Tag: Strategic Implementation

Revisiting our Values

October 21, 2022

World Values Day, 20th October, is a day to celebrate all things values. With that in mind, let’s revisit why values are so important in an organizational context. Putting values at the centre of everything an organization does helps to create a strong and authentic brand. This is particularly relevant for service organisations where people are a core element of the proposition.

But the focus on values needs to be sincere and authentic rather than a lip service PR campaign. Witness the negative reaction to the McDonald’s marketing initiative of flipping its golden arches upside down on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in honour of International Women’s Day.

What are values?

So, if values are critically important, it is a good idea to remind yourself what they are. The word values now appears so commonplace that sometimes the meaning is forgotten. Core values are traits or qualities that represent deeply held beliefs. They reflect what is important to us, and what motivates us. For an organization, values define what it stands for and how it is seen and experienced by all stakeholders (customers, employees, service partners, suppliers, and communities).

Values act as guiding principles – as a behavioural and decision-making compass. In an organization, values (explicit or implicit) guide every person every day. They are the foundation for the way things work, providing the basis of the corporate culture.

For individuals, as well as organizations, values sit at the gateway between our inner and outer worlds. They describe what is fundamentally important and meaningful to us and relate directly to our sense of purpose and to our needs as individuals to survive and thrive.

Richard Barrett and colleagues differentiate between positive values and potentially limiting values. Honesty, trust, and accountability are positive values, whereas blame, revenge, and manipulation are potentially limiting. Positive values are described as virtues and are strengths that we can draw on to build resources and resourcefulness. Potentially limiting values emanate from the conscious or subconscious beliefs of the ego. In this chapter, we focus on positive values.

“Values are the ideals that give meaning to our lives that are reflected through the priorities we choose and that we act on consistently and repeatedly.” Brian Hall

In summary, people are shaped by what they care about, and where given a choice, will engage in activities that enable them to survive and thrive in any situation. We can live core values to good effect. We can use them to provide:
• a reference for decision making
• clarity and increased awareness about individual behaviours (self and others)
• an unambiguous environment for new employees to start off on the right track
• stories to build the heritage and folklore of the organization
• consistency – viewed from within or from the outside

The values-based customer

Research in this area over several years by Forrester confirms that customers explicitly consider company values such as employment and manufacturing practices, political and social stances, and commitment to certain causes or beliefs when choosing products to buy or brands to associate with.
Customers now believe that company values go beyond a tagline and are reflected in everything a firm does or says – from its hiring practices to strategic partnerships, to supply chain management and advertising tone.

52% of customers, across generations, consider company values explicitly when making purchases. The phenomenon applies across all income levels and nearly four in 10 values-based consumers have an annual income of $50,000 or less.

As you would expect, although consumers increasingly factor company values into their buying decisions, they consider these principles alongside elements like price, convenience, previous experience, and accessibility. We are not suggesting that, in the Values Economy, every single person makes decisions based on values above any other consideration.

However, Forrester’s research suggests that about one-fifth of consumers (across industry sectors) put values first and that the majority of consumers, when they perceive brands and products to be comparable in terms of price and quality, see values as a differentiator which can tip their purchasing decision.

The implications for this more values-based approach are profound. Potentially, what an organization stands for and believes in could become the buyer’s primary consideration, above the quality and value for money of the products or services offered.

So what?

Looking from the best case to the worst case, you can see for yourself the way you can harness core values for good or ignore core values at your peril. The research from Forrester reinforces what we have known for some time.

The key factor common to companies that have delivered sustained high performance – at the top of their market for 100 years or more – is a base of values that was strong enough to provide the employees of the company with a common bond – a purpose beyond profit.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global we believe that values-driven service is the key to sustainable performance. It is quite simple although not easy to do. When done well, everyone who interacts with your organization, whether they are a customer, employee, service provider, investor or even a member of the local community, has a clear understanding of who your organization is and what you stand for. If you are starting out on your values journey, or wanting to bring to life the values you already have, why not see how SERVICEBRAND Global can help.

Getting Personal with CX

October 14, 2022

“Customer service shouldn’t just be a department; it should be the entire company.” — Tony Hsieh

Tony Hsieh’s quote sums up why the premium hospitality sector was such a great training ground for my understanding and leadership of customer experience strategy. In good hotels every single person understands the importance of their role in delivering a great guest service. Products and services are important, but in a world of near limitless choice, they aren’t the defining factor in a customer’s decision-making process. When it comes to getting their needs fulfilled, the more positive an experience the customer has, the more likely they are to return again.

