What’s THE Critical Matter That Gets In The Way of Business Transformation Efforts?
My local airport is London Heathrow. On average, 30 airplanes are landing and another 30 are taking off every hour. Put differently, one airplane is landing or taking off every minute. Now consider that mishaps – crashes where people are injured/die and/or property is damaged/destroyed – are rare. So rare that mishaps make the national news, usually the front page.
Who/what is responsible for that which occurs: 30 airplanes landing and another 30 taking off every hour using two runways? Read this Wikipedia article especially the section: “Operations”; and the sub-sections “Facilities” and “Flight movements”. So what’s your answer to the question that I posed just a moment earlier?
Yes, the folks responsible have put in place a ‘tried and tested’ collection of facilities, practices, and rules that work. Is that all there is to it? I say there is more. I say there has to be more – as the world we find ourselves embedded and constituting is dynamic: the drama/pattern we call life/world is forever changing, not static like stone. What is the more? I say it is communication/information.
I say that one of the busiest airports in the world, with an aeroplane taking off / landing every minute, works (as in crashes are rare) because in addition to the system of rules and practices (static) there is the dynamic process of communicating/informing occurring between the players in the system; the primary players are air traffic control (air traffic controllers, practices, systems) and the aeroplanes (pilots, practices, systems).
Notice, the effectiveness of this communicating/informing is a function of honest (accurate) communicating/informing occurring between the parties on an continuous basis – the trigger being the arrival/departure of the aeroplanes from/towards Heathrow. Consider, that in this game (where lives are at stake, and people face public consequences for negligence or dishonesty) the human players communicate/inform that which matters honestly – as in accurately. The players are not telling outright lies, not leaving out that which is essential because it is convenient for one player (in this drama) even though it imposes a cost on the other player.
The aircraft would have reportedly come much closer if it had not been for the BA jet’s collision avoidance system, which ordered the pilot to dive.
Almost all of my work on the Customer side of business occurs within/from the context of enterprise wide transformation programmes that usually span multiple business units, many countries, many teams/players, many business processes, many information technology systems….. I say that these transformation programmes are operating within/from complex as opposed to complicated domains (Cynefin). The difference there is an inherent and significant uncertainty/unpredictability in large business organisations as opposed to complicatedness in the dealings that go with the safe take off / landings at Heathrow Airport.
So what is absolutely critical to the success of these business transformation programmes? Effective – as in timely, accurate, complete – communicating/informing occurring between the many actors/players and the business equivalent of Air Traffic Control – those who are charged with leading and managing the transformation programme.
Recently, I was brought in as a consultant to lead a significant work-stream within a larger programme which itself sits within a larger global transformation initiative. One of my responsibilities is to communicate/inform those who are impacted by that which I know and they do not know. I did just that sending out an email and copying in a key member of Air Traffic Control. This did not go down well, I was reprimanded. Why? Because I had honestly communicated information that a person did not wish to be communicated. His concern? The information, whilst accurate, may make the work-stream look bad in the eyes of those that matter: the ‘Air Traffic Controllers’. I was told that in the future ALL outbound communications had to be direct to him. And he will choose who is informed of what, when, and how.
There are so many work-streams that have to come together for transformation initiatives of this kind/scale to work out well: generate the desired outcomes by the desired time, within the desired budget. So many players involved who have to co-operate and collaborate. So it is no surprise to find that there is a complicated, experienced as burdensome, governance framework/structure in operation to manage the many interlocking dependencies. Yet, the efficacy of this governance framework/structure/ organisation rests on effective communicating/informing occurring between the players and other players, and between the players and ‘Air Traffic Control’, and between ‘Air Traffic Control’ and the players.
Now it really hit me. Wow! How many other actors/players playing a leadership role in this transformation initiative are not communicating the information that needs to be communicating? How many are delaying bad news? How many are spinning the truth with falsehoods including false optimism? How many are aware of bad news and choosing to hide it from those in positions of power in ‘Air Traffic Control’?
Given this – that which is so – how effective is the burdensome/expensive governance framework? Not that effective? This led to this thought arising: “Is it possible that the governance framework (people, practices, forums) is expanding because those in ‘Air Traffic Control’ perceive that the process/journey of guiding the transformation programme is friction-full and unwelcome surprises pop up? And they think more people, more structure, more formal communication will fix the problem?” Upon getting present to this thought, the absurdity of it all hit me: one part of my laughed uproariously, the other part cried.
