- When we talk about getting employees
to be customer-focused, we're really talking
about employee engagement.
Employee engagement is the extent
to which an employee is deliberately contributing
to organizational success.
When you think about this definition,
you may notice, we need two things.
First, employees need to know how organizational
success is defined, in other words,
they need to know the customer service vision.
Second, engaged employees make a commitment
to help fulfill the vision with the customers they serve.
There are three questions you can use
to evaluate employee engagement
in a customer-focused organization.
The first is what is the customer service vision?
Employees need to know it exists
and be able to point to it, whether
it's in a handbook, on a poster,
or in some other location.
Next, what does the customer service vision mean?
We want employees to do more than just memorize a statement.
They should be able to describe
its meaning in their own words.
And finally, how do you personally contribute?
Employees should be able to describe
how their individual role contributes
to fulfilling the vision.
Most organizations, departments or teams
will need an action plan to ensure everyone
can give consistent answers to those three questions.
Let's walk through an action-planning process together.
The plan starts with a formal announcement
describing the customer service vision and its importance.
This ideally comes from the most senior leader,
such as the company CEO.
The goal is to help employees become
aware of the customer service vision and its importance.
The second step is to conduct some form
of training to help employees understand
what the customer service vision means.
During the training phase, it's a good
idea to share some stories or examples
that help highlight how the vision
can guide daily work.
One company I worked with emphasized making
it easy for customers to do business with them,
so they shared examples of how employees
try to make things easier for their customers.
The final phase in the plan is to ensure
each employee gets some one-on-one coaching.
This typically comes from the employee's boss.
The goal is to verify employees can answer
all three questions consistently,
particularly the last one, which
is how do I personally contribute
to the customer service vision?
Now it's time to create your own employee engagement plan.
I've created an employee engagement plan
worksheet that you could download to help you.
Keep in mind this exercise is about getting results.
You'll know you're on the right track
when your employees can consistently
answer those three questions and demonstrate
their commitment to achieving the vision.