Delivering a great customer experience (CX) can have a dramatic positive impact on business revenue, customer loyalty, employee engagement and retention, brand perception and organizational growth. And because we all have experience of being a customer, many people overestimate their ability to be able to design and implement good CX. The reality is that the journey is hard work, littered with challenges.

The journey to great and consistent CX is a marathon, not a sprint. A process of becoming that is never quite over. Despite rapidly shifting customer demands, it is possible to set in place strategies to enable you to shift and flow with your customers, rather than be reactive, or try to force them into a way of doing things that is not comfortable for them.

Time to get personal

Data is not something you might readily associate with the, sometimes lofty, concept of CX but it is often a fantastic starting point. Customers don’t mind having their data collected if it benefits their future experience with a brand or organization.

The more you collect measurement and insight from your customers, the better equipped you become to make further improvements that customers want. This is far better than making decisions based on personal preferences and/or on a whim.

Consider the different ways in which you might collect this data rather than rely on one format. This can range from social media sentiment analysis, surveys, mystery shop programs, focus groups and informal feedback. When these tools are used well, you will be surprised just how many people will voluntarily offer you feedback.

Once you have the data, you’ll be able to better target personalised and individual marketing to specific groups or specific people. By getting personal, you not only create a huge amount of lifetime customer value, but you also create free brand ambassadors, spreading their experience of your organization to everyone they meet.

A standard yet personal approach

Standardising your approach to CX can feel counterintuitive in a market where personalised contact and touch points are championed as a way of delivering great customer experience. The challenge is, customers should never feel that other customers are getting better service than they are, for no reason. To put this into practical terms, everybody understands that a passenger who has paid for a first-class ticket on a train will receive a different, better service. However, if a passenger in the same standard of the train receives preferential treatment, people will understandably feel aggrieved.

Find out through customer feedback what it is that customers most love about the services or goods they receive, and consciously channel that information into your advertising and touch point copy. Be sure to test how your messaging is being received by your customers frequently. Some messaging is good for a campaign or specific product but doesn’t read well as a lifetime statement.

It is important to nail down your communication and design elements so that all your customer facing messaging speaks to the heart and values of the organization. The approach must reflect customer needs and desires, but also be liveable by your employees. Each and every customer should be able to have a personal yet standardized experience at each of your stores or locations, no matter who they are served by or where. Your employees are your organization, brand ambassadors conveying your organization’s ethos and values every day.

The right person for the job

Customers know what authenticity feels like, they can often tell the difference between when an employee is there for the love of the job and when they are only there for a wage slip. Your customers can’t have a good experience if there is a lack of consistency or clarity within the employee pool. To make it an even bigger challenge, this also applies across geographies, time (of day, and zones) and channels.

One you know what your customers love most about your business, this can inform your employee experience throughout (hiring, training, reward and recognition, performance review etc). Regardless of the wage being paid, you might remember how it feels when an employee is vocal about the job being a ‘place holder’ to better things. Let’s just say that your perception of the brand is not enhanced!

On the other hand, you also want to avoid employees being frozen by indecision from fear and/or micromanagement. Building values-led people processes and then trusting your employees to deliver the required level of service is the way to do this.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global we believe in customer experience and the unique power doing it correctly has in building lifetime customer value for your organization. Whether you are right at the beginning of your CX journey, or in need of fresh thinking, or faced with competitors who are delivering a better customer service than you, be in touch and see how we might get you on the right track to values-led service for sustained performance.

Balancing Workload and Productivity

October 8, 2022

Organizations and the leaders that run them expect a certain a level of productivity from their employees. The choices of competition are endless, and the smallest issues can break brand loyalty. In this high-demand and on-demand society, it is no surprise employees are driven to be as productive as possible.

But knowing you need to achieve certain levels of productivity, and actually putting in place effective workload strategies to make the right output possible, are very different things. Your organizations biggest assets are its employees. They are the people who create your products and services, who face the customers and build brand awareness and loyalty with them. If your employees are burned out or disengaged from unmanageable productivity deadlines and workload beyond their capacity to cope, your business is in danger.

Setting your priorities

On average 80% of the average workday is spent doing tasks with little or no value, with the remaining 20% bearing the weight of all the important value adding tasks. Statistics like these don’t mean your employees are lazy, they mean there is a lack of focus within organizations as to what their priorities should be.

Your workplace should be an encouraging and engaging one. Encourage your employees to review all the tasks they undertake and have them report back to you with complete honest about what ‘feels’ useful and productive, and what feels like a box ticking exercise or a waste of time doing something that could potential be spent better elsewhere.

