Category Archives: Corporate Culture

Control, Autism and Pavarotti

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The other night I watched a touching “60 Minutes” special about Steve Jobs.

During the special there was a segment on how autistic children benefit from the ipad. Many of the children at the care center, who for years couldn’t speak, could finally communicate using the ipad. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a teacher, parent or therapist who–after years of struggle–could see their child actually express themselves?

According to the segment, autistic children love the ipad because they like the touchscreen, and the feeling of control they have using the ipad touchscreen. There are a ton of new great apps for autistic children on the ipad–and they are changing what is possible for people who have autism (and their families/loved ones). I was very touched by this video “Autistic and Passionate About Pavaratti.”

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Thoughts on Control

Autistic children like the ipad because of the feeling of control they have using the touchscreen. When you hear the word “control” discussed today in a business context, it’s generally about social media, and how organizations feel they are losing control because of social media.

Where as before control was simple, today it is not. We like to feel we have full control, but in reality, we have little control. We go to great lengths to display “control.”

But the truth is life is always moving, shifting and while we might appear to have control for a little while, we only have control over some things–for a period of time. There always comes a time where we have to let go.

New technologies are changing the face of communication faster than we can blink. On the other end of that the attitude toward “work,” and its nature, has not changed.

What are your thoughts on “control” and the changing nature of “work”?

CRM Evolution and 14 Myths About Generation Y

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There are quite a few myths about Gen Y. I’m excited to debunk some of these myths and provide Gen Y clarification at next month’s NYC event CRM Evolution. I will join up with Jon Blum–former Director, Sales Development of Multi-Channel Sales at Best Buy, current Chief Illuminator for customer service consultancy Infinite Green–to lead a session on how to manage Gen Y.

To gear up for NYC I recently read Gen Y researcher Bruce Tulgan‘s book Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y. Tulgan has done years of research interviewing thousands of millennials. He knows his stuff.

Tulgan is an authority on the topic and while he appears to poke fun at Gen Y, he has done his due diligence. He understands how to create happier more productive workplaces where Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers and Gen Y’ers can peacefully co-exist in harmony, or something like it.

Below I have recapped 14 myths from Tulgan’s book Everyone Gets A Trophy. Below you will read the myth, and then the “reality.” I also riff off of his comments with some of my own thoughts.

*Note: I use first person here because I am a millennial. The first person should represent my generation, not me personally.Also note there are around 80 million millennials, born between 1980 and about 1995.

Myth #1 Gen Yers are disloyal and unwilling to make real commitments to employers.

Tulgan argues that Gen Y’ers are indeed loyal, but our breed of loyalty can be described as “just in time loyalty.” Tulgan clarifies this loyalty as different than “kingdom loyalty.” Gen Y loyalty is “transactional loyalty” you get in a free market. The truth is millennials don’t feel limited and just like your best customers, we will come back again and again if you, the employer, make yourself interesting. Granted the “talent war” is not in full swing considering the economy is still struggling, these rules do still apply for high performers.

Myth#2 We won’t do the grunt work.

Millennials will do grunt work, but not in exchange for vague long-term promises of rewards that vest in the deep distant future. Gen Yers’ career paths will be erratic and eclectic, but as Tulgan points out–that doesn’t mean our career paths won’t be progressive and developmental. We grew up playing video games. If we are told the rules of the game before we dive in, we are more likely to continue playing. For example-if you want A you have to do B. If you want C you have to do D and so on and so forth.

Myth #3: We don’t know much and have short attention spans.

We do know stuff. We just don’t value the same knowledge as our elders. That being said, we certainly have much more info at our fingertips. Granted it is possible all this time in social media has ruined our attention spans–if you make something relevant and interesting for us, we will pay attention. Tell us a story. Teach through narrative. Make us understand how our contributions are critical to the greater good of the company. Most leaders don’t do this enough. Once a week is good. Once a day is ideal.

Myth#4 We want the top job from day one.