Digesting this it occurs to me that traditional thinking and practices around large scale change transformational change are the obstacle not the solution. Why? I say effective leadership is missing: the fundamental platform upon which effective communicating/informing/teaming occurs is weak or absent.
What is this fundamental platform? Psychological safety: do I/you/we/us feel safe speaking truth to power?
I thank you for your listening, and I wish you the very best until our next conversation.
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Is The Customer and/or Employee Experience Your Priority?
something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things.
I say knowing and being mindful of your priority (not priorities) is essential to being effective – to making your dent (whatever that may be) in this world. A leader has to show up and operate in manner that embodies and discloses his priority to those s/he seeks to lead. Effective managers plan and execute in the context of that which takes priority. Why?
Priority enables one to focus. Shared priority enables social cohesion and brings into play the power of focus – strength. There is huge difference between one man aiming at a ‘target’ and a cohesive army of men aiming at the same ‘target’. Human history is the history of WE (including the breakdown of we) rather than ME. One is rarely present to this in the Western world because the ideology of the individual conceals/distorts it.
Human existence is a messy affair that requires us (individual, community, nation, world) to make trade-off’s. Being clear on one’s priority enables us to make the right trade-offs and do it quickly. This is especially important when we are talking about groups – where power lies in the members of the group aligning with one another without the gimmicks (almost always expensive and ineffective) that one often sees in business. Gimmicks, to me, disclose that the fundamentals are missing and folks are looking for an easy solution to one of life’s most difficult challenges.
How does one determine if a genuine change has occurred in priority? I say you see a significant shift: in being (how one shows up & travels); in doing (who/what one focuses upon), and in having (the desired outcomes that one is committed to attaining/having).
Think about that. Think about significant shift in being, doing, and having. Significant is the key word – significant enough for those who you touch to notice the change in your priority.
Now tell me if you, your team, your organisation has made easing/enriching the lives of your customers (and/or your employees) the priority.
Ah, I hear you say yes. Yes, CX is one of our priorities. Yes, employees and their experience is also one of our priorities.
I say you didn’t answer my question. Or perhaps you did without meaning to answer my question. What do I mean? What am I pointing at? The clue is this: I used the term “the priority” not “a priority”. Why?
There is a huge difference between priority and priorities. Priority is by definition that which becomes everything else in importance. For a priority to be a priority and work its magic as a priority there can only be ONE priority – always, no exceptions. Turning priority into laundry list of priorities (common practice) is like adding so much water to milk that milk no longer functions like milk.
If time is short and just want the main point you can stop here. If you are interested in my story – my absence and, now, my return then stick around a little longer. Allow me to tell you my story.
Writing as a form of self-expression and contribution was my priority between 2010 and 2015. Why? I no longer had access to my previous priority: sports. Why? Back pain due to a prolapsed disc pushing against the spinal cord. So I had time – lots of time – and nothing to fill it with. Filling it with writing as a form of self-expression and contribution occurred as a magical way of using my free time. I loved it.
December 1995. I see the neurosurgeon specialising in dealing with the kind of issue that I was dealing with. Yes, there had been a huge change since the last consultation: the spinal cord was in the kind of state that an electrical power cord is when it is trapped under a fully laden chest of drawers. I had come to see the neurosurgeon because I suffered back pain continuously, it had got worse over the last 10+years, the sciatica was worse, most importantly my arms were getting paralysed from time to time. The neurosurgeon was clear: “Before (many times) I had advised you to wait, now I am telling you that you need surgery and soon.” I chickened out because there was a 4% chance I would be paralysed as a result of surgery. I continued writing this blog as best as I could given the back pain. And writing made me happy.
16th March 2016. I walk into the emergency area of the Royal Berks Hospital, it is 09:20. Why? The conditions that my neurosurgeon had told me to watch out for had showed up. Now, with these conditions, there was a 98% probability that I would be paralysed unless I was operated on immediately. Thankfully, the head of the unit (Chris Brown) put on an extra operation at 21:15 that day – as I needed to be operated on that day. I don’t remember much about that day as I was drugged out with morphine. I was told that a 1.5 hour operation had turned into a 3 hour operation due to the damage that the prolapsed disc had done to the sheathing protecting my spinal cord.
To Sept 2016. Recovery and all that goes with recovery. Hospital visits. Physio. Exercises…. The priority, now, is recovery – not this blog, not my family, not friends, not work. No, the priority is recovery – getting back into shape, and healing. Not doing anything stupid that would end up putting me back in hospital.