‘Oh, but they won’t be honest because they like wasting time.’ There are three big problems with statements like these. The first is that the majority of employees want to be working while they are at work, time runs slower when avoiding tasks than it does when fully in the flow of a creative and engaging workplace.

The second is wrong thinking on the part of the leader. If you think this way about any of your employees, you need to address your hiring, training, and monitoring practices. There should be no one in your organisation that doesn’t want to be there. And the third issue, if you have people being paid to do random or pointless tasks, you need to get honest about it and either redevelop their remit, find another place for them, or let them go.

Keeping track of time

Never have a meeting when an email would do. Of course, it is important to meet with employees regularly. But too much oversight kills creativity, wastes time, and makes employees feel like their time is no valuable if it can be so easily wasted.

Your organization is likely to have set deadlines and dates for deliverables. Time tracking and scheduling software is your best friend. But not when it becomes more important to get things done to the timetable that are only achievable by cutting corners or burning out.

Your time tracking should be a supporting tool that provides guidance and assistance to workers, it should not become their all-powerful overlord. Let your employees see your goals, your plans, and the schedule in which you hope to achieve them and give them voice as to what is suitable and achievable. Let go of a ‘if I give an inch, they’ll take a mile’ mentality, and trust that the people you have hired and rigorously trained, want to be there, and want to help you succeed.

Run before you can walk

This may seem counter intuitive, but it is always better to attack the difficult tasks first. By prioritising the most complex deliverables first, you allow more time to fix any issues that arise later on. People are often better mentally and physically in the morning than later on in the day. Set the hard work, the difficult tasks in the morning and let the afternoon or late part of the shift be dedicated to the more monotonous and repetitive work. In this way you’ll establish a relationship with your employees that shows you care about balancing their productivity with their workload.

A best practice SERVICEBRAND

Nordstrom, Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1901 by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. It originated as a shoe store and evolved into a full-line retailer with departments for clothing, footwear, handbags, jewellery, accessories, cosmetics, and fragrances. Some stores feature home furnishings and wedding departments, and several have in-house cafes, restaurants, and espresso bars.

As of 2020, Nordstrom operates 354 stores, including 100 full-line stores, in 40 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. The corporate headquarters and flagship store are in the former Frederick & Nelson department store building in Seattle, Washington; a second flagship store is located near Columbus Circle in New York City. Its subsidiaries include the 247-store off-price Nordstrom Rack division, two clearance stores, five Nordstrom Local service hubs and the members-only online store HauteLook. There is also a comprehensive online service across the portfolio.

In August 2020, Nordstrom employed 68,000 people (full time and part time employees). In 2019, the company had a $15.86 billion revenue in the year and profit of $564 million. They hosted 800 million online visitors annually and 35 million instore customers.

Somebody who possibly knows Nordstrom nearly as well as the Nordstrom family is Robert Spector, the author of “The Nordstrom Way” book series, who has interviewed three generations of the Nordstrom family, and is an international keynote speaker on the Nordstrom culture of service. We invited Robert to collaborate with us for this mini case study and have been fortunate enough to receive his insight into the company for this chapter.

This quote from Robert sums it up well:

People often ask me: “What is the essence of The Nordstrom Way?”

My answer: “Everything Nordstrom does is centred around taking care of the customer and giving
them value that will last a lifetime. Whatever channel Nordstrom uses, the personal touch of customer service has to be a part of it.” They nod in understanding, then follow up with, “And?”
To which I reply. “That’s it.”
In this blog, I would like to share some brief insights into the way Nordstrom works using the SERRVICEBRAND framework of Brand Identity, Employee Engagement, Customer Experience, Systems & Processes and Measurement & Insight:

Brand Identity

Delivering a great customer experience is at the heart of the Nordstrom business model. The company’s mission is “To continue our dedication to providing a unique range of products, exceptional customer service, and great experiences.” When asked about the company and its goals, Erik B. Nordstrom, President, and CEO, stated “Above all, our number-one goal remains focused on improving service for customers so that people feel even better about the time they spend with us.” In summary, customer experience is the brand.

Values are also of paramount importance. “We grew up being taught to respect all our customers and to the extent that they have different opinions, that means we can’t have an opinion on anything that’s personal or political,” said Pete. “ We were always Switzerland [neutral]. We would never offer an opinion. But today, you have to stand up for something. We can’t have a personal connection with customers and employees if we don’t have an authentic set of core beliefs and values.”