Ok this might be true, but give us some time. When we were kids we dressed up in our parents suits/ doctors uniform/ fire fighter hats. Perhaps you did this too but when you reached a certain age your active imagination was tamed. Ours wasn’t. It could be the proliferation of media is to blame for our notion that we can be an overnight success–a popular theme on many TV shows. This is simply not true, and all millennials eventually learn this. It is said we want to hit ground running from day one. We want to make an impact. We want to identify problems that nobody else has identified and solve problems that nobody else has solved. We want to make existing things better–we want to invent new things.

Myth #5 We need work to be fun.

Gen y’ers want to be taken seriously. We want work to be engaging. We want to learn, to be challenged and to understand the relationship between our work and the overall mission of the organization. We want to work with good people and have flexibility in where when and how we work.

Myth#6 We want to be left alone.

This is quite the opposite. Tulgan argues that if we care “one bit about the job, “ we want managers to know who we are, what we are doing, and engage with us, provide guidance and help us solve problems and keep track of our successes.

Myth#7 We want our managers to do our work for us.

We want managers who will spend time teaching us how to do our work very well and very fast. If you care about quality, I suggest you stress the focus on quality and not quantity. Organizations make much too many unforced errors due to unrealistic productivity demands. They end up having to do damage control later. Let’s stop making ourselves crazy and product quality work the first time around.

Myth #8 We don’t care about climbing the proverbial career ladder.

According to Tulgan’s research our career paths will be erratic and eclectic. However that doesn’t mean our career paths won’t be progressive and developmental. Gen Y career paths will be self-building path made up of learning, relationships, proof of their ability to add value, and lifestyle flexibility. Not a ladder but a tapestry.

Myth#9 Money and traditional benefits don’t matter to us.

We are savvy about offers, money and benefits, but these are only a threshold issue. Considering we saw our parents lose their 401K plans and the disaster the last few years have brought, we are very conscious of taking care of our future. Unfortunately many millennials are in debt from school–and thanks to so much news in the media about how toxic debt is–we are very self-aware and resourceful when it comes to getting rid of debt. We want to make sure we have a steady stream of income to help us do that.

Myth#10 Money is the only thing that matters to us.

This myth is a contrast to myth #9, but still a prevalent one. Money is a threshold issue. If we are asking for more what we’re really asking is “what do I need to do to earn more?” Once you meet the threshold of competitive money and benefits, Gen Yers care interested in five other things: schedule, relationships, task choice, learning opportunities, and location. For more on money, see myth #13.

Myth#11 We don’t respect their elders.

We do respect elders. We are closer to our parents than any other generation has ever been. But we want respect too. Perhaps Baby Boomers were so used to disrespect due to elders who had suffered through WWII induced post-traumatic stress disorders–and succumbed to adopting an attitude of “thank you may I have another.” Gen Y was raised by parents who fought in Vietnam–a controversial war that divided the country and changed the relationship of the press to the presidential administration. Our mothers were the first to attempt the “do it all attitude.” Raise the kids, put food on the table, go to work and get a divorce if they wanted one. I do not have an answer regarding how these socio-economic things shaped the child-rearing of millennials, I am just recognizing it did. An as a result if we feel we are being treated unfairly we will say so, or leave. I think this is a healthy attribute. Too many people put up with too much abuse from superiors.  

Myth#12 We want to learn only from computers.

Tulgan argues that “from computers we want to learn stuff that is easy. But we need the human element to do our best learning.” We don’t want to be left in a cubicle all day to do the same task over and over and over. If you actually care about your “bottom line” you will recognize that happy worker bees make better products. Human beings were not build to sit stationary at desks all day doing the same thing day in day out. We want to get out of our seats. We want walking meetings. We crave variety, surprise and engagement. Perhaps our parents were too afraid to ask for more. Perhaps we have too much chutzpah, but we feel life should offer us more. According to Tulgan we “learn best from a combination of the human element – coaching, direction, guidance, support, shared wisdom–and the powerful capacity of menu-driven information systems to guide us through the tidal wave of info available at our fingertips.“ I would agree with that statement.

Myth #13: It’s impossible to turn us into long-term employees.

