important metrics would show
tremendous improvement. Saying one thing, doing another and expecting
better results is nonsense.
And this has nothing to do with the employee value proposition
because in a lot of cases, those are just written words. Like a script,
it takes action to bring it to life.
Not only that but the vast majority of the employee population could
not recite the corporate mantra if their lives depended on it. However
if you lived up to it the way that you would for that top customer,
there would be no need for the written sonnet.
If your customers have problem, they become your problems. If you
customer calls, you will surely return the call or email. If your
customer talks to you, you will surely listen. If they complain about
your process or services, you will surely try to arrive at a solution.
The approach is the same
The approach should be the same. The collective concerns should matter as much as the ones from the customer group.
However this whole process of equalization between the 2 groups starts with the individual. As Michael Jackson so eloquently sang, “If You Wanna Make The World, A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change”
As managers we could begin to drive this process within our own
teams. Managers that often say that their door is always open, but you
can’t get an appointment or response to an email. Yet, even when you do,
the glance at the watch and look of indifference shone through. Would
you treat a customer the same. I think not.
The truth is this: talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
Organizations, leaders and managers should not say one thing and do
another. It damages credibility. What has taken a long time to build can
be lost with one or two stupid maneuvers.
Once the trust equation is broken the ball game is over. As companies
make pronouncements and fail to live up to them credibility suffers.
That is why it is paramount to be upfront and in the open as much as
possible, because that is how organizations treat their customers.
Let your actions send the message
Let’s face it — you send a message with what you say AND what you do.
If words aren’t supported with consistent actions, they will ring
hollow. Someone once said, “Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions.”
What would happen if your organization lost credibility with your
customers. Would they be willing to torpedo a relationship that’s taken
them a lifetime to build? The answer is no, because they would realize
that they are undermining their organization’s success.
I received a note from a good friend last week — Barbara Maier,
Talent Acquisition Manager over at the Vanderbilt University Medical
Center– who told me she posted on her wall a quote that I had used on
Facebook. The quote was, “Hire the best talent and treat them like your best customer.”
If organizations followed that premise, the vast majority of
corporate ills would be laid to rest. Focus on the talent and the
customer will be taken care of itself.
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