This approach has resonated internally within its company culture and, externally, with its loyal customer base and is a great example of the SERVICEBRAND approach being applied in practice: alignment of brand identity, employee engagement and customer experience.

Employee engagement

The goal is to first attract, and then retain people who share and abide by the Nordstrom values because it is understood that only those kinds of people will be happy working for the company. As Bruce Nordstrom says, “We can hire nice people and teach them to sell, but we can’t hire salespeople and teach them to be nice. We believe in the philosophy of ‘hire the smile, train the skill.’” And Jamie Nordstrom, President of Stores, tells students that they should “join a company whose values align with yours.”

Every Nordstrom employee (whether they work on the sales floor or in a support position) is focused on making people feel good, and the culture is centred on creating an environment where employees feel supported and empowered to do just that. Employees are encouraged to work as though it is their name on the door, thinking of themselves as an entrepreneur who Nordstrom is providing with the tools (store, merchandise, technology) to build their own business. Then, they do what they feel is right to build lasting relationships with their customers and provide them with an outstanding experience in keeping with a long-term view of the lifetime value of the customer. Employees are empowered to do what it takes to make customers feel good and have just one rule in all situations that gives them the freedom and flexibility they need to make that happen: Use good judgment.

Customer Experience

Nordstrom’s customer service is legendary, and there is plenty of supporting evidence, whether it is a story about searching through vacuum cleaner bags to return a customer’s lost diamond, driving a customer’s forgotten bags to the airport before their flight, selling a single shoe or Nordstrom employees helping mall shoppers carry purchases from other stores to their cars. One of the most well-known Nordstrom customer service stories is about a man who wanted to return a set of tyres which had been purchased at the store that occupied the same space prior to Nordstrom moving in.

After some discussion, the Nordstrom store manager decided to allow the customer to return the tyres there. All these stories are examples of how the company gives employees the empowerment referred to earlier in this chapter and the autonomy to make their own decisions instead of having an expensive and time-consuming authorization process. Similarly, employees are encouraged to create and make use of their client lists – they personally notify customers of special events and sales through mail or email and send handwritten thank-you notes to new customers.

A seamless blend

In addition, whilst these stories are generally from store settings, The Nordstroms say they are channel agnostic: they don’t have a channel strategy; they have a customer strategy. They think of the customer having an imaginary seat in the boardroom and are always seeking to make life easier for the customer not the organization. In this new omnichannel world, Nordstrom is reimagining the role of the physical store, which is now digitized and complements the online channel.

They are seeking to seamlessly blend the sensory experience of the physical store and the personalization and convenience of online shopping, continually adding value to the customer experience to be relevant and attractive to customers.

Systems and processes

Nordstrom is embracing technology in its drive to deliver the best possible customer service. In fact, about 30% of capital expenditure is earmarked for developing the Internet infrastructure. The key point though, is that any technological advancement put in place is always for the benefit of the customer rather than for any other reason.

The systems and processes in the organization are there to support the Nordstrom salespeople and customers. As an example, the merchandising team has been adapted to be more responsive to regional preferences, while at the same time leveraging the company’s size and expertise on a national level. The perpetual inventory management system enables a salesperson to track down an item for a customer from anywhere in the company in the time it takes to ring up the sale.

Measurement & Insight

This area is focused on, guess what: the customer!

Over the past five years, Nordstrom has transformed the way that data is used to drive stronger outcomes for the business. The start point was a recognition that marketing expense was outpacing sales, and yet the rate of customer acquisition was declining at the same time. The approach to measurement and insight was re centred on the customer to measure what really matters.

By reorganizing around the customer, the mindset has shifted from one of last click return on ad spend to one of incremental marketing. As a result, expenses are now in line with sales, efficiency has increased, and the rate of acquisition has gone up.

Key SERVICEBRAND insights

The ‘textbook’ application of the SERVICEBRAND approach; where the customer experience is the ultimate objective and, in effect, the brand itself, delivered by brand ambassadors, and these three elements are supported by systems and processes, and measurement and insight.
How Nordstrom has adjusted the delivery of the customer experience to suit changing tastes and demographics whilst staying true to their high-level purpose and values over time.

The longevity of the humble, ‘work hard every day’ ethic of Nordstrom founder Johan (John) Wilhelm Nordstrom in spite of the adulation received about the level of customer service provided.