You can turn us into long-term employees. You’ll just have to do it one day at a time. Remember we don’t trust anyone, considering what we’ve seen unfold in corporate America in the last ten years. The last two years–Wall St., Madoff, and the decline of Main Street–make the Enron scandal look like small potatoes. We will be loyal, but you have to earn our trust through consistent “trustworthy” behavior. We crave this feeling of “safety” so to those organizations who can create this atmosphere based on trust, you will find the most loyal, committed and hard-working millennial employees.

Myth #14: We will never make good managers because we are so self-focused.

Of course, we can be good managers. We are not aliens. We crave human connection. We are nurturing and enjoy this aspect of work relationships. We meet friends, spouses, and mentors at work. If you find your people appear self-focused, I think you are hiring the wrong kind of talent. Also beware of the look-alike syndrome. Organizations tend to hire people who are like them. If you want to prevent this than you will need to work harder to diversify your sourcing pool and create a thorough screening process. Also, as a sidenote, if you hire the millennial with the gleaming resume-Ivy League-and all that, you might be missing some great people who have just as much to offer particularly in the realm of street smarts, something you aren’t told you will need in business. These millennials who don’t have a cookie cutter resume are more worldly, mature and intuitive, skills relevant to a management position.

Blake’s Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Companies

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Many of us grew up with the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. I have my own little list of what makes a company successful and I’m guessing it looks different to you than what you read in Covey’s classic.

There’s never a perfect handbook to leading. Sometimes you have to use your gut instincts. Here is some of what I’ve learned personally working for other people. Please feel free to provide feedback on what works for you, or your company.

Here we go!

1. You have a service oriented culture. Let’s look at a service oriented restaurant. It’s pretty obvious when you go into a restaurant if the company has a service oriented culture. A service oriented culture in a restaurant means wait staff are attentive. Food comes out on time. If the food is bad/cold/old it goes back to the kitchen–no problem. Variation is acceptable, and salads come with dressing on the side, fruit can be substituted for fries and vice versa. So you can imagine what that would look like within a company.

2. Managers are engaged. Let’s not think about employee engagement, let’s talk about management engagement. There’s nothing worse than leaders who complain about their jobs to their teams. We are all human, and we have our human moments. But always remember about the line between personal and professional. If you are the leader and you need someone to therapize to, refrain from doing this with your team. It brings down employee morale and is generally unprofessional. As Bill Clinton said, you gotta “keep it in a box.” (at least until you go home and have a glass of wine with your wife/husband and kvetch).

3. What is culture of fear? You don’t even know what a culture of fear is like because you don’t have one. In reality, employees are generally first to see a problem in the business. If your people can’t come to you for help, the problem will only get worse. I can assure you a culture of fear will not attract the type of talent that will take you to higher ground. It will not attract constructive independent thinkers and problem solvers who will have their ear to the ground on what the competition is doing.

4. You’ve got the goods. Employees can’t do their jobs without the tools they need to be successful. Great companies have the tools and resources for the teams. They’ve thought about all possible process scenarios, and they make it very simple for people to follow those processes. Really great companies have more than coffee and free lunch for employees. They have internal social platforms that decrease email and allow for better collaboration. For more on this you can talk to my boyfriend Jacob who is writing a book for McGraw Hill on The Collaborative Organization (tentative title). 

5. People like being at your space.The product or service WILL improve if your people are happy in their work environment. If you make your workplace where people want to be, the happiness will shine through in the products. People spend most of their lives at work, if you make it comfortable and pleasant for them, they will want to go the extra mile. If you have any questions about how a company becomes a great place to work to attract top talent, just look at these top orgs who have figured it out. And it’s not necessarily about having the most money….

6. Performance reviews are taken seriously. By creating a structured career pathing program (where stuff actually happens) your employee retention will increase. How many times has someone told you they have a performance review meeting with their boss, only to roll their eyes and give you the “nothing happens in these meetings look”? I guarantee you your employees who believe they are on a clear career path will work harder. Also keep in mind onboarding is a major part of this. Most people leave organizations due to crappy onboarding and according to Aberdeen 61% of companies don’t have an onboarding program or do less than one month of onboarding (it’s not enough).