Oct 2016 to Jul 2017. I get my health back! I say that I find myself blessed with a new life – another shot at the kind of life that I had lived and enjoyed. The priority is living! You know the kind of living that occurs as living – as in being fully alive. I travel abroad with my wife (something I couldn’t do before due to back pain). I walk all day long in Barcelona – day after day for four days. I play badminton after a sixteen year absence – with my 20+ year old racket and it feels great! My family buy me a new bicycle and I am back cycling: 2 miles, 4 miles, 8 miles, 12 miles, 24 miles…. Oh, what a joy living is. Why sit inside and write when I can outside cycling in the sunshine?
Aug 2017. Cancer is confirmed and life changes dramatically. I know what kind of an impact cancer has because I have been walking the path with a friend very dear to me. I found out about his terminal cancer in May17 – I cried, I cried, I cried more. Now it is my turn. How bad is it? Now the priority comes cancer – dealing with that which cancer brings: hospital visits, blood tests, scans, surgery, radiation/chemo…..
16th Oct 2017. I am told that the iodine ablation (chemo/radiation) seems to have worked. There is news not so good news mixed in with good news. The priority becomes living again – this time a balanced living as in sports as well as reading, and self-expression through sharing that which occurs to me as worth sharing through the two vehicles I use – this blog, and the other more personal one.
Yesterday. I find a deeper part of me calling me get up and converse again on the Customer & Leadership Blog. So here I am. And the next conversation will be on the importance of cultivating psychological safety in order to harness the power of the hive mind.
I dedicate this conversation to Richard Hornby – a dear friend who has been there for me every time I asked. A friend who may or may not make it past the next 18 months as he has a brain tumour – the kind Senator John McCain has.
For those of you who have continued to stick with me, with The Customer & Leadership Blog, I thank you for your listening. I wish you great health and the blessing of real friends and friendship.
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Author Maz IqbalPosted on October 21, 2017 October 21, 2017 Categories Customer Experience, Employee Engagement, Leadership / Change / Transformation, Management, Uncategorized5 Comments on Is The Customer and/or Employee Experience Your Priority?
“I like coming here!” was confessed with a smile. The speaker? A highly skilled professional who is undertaking a major refurbishment project for me in my home.
I say that this is the most fundamental ask because only those folks who as they show up for work AND find themselves confessing to themselves “I like coming here!” are likely to give of their best. It is necessary to feel good – about oneself, about one’s colleagues, about one’s manager/leader, about one’s work – if one is going to find oneself doing great work.
How is it that we arrived at this stage: “I like coming here!”? I can tell you that I did not turn to HR specialists. Nor did I make use of the kitbag of tools/tricks called employee engagement. I didn’t even set up a reward and punishment framework – commonly labelled performance management. So how did this come about?
I did not make John wrong (including in my speaking of him to myself) for forgetting / not doing that which he was supposed to do.
In short, I sought to transcend the conventional role based performance (customer – supplier, employer – employee, manager – subordinate) that folks so easily fall into. Instead, I focussed on cultivating a genuinely human to human relationship: a relationship of equality of dignity whilst recognising inequality of expertise and power.
Whilst all of the above has been necessary in calling forth great work from John it is not sufficient. It is a new age myth and fashionable nonsense that folks will do right by you if you treat them right. Some folks will simply walk over you if you take this approach with them – they will see your generosity / friendliness as a weakness that they can exploit.
Perhaps, the most important thing that I did is to take my time in selecting the right person. I asked around to find a true professional. Then I met the professional and experienced how he worked. Finally, I waited – I waited six weeks for him to come free despite the fact that the work needed to be done urgently.
If as a manager you are not receiving great work from the folks that work for you then you either recruited the wrong folks and/or you are not treating them right – as fellow human beings worthy of equality of dignity.
If as a customer you are unhappy with the performance of your supplier then I say the same to you: you didn’t select/recruit the right supplier and/or you are not treating this supplier right.
Transcend the default roles (customer – supplier, employer – employee, manager – subordinate) and plays. Instead strike up a genuine human to human relationship – its the key to calling forth the best, including loyalty, for human beings no matter which role they are playing.
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The older I get the more I notice that the autonomy and the intelligence of folks in large organisations is put at the service of some ideology and/or method that has taken root in the heart-mind of someone higher up in the organisation. Typically, this happens when that particular ideology (e.g. “customer-centricity”) and/or method (e.g. “Agile”) has planted itself in the wider business world.
What tends to show up when folks in organisation are ‘in chains’ to some doctrine/method? This is what I have observed: Stupidity, game playing, and a decrease in effectiveness.