This blog is based on Chapter 17 Nordstrom The Values Economy: How to deliver purpose-driven service for sustained performance: Williams, Alan, Williams, Samuel: 9781912555802: Amazon.com: Books

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we have a deep understanding of how to align the three areas of Brand Identity, Employee Engagement and Customer Experience supported by Systems & Processes and Measurement & Insight. Contact us to see how we can help you create strategies to dramatically improve your organizational effectiveness and performance.

Customer Journey Mapping

September 23, 2022

“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” Steve Jobs

One of the most helpful tools for Customer Experience Management is customer journey mapping, used to understand and define the customer experience. There are many variations of this technique, and our aim is to highlight some points for you to bear in mind if you think this might be a useful initiative. Your customer’s journey is each of the interactions they have with your organization through your various touch points. This could be instore, via email or social media, the in-person service they receive or the online interactions they have with your employees.

65% of customers are more influenced by great experience than by advertising. If you get your customer journey right, you are more likely to create happy and loyal customers. Many of these will go on to be excellent word of mouth ambassadors for your brand, as well as repeat customers.

How to map your map

Start by considering the end-to-end journey of the customer, even if this includes areas over which you have little or no control. If you are a train company, the local car park is part of your customers’ experience. It will affect customers’ perception of your offer (even if it is provided by a third party) and might have an impact on your business (e.g., the car park is always full, is badly maintained or is prone to vandalism and there is another train station close by).

Common sense

At each stage of the customer journey, all the senses need to be considered to design and implement the optimum customer experience. In a banking client’s office, we discovered that mail room employees wheeled a trolley through the reception area, where important visitors were awaiting their host. The trolley had the loudest squeaky wheels you can imagine and clearly this did not support and reinforce the smooth, sophisticated image the bank wished to portray.

The senses can be used to emphasize the uniqueness of a branded customer experience. Abercrombie & Fitch was one of the first businesses to use scents in their stores and in their marketing. In Ritz Carlton hotels you will hear employees say, “It’s my pleasure” and never “That’s Ok” or “No problem”. Tiffany’s iconic shade of ‘robin’s egg’ blue, trademarked as Tiffany Blue is ubiquitous on everything from jewellery boxes to shopping bags to advertising.

Know, do, feel

It is also important to think about what you want the customer to know, do and feel at each stage of the journey or at key touchpoints. Using the example of a hotel registration, welcoming a guest back to the hotel and providing them with a registration card for their signature lets them know that you have remembered their previous visit, prompts them to provide their signature and makes them feel valued as a returning guest. The key card can then be issued in a small card ‘wallet’ displaying their room number and signature so they can present it to charge any services to their room account during their stay. This wallet can also include other information about the hotel’s facilities, and the receptionist can offer to make a dinner reservation before directing the guest to their room.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we help organizations to develop their customer journey maps as a foundational tool in their Customer Experience strategy. If you think this is an area that could help improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and sales, why not see how the SERVICEBRAND approach could help you?

Experience-led workplace design

August 24, 2022

Building customer experience (CX) can be a real challenge, it requires a great deal of data, understanding and the right application of insights about your customers’ desired outcomes. Not only this, but also how to create the kind of experience that leads customers to a better perception of your offering that they may not have had before.

“You have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology” Steve Jobs

Experience-led design is not new, and most people will have experienced and benefitted from this approach using any Apple product, hence the Steve Jobs quote above. However, in commercial real estate, the ‘customer experience’ is often designed and delivered subsequently within the confines of the physical design.

There are clear and obvious disadvantages with this: imagine a new office with a beautifully designed reception desk but where there is a desire to reinforce personal service and a hosting style reception service with no barriers. The best results and least waste can only be achieved by designing the workplace customer experience first and then using this to inform the design of the built environment.

In practical terms, the first step is to create a strategic vision brief, articulating the purpose of the project, the values and brand concept and a high-level customer journey experience, covering all senses and the aspiration for how ‘customers’ will feel, what they will know and do. The built design and service delivery model can then flow from this starting point.

Well-being

Another dimension of customer experience in a workplace environment is the topic of well-being which has gained traction in the last 5 years or so – organizations are increasingly investing time and energy in this area. The well-being topic is wide ranging and covers a spectrum of topics from physical wellbeing (diet, hydration, exercise, sleep), an array of mental health issues, spiritual well-being (prayer facilities), employment factors (adequate pay and working hours), environmental factors (office design, ergonomics, biophilia, air quality, temperature, light and sound), social wellbeing (interaction and collaboration with colleagues), and even the benefit of an adrenalin rush.