7. The leaders have a sense of humor. Great companies have visionary leadership, who also know when to laugh at themselves. They work hard, but when round pegs don’t fit into square holes they don’t yell. They don’t get angry.  They pretend they are an Italian restaurant owner in Queens, shrug their shoulders, throw up their hands and say “eh, whadamIgonnado?”

Sometimes you put everything into a project, and it’s just not going to work. Or perhaps a disgruntled customer causes your company a PR nightmare. During these situations–internally–humor diffuses negative energy–and makes people feel good. People don’t work well in stiff environments. Let people breathe. Make them laugh. No one is perfect. No company is perfect.

So tell me what are your seven habits that keep your company in check?

The Feedback Sandwich: Delicious or Deadly?

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Those of you who know me know I love to cook.

If you’ve been over for dinner, you know I like to cook while the Food Network is on in the background. I find the Food Network–particularly the competitive reality shows–educational and inspiring.

I am amazed by the competitions featuring “everyday people” who create works of delicious edible art under extreme pressure situations. While I enjoy watching these chefs make magic in the kitchen, what I enjoy almost as much is the judging portion.

Every show is different whether it’s Chopped, 24 Hour Restaurant, Extreme Chef, Iron Chef or Food Network Star. What the shows share is the obvious vulnerability of the contestants during the feedback section.

Many of them bite their lip. Some of them cry. The novices make excuses, and are shut down by the judges (this is always awkward for the viewer).

Most fun is seeing the winner light up and discuss their motivation–whether it’s a parent who believed in them and has since passed on, or a spouse or child at home.

I enjoy these culinary competitions because I enjoy learning about how companies improve their own performance with continuous feedback.

Stomaching the Feedback Session

There are a few different ways to provide feedback. One is the Sandwich technique. This Sandwich technique is controversial. It usually goes something like this:

Something positive: [Supervisor or coach begins with a light note to warm up the employee. Cuts the tension in the room].
Something negative: [Supervisor dives into areas for improvement. Employee is better prepared to hear negative criticism as a result of mood enhancement from first comment].
Something positive: [Employee walks away from the meeting feeling good about themselves. Absorbs feedback "meat" without anger or resentment].

Here’s why people dismiss the Sandwich Technique (note comments in parentheses–why technique might be flawed).

Something positive: [Start out on a light note that muffles the really important employee feedback].
Something negative: [Employee isn't even listening, but rather basking in the sun of the first comment].
Something positive: [Employee is soaking in all the positivity. He didn't hear one ounce of criticism. His performance is perfect as far as he's concerned. Piece of cake. No problemo].

Others prefer the more simplistic and traditional technique.

Something Negative:[Employee is sweating, employee wants to jump in a hole, employee loses all self-worth].
Something Positive: [Light at the end of the tunnel, employee sees hope].

Providing feedback is not always easy, but it’s good for everyone. The boss, the employee & the business.

If both participants remember feedback is NOT PERSONAL, everyone will feel better.

The employee can take the actionable feedback and understand how to nip the weakness in the bud. Additionally, feedback should generally feel like a positive experience.

The supervisor is showing the employee is getting the feedback because they are an important contributor to the business.

While I do not have a position on which technique is necessarily better, I will say that all companies need to TAKE THE TIME to provide feedback to employees and to create some kind of development path for them.

Also employees need to be able to listen to feedback.

Successful people are generally humble (at least the talented chefs like Bobby Flay seem to give off that vibe–think Iron Chef) and listen to the comments.

Feedback is powerful. Seek it out. Provide it.

Do you think I have what it takes to be the next food network star? Be honest.

:-]

The Nice Problem In Corporate America

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In America we make problems worse with an inability to be direct with each other. Not direct in an abrasive way but direct in an honest way. We are told from a very young age that we are supposed to be nice. It’s that good ol’ Americana niceness.

Today I’m arguing it’s hurting our progress as a society–not helping.

It is internal politicking and culture problems that make continuous improvement very difficult for companies.

