- The one leadership behavior
that really stands out in customer-centric organizations
is consistently reinforcing the service culture.
There are a number of ways that you can do that.
One way is to model the culture.
This means acting the same way
you want your employees to act,
since employees tend to follow
the examples of their leaders.
The best service leaders are highly visible.
For example, a technical support leader
regularly takes customer calls
so employees can observe the way
she treats customers,
and so she can maintain her own customer focus.
A hotel general manager spends a lot of time
walking throughout the hotel
speaking with guests and associates alike
to ensure things are running smoothly.
Employees in these organizations understand what it means
to be customer focused because they see their leaders
model those behaviors.
Another way leaders can reinforce
a customer-centric culture is by using
the customer service vision to guide strategy.
The CEO of one large service company
insists on having a live person answer calls
in the company's contact centers.
This costs the company more money
but it also reflects the company culture.
Another CEO has helped his company
earn a reputation for customer service
by relentlessly focusing on quality.
His philosophy is the company's quality
should be so good that customers
won't even need to contact the company for service.
Your strategic decisions should be aligned
with the customer service version,
the same way you expect your employees
to be aligned with the vision in their work.
Customer-centric leaders also spend a lot of time
communicating about the service culture with employees.
People tend to understand how important something is
based upon how often leaders discuss it,
so these leaders make sure employees know
service is important because they think about it
all the time.
One CEO discusses the culture in virtually every meeting.
This includes town hall presentations,
meetings with senior executives,
and even informal conversations with employees.
The company has a strong service culture as a result
and consistently outperforms its competition.
Executives at an airline known for its outstanding service
visit each location at least once per quarter
to talk about the company culture with employees.
The company has also formed employee committees
that focus on culture-related issues
and report directly to the executive team.
If you want your employees to embrace your service culture,
you need to talk about it all the time as well.
My suggestion is to think about specific ways
you can reinforce the service culture
in your organization.
Brainstorm a list of ways you can model
the customer service vision.
Use the vision to guide strategy
and communicate the vision with employees.
The more you reinforce service,
the more likely your employees are to embrace it.