Facilities management plays a key role because the function delivers so many of these wellbeing related services and facilities. The BCO’s 2018 research report, Wellness Matters, states that employee wellbeing is intricately linked to employee productivity and is boosted by spacious, naturally lit offices with good air quality and amenities.

Built environment

The scope of the physical design can also be extended to how different styles of workspaces can support different types of work (e.g. confidential calls, deep concentration, collaboration, creative thinking etc) and the importance of areas to take a break.

Some workspaces are designed deliberately to create specific traffic flows or impromptu ‘meetings’. I remember an office I visited in Johannesburg where the CEO had escalators installed as a central feature – wanting to avoid the silence he had witnessed between groups of employees when they used the elevators. There has been an increasing interest in biophilic office design: bringing the outdoors into the workplace and results in improved productivity, increased concentration levels, greater creativity, enhanced wellbeing, reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, and improved employee retention.

The cost versus investment perspective is well demonstrated by looking at the decision about whether to provide catering and/or kitchen space in an office. From a pure cost perspective, this is often a large area of expensive real estate, especially if the space is only fully used at lunch time. On the other hand, the space can be a highly effective vehicle for organizational communications, a potential area for collaboration and informal networking, a way to provide healthy food for employees and is convenient, avoiding any need for people to leave the building. As we are now learning, employees that have time to make and build friendships at work are far more productive than those that don’t.

We also know companies who do not have catering space because they have made a strategic decision to support the local business community. You can see that what might seem to be a simple decision at face value can involve a complex set of considerations and COVID-19 has added a whole new dimension with the office versus work from home (or elsewhere) dynamic.

Style

The final layer is the style of service delivery. The combination of the style of service, range of services and built environment are a strong message to employees and visitors about what is important to the organization, and we recommend to clients that the area of corporate real estate services is given sufficient focus and attention.

Research shows that workplaces that have been designed in tune with employee sentiment deliver a significant upswing in pride. There is a commonly held belief that people who experience a certain level of admiration derived from the efforts and achievements of their employer are more likely to become brand ambassadors for the company in question, and this can only go on to have a positive impact on a customer’s experience.

The new ‘workplace’

This area has taken on a whole new dimension now that the scope of ‘workplace’ has been extended by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are two fundamental developments:
1) For many office workers, the office is no longer the de facto place of work. The organization leaders in workplace need to consider how employees can be equipped to be as productive and fulfilled as possible, individually and collectively.
2) Because there is a viable, and often desirable alternative to the office, the organization leaders in workplace have a challenge to make the office a place that employees want to come to work … with experience-led workplace design.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we believe in experience-led workplace design. Twenty years ago, I moved from the commercial hospitality sector (five-star hotels, conference centres and restaurants) and used this experience to implement experience-led workplace design with an award-winning One Team supply chain approach. If you are looking to improve the design and service delivery in your organization’s workplace to attract and retain talent and maximise productivity and fulfilment, let’s explore how SERVICEBRAND Global can help.
This blog is based on Chapter 19, Workplace from The Values Economy

The Power of Affirmations

August 12, 2022

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.
Muhammad Ali

An affirmation is defined as a statement or proposition that is declared to be true. Self-affirmations were first popularized by French psychologist Emile Coué back in the 1920s, so they have been around for some time.

Proponents of the “law of attraction” often credit self-affirmations as being capable of magnetically drawing positive things such as financial success, love, and renewed health to us. But it is our belief that more than positive mental visualization is required to be happy and successful.

Of course, as highlighted in our book (co-author @Steve Payne) My 31 Practices, affirmations play a crucial role in directing our attention and awareness to the areas of our lives that we would like to improve. But the important part of our process, is a recognition of the actions that must accompany these thoughts to bring them into reality.

Here is an explanation of why the affirmation approach is effective by Manprit Kaur – it is great to see such clear focus on practice:

“Remember, by making affirmations, you are consciously programming your mind to think in a certain way, so that hopeful and happy thinking becomes a part of your being. Affirmations are a way to train the mind; and training happens when you practice, practice, practice! Training requires conscious effort, discipline, belief, and consistency. That is exactly how you need to practice your affirmations.”

What do they look like?

Affirmations are simply statements that are designed to create self-change in the person using them or to reinforce current wanted behaviour. They can operate at a number of levels (a simple reminder, inspiration, focusing attention) with the potential to develop and embed positive and sustained change. Over time it becomes natural.