Adherence to the doctrine/method surpasses reasoning hence folks end up doing stuff which they know does not make sense. To get things done it is often necessary to bypass-bend the doctrine/method. Therein starts the game playing – making it look like the doctrine/method is being followed when it is not. The overall impact is a decrease in effectiveness. By effectiveness I mean both outcomes and the workability/capability that generates the outcomes.
New ideology, method, toolset is introduced with great fanfare. Yet with little understanding: know-how as well as know-what and know-about. Given sufficient time performance declines. The Tops and Middles blame the people. Clearly given the God given status of the ideology/method/toolset the people have to be at fault. They are not following the method. I have yet to see the suitability of the method/tool being seriously questioned. As a result, adherence to doctrine/method is tightened rather than relaxed. This further degrades the workability/capability of the organisation. I refer to this as layering stupidity on stupidity.
What is an intelligent way to go about leading-managing an organisation? Forget doctrine / ideology. Forget method. Forget blind obedience to anything. Instead focus on calling forth the collective intelligence of your people AND enhancing the workability of your organisation. Let me put this simply: take a zen stance, let fall all fixed thinking (ideology, doctrine, methods, tools..), go to where the action is occurring, and look – really look. Then select the right course of action / method / tool. Once the method/tool has served its purpose, drop it! Like the canoes, when you have used it to cross the river, leave it there at the side of the bank.
When the bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for the day, he determined to use the time as profitably as possible. He strolled along the seashore and came across three fishermen mending their nets. In pidgin English they explained that centuries before they had been Christianised by missionaries. “We Christian!” they said, proudly pointing to one another. The bishop was impressed. Did they know the Lord’s Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked.
The bishop was appalled at the primitive, the downright heretical nature of their prayer. So he spent the whole day teaching them the Lord’s Prayer. The fisherman were poor learners, but they gave it all they had and before the bishop sailed away the next day he had the satisfaction of hearing them go through the whole formula without a fault.
Months later, the bishop’s ship happened to pass those islands again, and the bishop, as he paced the deck saying his evening prayers, recalled with pleasure the three men on that distant island who were now able to pay, thanks to his patient efforts. While he was lost in that thought, he happened to look up and noticed a spot of light in the east. The light kept approaching the ship, and the bishop gazed in wonder he saw three figures walking on the water. The captain stopped the ship, and everyone leaned over the rails to see this sight.
“What is it you want?” asked the awe-stricken bishop.
Summing up: Many, many, many leaders/managers can do with keeping this story in mind, putting aside the arrogance that goes with their elevated roles, and adopting the pragmatic humility of the bishop. Focus on workability and use whatever method/tool is appropriate. Do not make a God of a specific doctrine, method, tool. If you are going to make a God out of anything, then make a God out of your people – their potential to do amazing work and create amazing works.
Enough for today. I thank you for your listening and wish you great living. Until the next time….
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Are Leaders & Management Practices The Key Obstacles To High Performing Organisations?
2015 has been another year where I have found myself at the coalface of organisational change: digital transformation, customer experience, CRM and marketing automation…. What is the key ‘thing’ that has struck me?
The ongoing blindness of Tops and Middles, the messiness of effecting any substantial organisational change, and how Tops and Middles are often the biggest barrier to effecting this kind of change.
When it comes to creative inspiration, job titles and hierarchy are meaningless. That’s what I believe. But unwittingly, we were allowing this table …. to send a different message. The closer you were seated to the middle of the table, it implied, the more important – the more central – you must be. The farther away, the less likely you were to speak up – your distance from the heart of the conversation made participating feel intrusive…. Without intending to, we’d created an obstacle that discouraged people from jumping in.
Over the course of a decade, we held countless meetings around this table in this way – completely unaware of how doing so undermined our own core principles. Why were we blind to this? Because the seating arrangements and place cards were designed for the convenience of the leaders, including me. Sincerely believing that we were in an inclusive meeting, we saw nothing amiss because we didn’t feel excluded. Those not sitting at the centre of the table, meanwhile, saw quite clearly how it established a pecking order but presumed that we – the leaders – had intended the outcome. Who were they, then, to complain?
It wasn’t until we happened to have a meeting in a smaller room with a square table that John and I realised what was wrong. Sitting around the table, the interplay was better, the exchange of ideas more free flowing, the eye contact automatic. Every person there, no matter their job title, felt free to speak up….. At our long, skinny table, comfortable in our middle seats, we had utterly failed to recognise that we were behaving contrary to …..