We go to jobs where we know processes are broken. We say nothing when our customers are faced with broken products, insufficient services and incredible waste. We keep our head down trying not to cause any trouble.

So the reality is that most of us, in an effort to bring home the bacon to feed our families, say nothing.

Many of us live in fear-based cultures. That being said, survival tactics kick in.

And this type of culture is even encouraged by thought leaders. I recently read Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment and was frustrated with some of the business advice he gave readers:

The best way to enchant your boss is to make her look good. That’s right: Make your boss look good. Sure, changing the world delighting customers, and increasing shareholder value are all part of the big picture, but making your boss look good is your day-to-day job.(Chapter 11 “How to Enchant Your Boss”)

Are you worried? I am.

If we have a culture that focuses on hierarchy–rather than continuous improvement and innovation–I can assure you we will not make progress as a society.

As a customer I’m sure more frequently than not you hear the following things:

“The computer won’t let me do that, sorry.”
“It’s just always been done this way.”

When you hear this from a customer service agent, you can already smell the culture of the company.

Strong cultures are resilient and humble. Subordinates are invited to provide feedback and participate in the overall improvement of the culture. Cultures are describes as “flat,” and they actually are [flat].


image source

I’m not encouraging a worker’s revolt. What I am saying is it’s important to have a culture that’s focused on producing a competitive product–not a culture where hierarchy trumps intelligence.

What Smoking, Complacency, and Fear Of Social Will Do To Brands

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It is estimated that in ten years 40 percent of the Fortune 500 will no longer be here.

It is also said that the crash of the auto industry was a result of complacency–defined as “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.” Even better the 2nd definition is, “an instance of usually unaware or uninformed self-satisfaction.”

For those of you who come from brands that are attempting to incorporate social into your employee engagement strategy, and your multi-channel customer strategy,  I know you are fighting the good fight. Keep going!

For those of you who haven’t started, I’m worried about you.

Before you read on I ask you watch this Jon Stewart video.

I laugh as someone who used to spend her weekends and 6am mornings traversing through the NYC parks. There’s nothing worse for a runner than being faced with a park full of smoke.

But the question Stewart poses with the video–for me–is not about second hand smoke. This is a question about action, change and attitude.

This is a blog about making change in small ways, even though it will leave you vulnerable to criticism. Do you change the way you manage one division, although it might leave you looking disorganized in another?

History tells us companies who admit fault, but show they are making an effort to change, are easily forgiven by employees and customers.

Remember when JetBlue Airways was faced with a major PR nightmare after a break-down in the airlines operations? This disaster resulted in more than 1000 canceled flights in a five day span. The CEO, David Neeleman, admitted wrongdoing, apologized and used the information to improve the process. And he did just that.

Forrester just announced JetBlue to be a winner of the Voice of the Customer Award.

Lose the Tude

The hypocrisy identified by Stewart’s video is real. An attempt to clean up smoking is ridiculous in comparison with the smorgasbord of real problems faced by NYC including drug addiction, homelessness and the mentally ill (who are not cared for)–many of whom take shelter in New York’s parks along with the smokers.

The pundit Sammy B says, “how are these drug addicts supposed to tweak properly while being exposed to all that smoke?” She also makes a comment that she will have to go home from the park in order to scrub what she calls “this giant undulating pile of human sorrow.”

We know that yes, in reality the real problem is much worse than second hand smoke.  Those in the Bay Area can empathize as homelessness, drug addiction and the mentally ill (who are not cared for) are an obvious issue.

So Stewart’s stand appears to be-if you can’t fix the whole problem, don’t try [note Jon Stewart used to be a smoker].

To Be [Social], Or Not To Be [Social]?

Collaboration–and leveraging social technologies internally and externally–have nothing to do with smoking. But the issue in both situations is the idea of “complacency.”

This attitude–held by many brands–will cause them much difficulty, if not today, then tomorrow. And every day after that.

“If I can’t fix the entire park, I’d rather do nothing.”

I don’t think I’m just an “idealistic silly young person” because there are many baby boomers who are leading the change within their orgs–and every day is a fight.