Four Guidelines for Effective Affirmations

1. First person: begin your affirmations with “I”. This makes your statements personal to you, and easy for you to associate with and take responsibility for.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I know I can.
Watty Piper The Little Engine That Could

2. Present tense: write your affirmations as if they are already happening. This means saying, “I offer thoughtful gestures to people” rather than “I will offer thoughtful gestures to people”. The present tense is far more compelling than the future tense where you can find reasons that this is not what happens right now. For a similar reason, avoid using the phrase “try to” – this creates an opportunity for you to find an excuse or reason not to do something and weakens your commitment.

Do. Or do not. There is no try.
Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

3. Positive language: focus on what you want to do rather than what you do not want to do. For example, “I enjoy making healthy choices when eating” rather than “I no longer eat fast foods”.

4. Emotional, personal words: these positive emotions are powerful motivators. For a similar reason, use specific words or phrases that you use or relate to. For example, “I hang out with my pals to feel happy” rather than “I spend time with my friends,” which sounds impersonal and like a bit of a chore.

Words can inspire and words can destroy. Choose yours well
Robin Sharma

How do you use them?

We believe that the daily discipline of my31Practices is an important factor in building affirmations that work to creative positive change in your life. But what is more important than what we believe or think, is what works best for you. Different people have different preferences.

Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
Jim Rohn

This is why you can set your affirmation reminder at a time to suit you. In line with the myPractices approach we suggest that you take some quiet time to focus on your affirmations for the day. You might like to write it down, repeat it out loud, leave notes or associated quotes around the house. Then at the end of the day before you sleep, spend some time considering your experiences during the day. Just take five minutes to try these things for one or two days and see what differences you notice.

So what? Do they work?

There is a range of opinion in recent research. On the one hand, some researchers suggest the benefits of using affirmations include:

– protection against the damaging effects of stress on problem-solving performance

– fostering better problem-solving

– helping deal with threats to our self-integrity

People can be affirmed by engaging in activities that remind them of “who they are” (and doing so reduces our need for defensive responses when faced with implications for self-integrity of threatening events).

There are other researchers who cite the lack of supporting scientific evidence and see possible advantages and disadvantages for different groups of people.

Another school of thought focuses on mindfulness and a commitment to an alignment of values and behaviour.

And?
So where do all of these seemingly contradictory points of view take us? Well, we believe it can all be distilled down into the following:

Affirmations by themselves may be of some value to some people, BUT, when used as part of a broader approach (alongside other techniques such as mindfulness, practice, recognition and reward, reinforcement, and others) can TOGETHER be a powerful approach to the way you think, behave, and feel. Perhaps we should invent a new word: Affirmactions.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus

Awareness: Part 2

August 5, 2022

In the first blog on Awareness (here) we looked at NLP, calibrating changing and the link between intention and awareness. The second part focuses on feedback loops and the way perception affects our sense of awareness.

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” -Abraham Maslow

Feedback loops

In your day-to-day life you are experiencing feedback loops all the time and these feedback loops give you a clue about what to do next. When you talk with other people you are usually scanning for signs of connection, understanding, resonance and so on. When you watch two people speaking, notice how the listener will often nod their head or make sounds such as “uh huh”. This is valuable feedback for the speaker.

To demonstrate our need for feedback, find someone to talk to and when they are speaking, keep your head perfectly still, do not make any gestures or sounds, keep your face completely expressionless and just look at them neutrally. Notice how quickly the other person becomes uncomfortable. This demonstrates the importance of feedback; without it we do not know what to do.

The next time you meet someone, be aware of the tone in their voice, their gestures, their energy shifts. What is this non-verbal communication telling you about how they feel and how do you respond to it?

By bringing awareness to the way these cues affect you, you will be able to better control the way your cues affect other people. In this way, you will be able to build better and longer lasting relationships with people, as you will understand better the place where their feedback is generated. You’ll be able to see the emotional driver behind the mask. Allowing for deeper and more meaningful connection.

It is obvious that you can be aware of things that are tangible, such as objects, other people, the weather and so on. But you can also be aware of things that are less tangible, such as how you feel about something, including when something “just doesn’t feel right”.

This is very true when it comes to your values. Although we can be consciously aware of some our values, often they may be out of our conscious awareness; they may be sitting in the subconscious. You may become more aware of these values when they are being honoured or compromised.

By way of example, have you experience a situation where everything just seemed “right”, where relationships, actions, decisions, results were all so easy, enjoyable, and successful? It is likely that your value/s were being honoured.

On the other side of the coin, have you ever been asked to do something, and you had a funny feeling about it? It just didn’t feel right? Did you sense some form of discomfort internally, perhaps in your gut? This was likely to be a subconscious signal telling you that one of your values was being compromised.

