Leadership: the art of inspiring your followers

Published: 2011-01-17 There are 12 comments ... please add yours below

You can become a successful leader, who people want to work with

not falling into the trap of treating staff as the poor cousins in your business priorities

CEOs and leaders talk a lot about stakeholders. We all strive to engage them. In general, customers and staff are the categories that get most attention. But, most us are much more structured in our marketing to and engagement with customers i.e. the people, who buy our products or services. Relatively, we are often less thoughtful in how we engage our staff i.e. the people, who must “buy” our leadership, if they’re to become our committed followers. How would people rate you on each of the six engagement factors below? Particularly the last two?

I’m going to use marketing (rather than HR) terms to draw attention to the relative casualness in how many CEOs and leaders deal with their staff and team members.

Market Research: most companies analyse customer data and interview groups to find out how to improve their offerings. Often retaining consultants to ensure objectivity. Most also take care in studying staff morale, job satisfaction, etc. However, is there room for improvement in your personal knowledge of the people you’re leading? Would they say you really know them – as individuals: what’s important to them and what they want?
Client Relationship Management: this is a core marketing tool. HR departments similarly keep tabs on staff details, development needs, performance data and so on. But, do you personally engage as much with this – or do you mostly leave it to HR?
Product and service ratings: this is key to your company’s market positioning. But, how well is your company rated as an employer and in its offerings to staff? Most importantly, how well do you position yourself in what you, as a leader, offer your team?
Point of Sale: companies invest in packaging, counter displays and websites to attract new customers and re-engage old ones. How good are you at attracting and continuing to engage staff? Are your daily interactions good experiences for them?
Buying Decision: companies worry endlessly about their customers’ criteria and how to meet them. But, as a leader, do you know the two or three key issues keeping your people from fully committing? Are these about goal ambiguity, absence of decisions, contradictory values, low technical standards, lack of consultation – or what?
After Sales Service: the best companies look to a customer’s lifetime value and treat them accordingly. Many leaders though are great at recruitment but lose interest once the employee joins. And often for them, if that person leaves, then they might as well be dead. How does that make other team members feel?

Stakeholders are not all equal. But, for the best leaders, staff are just as important as customers. They’re the customers for your leadership. They can buy or not; and, go elsewhere if you don’t measure up. They can also badmouth you, as they would a failed product. So, they deserve the same care and attention customers expect – and get. Delivering that is your core business. (As it is ours to help you do it!) Please share your views below.

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The VECTOR Tool Kit
" ... contributed to better service ... " Adam Simpson, Simpsons Solicitors
www.simpsons.com.au

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®

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Comments (12)

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/20 07:09 am

Dear Joseph,

Thanks for a great post. Really interesting. On the ground experience.

Timothy

Joseph Mullin - date: 2011/01/20 04:13 am

While I have never held a C Level position I have been allowed to institute this program twice. It really is an eye opener.

Much of what we discuss in our blogs is considered softskills and are passed over as being relevant because you cannot place metric on them. Our business schools teach us if can't be measured don't bother with it. I feel this is a terrible injustice to business.

While you cannot measure softskills you can analyze the metrics of their effects. There are metrics in every process in business. Lets take one process it doesn't matter what it is. What are some of the metrics

- Throughput - how many times can this process be repeated in 8 hrs Number of mistakes made in a day

- Repeats - how many times was an error made and caught and had to be redone?

- Rejects - number of rejects that didn't meet quality criteria

- Field Returns or complaints - things missed in house all together These are some normal metrics.

Now here is how the program works. Take a snapshot of the business and its metrics. Apply the softskills consistently and no other changes. Wait three to four weeks Take another snapshot Compare snapshot data.

The results will show that with softskills there is a change in numbers for the better. The results

- Higher productivity

- Higher quality

- Higher morale

- Fewer mistakes

- Less errors,

- Less customer complaints

- less sick time and other benefits.

Like I said I have had the opportunity to prove this twice. Now if they were to couple this with another program you would have companies that people will want to work for.

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/19 08:27 am

Dear Joseph,

You're right. It's not a fad or something for the good times. It's at the core of good business practice.

Your suggestion re business metrics is probably spot on. After all, what get's measured gets done!

What metrics would you suggest?

Timothy

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/19 08:24 am

Dear Ijaz,

That's an interesting comment you make re KLM giving close attention to staff as well as customers. "These two made us ( over 20,000 ) KLMers like a close knit family."