Most of us don’t understand how–with the knowledge we have today about lung cancer–people would continue to slowly kill themselves.

One could make the same argument about companies who refuse to move in the direction of social technologies. Companies that don’t pay attention to social are also slowly killing themselves. Ok I’m being dramatic, but seriously if you told the auto industry three years prior to the collapse, that it was going to collapse, would they have laughed? Probably.

What’s happening today is important. Start small. If you show your employees, and your customers that you are *trying,* they will all appreciate you more.

You don’t want to be part of that 40 percent who won’t be here in ten years due to….complacency.

Results Oriented Work Environments for Social Contact Centers

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Granting autonomy to employees in a value-focused, trust based environment, is a powerful competitive differentiator today.

The benefits include reduction in employer overhead costs and improved employee engagement and retention. Providing a results oriented work environment–allowing employees to make their own schedules–can improve employee health and help reduce stress. It’s prime time for a change in thinking in considering post-recession stress levels.

According to the “Stress in America” survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 75% of Americans say they are “stressed to the max.” Companies like IBM, Best Buy, Southwest Airlines and Chubb Insurance are reaping the benefits of flexible work environments and happier employees who can manage their own schedules.

Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, explains in her book that a truly modern management methodology. In his book he discusses research proving 90 minute intensive work periods, with rest and recovery, improves productivity. In considering the recent Mashable Infographic on the danger of sitting for long periods of time without exercise, companies need to shift their thinking.

Sitting for eight hours straight without breaks and exercise is detrimental to human health. Did you know that people who sit for most of the day are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack. In addition sitting for over six hours a day increases your risk of dying in 15 years by 40%.

Swartz encourages companies to give “employees more autonomy in the way they work–and then hold them more accountable for the value they deliver. Instead, the all-too-common dynamic in today’s workplace is parent-child.”

Fear-based cultures are everywhere–although no longer relevant.  Management frameworks that are rooted in policies that are outdated will break as a result of social media.

We’ve been saying this for years–it’s actually starting to happen. Old management frameworks–grounded in command and control environments for employees–do not support the multi-channel 24-7 customer offering. Command and control management generally involves a top down hierarchy–and as Bryce Harrison illustrates, generally separates employees from the actual work.

Swartz writes:

“Treated like children, many employees unconsciously adopt the role to which they’ve been consigned. Feeling disempowered and vulnerable, they lose the will and confidence to take real initiative or to think independently.”

When companies don’t empower their customer-facing reps to make quick decisions on customer problems, it’s bad for the company culture and sales. Don’t you want to know your employees are doing the right thing when you aren’t looking? The only way to ensure this is to provide autonomy and the ability to solve a customer query without a long exhausting escalation process.

When you don’t create a culture with a clear set of values, your reps don’t know what they stand for and can’t make informed decisions that are in the best interest of the company, the process and the customer. Deductive reasoning is like a bicycle. When you don’t practice you forget how to use it.

Swartz reminds us of the employee conundrum that happens when employees are patronized.

“Doing what they’re expected to do often becomes more important than doing what makes most sense, what’s the most efficient, or even what might create the highest value. The real measure of people’s effectiveness in an organization ought to be based on the value they create, not the number of hours they work. That requires a relationship between consenting adults, grounded in rust, fueled by mutual responsibility, and regulated by periodic accountability.”

While in theory we know this, in practice many of us still operate in yesterday’s management environment.

IBM Speeds Up Product Software Updates

Companies reaping the benefits of a trust-based culture includes IBM. A thousand software developers from varying time zones were given the opportunity to work when they wanted. a lot of the workers chose to break up their days into smaller periods. In considering this work flexibility, the time it takes to update a product’s software was reduced from eighteen to twenty-four months five years ago to four to six months today.

The Best Buy ROWE Program

An early adopter of cutting edge ideas, Best Buy pioneered ROWE–the Results Oriented Work Environment. ROWE, was launched in 2001 and is now offered to more than 3,000 corporate employees in Minneapolis at their headquarters.