Over time, we’d fallen into a trap. Even though we were conscious that a room’s dynamics are critical to any good discussion, even though we believed that we were constantly on the lookout for problems, our vantage point blinded us to what was right before our eyes…… I went to our facilities department…. A few days later …. our new table was installed, solving the problem.
Still, interestingly, there were remnants of that problem that did not immediately vanish just because we’d solved it.…. While we’d fixed the key problem that had made place cards seem necessary, the cards themselves had become tradition that would continue until we specifically dismantled it.
For me, the key to solving these problems is finding ways to see what’s working and what isn’t, which sounds a lot simpler than it is…… in a way I’ve been searching all my life for better ways of seeing.
Transformation – business transformation, customer experience transformation, digital transformation – does not occur overnight. And it certainly does not come ‘out of the box’ whether that is through the strategists toolbox, the best practices toolbox, or the cloud software as a service toolbox.
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Author Maz IqbalPosted on December 31, 2015 December 31, 2015 Categories Leadership / Change / Transformation, ManagementTags blind spots, creativity inc, customer experience, digital transformation, ed catmull, leadership, Management, organisational change2 Comments on Are Leaders & Management Practices The Key Obstacles To High Performing Organisations?
How To Solve The Insoluble Problem Of Employee Engagement and Customer Loyalty?
… the disciples were at first amazed at such an inefficient disposition of their Master’s assets. Some said, ‘Let us own the camels communally,’ others sought advice and then said, ‘We have been told to make the nearest possible division,’ others were told by a judge to sell the camels and divide the money; and yet others held that the will was null and void because its provisions could not be executed.
Then the fell to thinking that there might be some hidden wisdom to the Master’s bequest, so they made enquiries as to who could solve insoluble problems.
This is how the disciples found the teacher for them.
3. The ‘one camel’ does not refer to a physical camel. The ‘one camel’ refers to wisdom, compassion, love, humanity – the essentials of human existence and authentic community. There can never be a human being only human beings; to be human is to be social.
What relevance does this have to the world of business and the two problems of ’employee engagement’ and ‘customer loyalty’? I say everything. Take a deep look at the methods-tools-techniques used to address these challenges. What do you notice? I notice that the ‘way of showing up and travelling’ (mindset/worldview if you prefer cognitivist rather than existential terms) is extractive: extracting more creativity, time, and effort from the employees and extracting more revenue and profits from customers? Where is the engagement, by the leaders/managers, in the lives (and existential projects) of the employees? What loyalty is there to the customer? Here I am pointing at practices and actions that ensure that the company is loyal to customers – not just words.
Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit by Robin P.
My husband passed away under tragic circumstances …. I couldn’t being to think of what was going to happen for our children, our family, or for me.
When my senior manager received by hysterical call, she showed great compassion and gave me sound advice to calm me. She assured me that I shouldn’t be concerned with anything else but to take care of myself and my family, and that – day or night – I should call if I needed anything. After that she gave me every single one of her phone numbers, I knew she meant it.
As much as Zappos meant to me before, the things they did after my husband passed amazed and humbled me. I was reassured that I shouldn’t feel pressure to return to work as soon as possible. They even volunteered to cater the reception for my husband’s service….
There was always someone there to listen, offer consoling words, sit with me as I released my tears, or just give a hug. Co-workers and managers alike allowed me time to heal and gave me strength I needed to continue as a contributing and functioning member of the team.
… the most important contributions from my extended family at Zappos were support and friendship. Zappos was my refuge and healing place that gave me everything I needed to continue on with my life.
What do you notice here? Are the folks at Zappos applying a particular set of techniques-tools dreamt up by social scientists, consultants, or recommended by HR? Or is it that the folks in Zappos, including her manager, putting their humanity into action: demonstrating care/concern for a human being in distress? Do you/i/we need some kind of special training to do this? Or is it merely a matter of creating an environment where we can put into play that which we know as well as we know how to breathe? Finally, I invite you to notice that domain of ‘care/concern’ for our fellow human beings (customers, employees…) involves action (doing stuff that makes a difference) not merely smooth talk.
It occurs to the that the worst thing that has happened to the world of business is the language of relationship: customer relationships, customer engagement, employee engagement, social.. Why? It masks the reality of the business world and organisational life. What reality? Business and organisational worlds are transactional. There is no genuine care for customers as human beings. There is no genuine care for employees as human beings. There is no genuine care for suppliers/partners as human beings. My lived experience (25+ years) is that those who occupy management and leadership positions are not in touch with their humanity. I doubt that most genuinely care even for themselves as human beings rather than human doings, human ‘achieve-ings’.