I remember a similar feeling (many years ago) when I was with McKinsey in the NY office. The firm was expanding globally at that time yet we all felt like one big family.

No doubt there are other businesses and firms today, which still maintain that family feeling even with thousands of employees - and in widely spread locations.

So it's possible!

I'd love to hear from others, who are experiencing this TODAY in their company or organisation. And, what is making it so.

Timothy

Joseph Mullin, MBA Principal - date: 2011/01/18 05:42 pm

Timothy,

How do we get the leadership of today to correct the wrong that has plagued companies for so long. How do we get them to see that this is the way it should be all the time.

This is not another fad wagon feel good business scheme. It is the way better companies are led. I agree whole heartedly and I am an advocate for the same. I believe the approach is to do it through business metrics so they can understand from their perspective what the opportunity costs are. What are your thoughts?

Ijaz Rana - date: 2011/01/18 05:38 pm

Dear Timothy,

As always, great article. In the company I spent three decades i.e. KLM Airlines, great emphasis was placed on two factors. They were Peoples Management & Internal Customers. These two made us ( over 20,000 ) KLMers like a close knit family.

Personal contacts were developed because of this system. Even the Vice President, in-charge of our area would know the dates of birth of all staff members & would wish them on that particular day.

All that Betty has said above is very right & boils down to the same. Thanks & Best Regards.

Ijaz

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/17 04:55 pm

Dear Phadke,

Thanks for your comment and support. I'm delighted that the Potshot will be reaching a broader audience within India due to your kindness. Please encourage anyone, who's interested, to register for the regular Monday mailing via the facility on our Home Page.

Timothy

Phadke Subodhkumar Narayan - date: 2011/01/17 04:34 pm

Namaste sir,

You hit the correct nail. I completely endorse your view point from my heart & soul.

It is extremely important that team member must buy leader, they must accept him/her, they must adore him/her, etc.

Once that happens, communication happens seamlessly between the leader to team members (internal customers) and from team members to end consumers (external customers).

I am sharing this article also in my dear motherland & to fellow citizens.

Sir you are doing great job. I appreciate.

Sincerely I remain,

Phadke S. N.

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/17 03:51 pm

Dear Wang Fang,

What you quote is certainly true. It's a fundamental running a good business - and being profitable! If you look after your internal customers (as well as your external ones), you'll certainly prosper.

Timothy

Timothy Pascoe - date: 2011/01/17 11:54 am

Dear Betty,

I'm delighted by your comment. You picked up immediately what I was trying to do: use marketing terms to contrast what is done (or more specifically NOT done!)in relation to staff.

Your example is particulary relevant since it illustrates a situation where the human factor is the key factor for success. Research I've seen over the years makes it pretty clear that the thing that most often undermines mergers and acquisitions(destroying their potential value) is failure in the human dimension. Failure to integrate cultures, to hold key people and, above all, motivate everyone to work as a single team towards the shared success of the new entity.

Many thanks - a great example.

Timothy

Wang Fang Hu - date: 2011/01/17 11:46 am

Dear Timothy,

I really appreciate this article. I remember I took a class in "Relationship selling" during my university studies, during that class one of the core concept was: the sales force (employees) is our company's internal customers, only having satisfied internal customers we (company) can have satisfied external customers.

Wang Fang

Betty Rengifo Uribe - date: 2011/01/17 11:12 am

I like your analogy of using marketing terms to talk about internal issues. Too often organizations focus so much on external factors that they forget that it is their people who make it all happen.
A few years ago I was a keynote speaker at an international conference in Chicago focused on bank CEOs. One CEO from a European bank asked me how he could best merge two banks, one of which he had purchased six months prior. Their strategic focus was different (one bank focused on high-end professionals, and the other focused on mass market). This CEO was worried about losing the top 20% of customers who made 80% of his profits.
My first answer to him was: "what are you doing for your employees?" he replied: "you don't understand, I want to know what do I need to do to make sure my 3,000 top customers don't leave."... my answer to that was: "What are you doing for your employees?"
After going back and forth, I realized he was not getting what I meant, so I said: "Your employees are the trusted advisors of the 3,000 top customers you are worried about losing, right? They go to dinner together, celebrate birthdays, know each other's life-events.... what are you doing for the people who are taking care of your most valued customers?" The light immediately went on.

This is typical of most CEOs and senior executives we must pay attention to our people as they are the ones who take care of our customers.

I appreciate the opportunity to post my comments.

Betty

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