The ROWE creators Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson told author Tony Swartz, “The employer’s job is to create very clear goals and expectations for what needs to get done on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The simplest definition of a Results Only Work Environment is each person is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Everything else-when they come in, how much time they spend in their cube, how long their lunch lasts-is no longer [the employer's] concern. The point here is to always redirect focus back to the work.”

The program resulted in a decrease in turnover by 90% in 2005. Best Buy estimates the average cost of turnover per employee to be $102,000 and they estimated the cost savings to be $6.7 million dollars.

Evidence shows employee retention, productivity and overall happiness sky-rockets when employees are measured by the value they create, not by what they have to do to create the value.

The author Tony Swartz says of her own consulting firm:

We ask no one to answer e-mail after hours or on the weekends. If there is an urgent need to reach someone, we’ll call, but that is rare….We have no sick days or vacation policy. Instead we assumed that our people are committed to getting their work done and that they’ll take a vacation when they need it. We invest almost no time or energy in monitoring how our employees get their work done–and they do.

When you support your employees, and you establish a culture of trust, the rewards are many.

Southwest Airlines Remote Agents

Early on a few companies clued in to hiring remote agents for their call centers. As companies fight to manage the volume of customer inquiries coming in through social channels, in addition to their traditional channels, they will understand the importance of flexible work conditions. Also this work option is very helpful for stay at home parents, VETs, the physically handicapped, or anyone who prefers to work from a home office.

Southwest Airlines is a company who was early to recognize how powerful it is to allow people to work remotely. People who appreciate the trust and freedom given to them by their employer will feel more ownership over their roles, and rise to the occasion of responsibility. If the employee is treated like a child he will act like a child. If the employee is treated like an adult he will act like an adult.

Chubb Insurance

Another example in Swartz’ book of a flexible work environment is Chubb Insurance. Employees were given the choice to decide which hours best worked for them. 400 participants in the Chicago office, 75% of the employees participated and built their own schedules. The productivity gains jumped from 82 percent to 91 percent (measure was customers contacted within twenty-four hours) and from 90-100% in timely benefit payments to claimants.

Have I reminded you this is free?


We are all afraid to try these new management tactics–but what’s the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen is it won’t work.

And you will go back to what you did prior to, and try something else.

When I Grow Up I Want To Work In Customer Service

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Most children dream of growing up to be astronauts, doctors, and firemen. Not many of us grow up saying, “when I grow up I want to work in customer service.” But hey–there is no shame in this industry–it’s gratifying work, and today in the age of social all eyes are on the you in the contact center. For the first time you are the star of the show.


Today a lot of people in marketing, public relations or even corporate communications, find themselves in social customer service roles, and a lot of people in social customer service find themselves doing public relations, marketing or corporate communications work.

The boundaries are disappearing.

And the truth is you can’t put out these fires without the support of your people. Your employees on the frontlines. I promise you this seachange and investigative work will require a “can-do” proactive attitude–one in which your entire team is all hands on deck. You can’t afford to have people wearing the attitude of “that’s not my job.”

And the reality is the buck stops with your employees.
—

Customer service, especially for those of you who work in healthcare, travel, telecom, banking, insurance, is an emotional activity for customers. It also puts a lot of strain on the humans who are fielding a high volume of negativity. This stress is tripled when they are not empowered to solve the customer’s problem. They feel powerless. They disengage.

What does not make sense, is most company’s attitudes toward their customer service departments, considering the opportunity at hand. Customer service is the biggest competitive differentiator today for your company.

Check out these stats from the May 2011 American Express Global Customer Service barometer as outlined by Shep Hyken on the Social Customer.

  • Stat: In a positive economy, 70% of Americans are willing to spend an average of 13% more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service – up from 9% last year.
  • Stat: 60% believe businesses have not increased their focus on providing good customer service.  That number is up from 55% last year.  Among this group 26% actually think companies are paying less attention to service.
  • Stat: 78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of poor customer service.
  • Stat: 59% will try a new brand or company for a better service experience.