To become a leader, first you must become a human being.
It occurs to me that all Customer and Employee efforts, like the advice-solutions offered by the conventional leaders to the disciples, are likely to fall short until the advice of Peter Senge is heeded. When it is heeded, and lived, like it is by Tony Hsieh (the CEO of Zappos) then the Tops and Middles will be able to call forth the best from the folks in the business to create meaningful-strong-loyal relationships with customers. With the folks working in the business and directly/indirectly serving customers. And suppliers/partners.
I thank you for listening and invite you to put your humanity into the game of living no matter where this living occurs: with customers, in the workplace, at home….
Please note: an earlier version of this conversation was published on CustomerThink.com last month.
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Author Maz IqbalPosted on April 12, 2015 April 12, 2015 Categories Case Studies, Culture, Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Employee Engagement, Leadership / Change / Transformation, Management, Organisational DesignTags culture, customer loyalty, employee engagement, humanity in organisations, Idries Shah dividing camels, leadership, leadership starts with becoming a human being, Management, peter senge4 Comments on How To Solve The Insoluble Problem Of Employee Engagement and Customer Loyalty?
Let’s imagine that you want to play the sales effectiveness game. What does it take to play this game well – effectively? At a minimum it takes folks in marketing and the folks in sales to play well together – as one team. Take a broader look, play with the time horizon, and you are likely to find that it takes folks in product development, engineering, strategy/finance, marketing, and sales to work well together.
What does it take for an organisation to excel at the customer-centricity / customer experience / customer loyalty game? One way of answering this question is to take a look at what folks nominate as the biggest obstacles in playing this game. Do the following sound familiar: lack of executive sponsorship/leadership, competition (rewards and resources) between folks in different silos, and the lack of employee engagement – ‘us versus them’ even within the folks in each silo, especially between folks in management positions and those who work at the coal face.
When I look at what is so, I do not find a process challenge here. Nor do I find a technology challenge. And I certainly do not see a strategy challenge. I see a people challenge. In particular I see the challenge of creating a context which calls forth organisational magic.
What is the source of organisational magic? Allow me to put that question different: who/what is the source of greatness in organisations – greatness as in generating breakthrough performance-results? Go beyond the dominant ideology of Anglo-Saxon individualism, beyond the Steve Jobs type myth, and you are likely to find that the source of organisational magic is teamwork: genuine teamwork. What calls forth teamwork? Is it technology, for example the latest collaboration technologies? Is it specific teamwork processes, methods, techniques? Or does the access to genuine teamwork lie in the human realm – how we relate to one another?
It occurs to me that envisaging and articulating a future/possibility that leaves the folks in your organisation inspired-uplifted-elevated is necessary but not sufficient. The leader who is effective must also cultivate a context that calls the folks in the organisation to work well with one another in the pursuit-fulfillment of that future/possibility. Put differently, the effective human-centred leader must call forth, forge, genuine teamwork.
How do you, as a leader, call forth organisational magic: genuine teamwork over a prolonged period of time and across many different types of people (personalities) in different roles, functions, and business units?
As one who is in a leadership position are you proud of the people who you find yourself working with? Be honest. Now ask yourself how likely it is that you will call forth the best from folks who, at least at a subconscious level, get that you are not proud of them – that you see them broken-faulty-lacking in some manner.
I say that if you are playing the customer-centricity / customer experience / customer loyalty game then you are, whether you realise it or not, looking to find ways to interact with your customers which leaves them feeling good about doing business with your organisation.
Given that your organisation is the folks that collectively constitute your organisation the pressing challenge, for you as the leader, is to find ways to interact with these folks in your organisation such that you are left feeling proud of them. And they are left feeling appreciated and proud to be working in an organisation led by you.
What way of interacting with folks is likely to leave you feeling proud of them, and them proud of you? A great place to start is with the practice of granting an A.
I invite you to consider that you, as the leader, are responsible for each and every person who you find yourself not proud of. How so? Either you failed to put in place the right recruitment practices and people. And/or you have created a context where people you are proud to hire into your organisation end up being turned into people you are not proud of. I am not saying this is the truth. What I am saying is that this is a great (as an powerful, effective) place to stand and operate from. Why? Those who play victim do not make great leaders; great leaders take responsibility for that which is so, and not so. Enough for today, thank for listening.
Note: this conversation was originally published here on the CustomerThink site.
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