While there are many distraught customers on the other side of the phone, desk or cash register, there’s another group who need help, development and encouragement….your employees.

Smart recruiters are hiring for soft skills rather than experience. Strength in soft skills can be determined by value set, personality, empathy and ability to withstand change and adversity.

Anyone can be trained for technical skills. Training allows you to hire the right people, and bring them to the level that your organization demands, with your brand’s culture and style.

I know there are a handful of wide-eyed bushy tailed young people in your customer service arm who are looking for purpose. They want to do a good job. They are eager. They are searching for meaning.

So my advice for you is go talk to them. Make them feel needed. Teach them. Train them. And say thank you good work. Have I told you this is free?

By investing in your people, especially when they aren’t expecting it, you will improve employee retention. Throw out all of the mumbo jumbo that generation Y employees are not loyal. Employees that are engaged, trained and developed stay. They feel appreciated, become stronger and happy.

And happy employees make organizations thrive.


All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual. -Albert Einstein

Trust Me, I’m Not A Doctor, But I Play One On TV.

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Trust is arguably the most important feeling between two people to start a relationship. The title of this blog is a joke, but the comedic aspect of trust is real. I don’t know if it’s just me, but many of the people I know only trust a few people. It seems that we are too quick to sell each other out in the name of the dollar.

And the idea of trust is not just for friends, spouses and cousins. Trust is something that is key critical in running a solid business with a team of employees. And there needs to be a culture of trust from manager to employee.

And in the Faceless World, that’s harder than it used to be. Due to the amount of remote workers, and siloed departments, there appears to be less focus on establishing a distinct culture.

Today the way we create and share information has shifted. It is no longer about checking in with a punch card and punching out day after day. Knowledge work rarely mirrors the Ford assembly production line.

Employees often find themselves in a position to make a decision when the manager isn’t looking. So how as a manager do you ensure your team makes the right decisions when you aren’t looking?

Leadership Habits

Leaders often hold their positions because they are hard workers. They got to work earlier, stayed later, and made sure to always quality assure their work. So in their current role as a leader, if a team member is slacking, it is not rare for a manager to take over the work for the employee. They can’t afford to have anyone on the team affecting the overall productivity of the team.

But it is a better move to look at the overall culture of the corporate environment to address why this happened.

The Zappos Culture Case Study

Zappos is a great example in the faceless world because the company might appear to be faceless due to the medium in which they sell their clothes.

This online shoe retailer demonstrates a culture of trust, where employees are empowered and trained, they are more likely to do the right thing when the manager is not looking.

While Zappos fields most of its inquiries online, a large portion of the customer service is handled by a very seemingly unstructured contact center with a very distinct culture.

Zappos tracks everything, but they certainly don’t manage by typical contact center metrics. And it has worked for Zappos. They were purchased last year for 1.2 Billion Dollars.

A culture based on trust can bring big profits.

The contact center reps are fielding customer service inquiries, but are not measured by the time of the call. They are not scripted. The culture is one of trust and because of that, the productivity remains high with less stress on the managers.

The same can be said of any strong outbound sales center.  When a culture of trust is established, sales reps are able to sell more. In addition they feel more motivated because of the autonomy granted to them.

Please understand that you have to hire people who demonstrate an ability to take constructive feedback, a “can-do” attitude and someone who takes pride in their work.

Zappos actually pays people to quit in the first two weeks to make sure they only retain people who really want to be there—and are devoted to the company.

Creating a Culture of Trust

Even if you already have an established culture within your company, there are small steps you can take to improve trust.  Here are three to get you started.

1. Check-Ins: Check in with your team once a week to understand what motivates each team member. Then make sure you are giving your team members meaningful work—and that will vary a great deal among staff.

2. Team Meetings: Hold weekly team meetings where you can openly share updates with the team on challenges, successes and how the actual individual work, contributed by the team members, is meaningful to the overall success of the organization.

3. Say thank you! So many people forget to thank employees. While of course you feel that you pay them—you shouldn’t have to “thank them”—recognizing good work can make a world of difference in keeping employees feeling motivated, happy and supported in the work environment.