Awareness of feedback loops trains us to better engage the world around us, to better understand ourselves and our own values, so we might be of more service to others. In a more understanding and compassionate way.

Perception

Perception is all about awareness. You can only respond to what you are aware of. The British anthropologist, Gregory Bateson, said that to really understand any situation fully, you need to examine it from at least three different perspectives. Take the example of a disagreement between you and someone else. There will be your opinion, the other person’s opinion and then what a neutral observer may see.

Take a look at the diagram below. From one perspective a person may be certain that they are looking at a circle, from a different perspective another person may be certain the object is a square and yet from another perspective, the truth becomes more apparent.

How often do you view something from just one perspective? What more might you discover when you take a different viewpoint?

The Truth perspective

Raising our awareness that the meaning in every situation depends on how we look at it will enable us to make more informed choices with potentially better outcomes.

To change unhelpful patterns of behaviour or habits you must be first become aware of them. If you are looking to change certain patterns of thought and/or behaviour, it is important to notice when you are doing and/or thinking or doing something that works against your higher positive intention and then take action to do something about it.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we believe awareness is a key factor in the healthy development of the self, both professionally and personally. By training in awareness, through better understanding of perception and feedback, we can all move closer to being fully aware human beings. People who act on their values in a positive and meaningful way, rather than a reactive and emotionally shallow way. Our 31Practices approach can help you build a sense of awareness and conscious practice at a personal or organizational level.

Building a Community at Work

July 14, 2022

We are social beings and find isolation challenging. This simple statement is well understood, yet the damaging nature of a lack of interaction and connection with others seems underrepresented and underestimated.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront issues of isolation and loneliness. It highlighted the stress we feel when our sense of community and connection is taken away. The impact can be immediate and is detrimental to varying degrees. Our mental health and sense of well-being is affected as well as our personal and professional relationships.

Hybrid work is now becoming a new reality for many organizations. So how can we build a sense of community among different people that aren’t necessarily inhabiting the same physical space?

Why stress matters

Stress comes in many forms and is a natural reaction to feeling threatened or under pressure. The great philosophers suggest we need a certain amount of eustress to feel pushed and driven to overcome the challenges of life. However, too much stress seriously impacts our health, both physical and mental.

We might feel anxious, doubt our self-worth, feel irritable and be unpleasant to be around. All these things affect our ability to work well in teams and further push us towards greater isolation and loneliness. Loneliness and lack of connection are distressing, causing greater levels of stress that, in turn, create behaviours that result in further isolation. It is a vicious downward spiral.

Even before the Covid pandemic, stress related illnesses were a leading cause of hospital admissions in the UK, costing over £8bn in 2019.

Getting connected

In a pre-pandemic world, in countries like UK, we are likely to spend 9 and half years over the course of our lifetimes in the company of the people we work with. If workplaces no longer provide this connection, we will become distanced from one another. The part of us that desires a sense of community, that doesn’t want to be isolated, might start to feel stressed in this situation.

Good company culture isn’t just about employees doing a job. Its about connecting employees to an overarching sense of meaning and purpose, that makes them valued, involved, and fulfilled, while working with others to achieve a goal.

There is nothing wrong with having a strong individual work ethic. Some people are better equipped to work alone. But individualism has its limitations. No matter how frequently you might hear workplace rhetoric about being ‘the only person for the job’ or ‘doing it myself, because others won’t get it right’, ultimately, performance is delivered by people working with other people.

Building community

Building community within any organization is about more than an office pizza day or a zoom coffee morning check in session. Henry Mintzberg highlights the importance of ‘communityship’ Rebuilding Companies as Communities (hbr.org) and shares these lessons:

1. Community building in an organization may best begin with small groups of committed managers.

2. The sense of community takes root as the managers in these groups reflect on the experiences they have shared in the organization.

3. The insights generated by these reflections naturally trigger small initiatives that can grow into big strategies.

4. As these initial teams promote change, they become examples for other groups that spread communityship throughout the organization.

5. An organization knows that communityship is firmly established when its members reach out in socially active, responsible, and mutually beneficial ways to the broader community.

In summary, Minzberg refers to a healthy society balancing leadership, communityship, and citizenship.

I can relate this concept of communityship to several roles in corporate organizations and cultural transformation projects. In all these situations, the goal was to create a strong sense of community spirit, for every member of the team to feel a sense of belonging and value, and to be proud of what the team was achieving. There were several pillars that enabled this. They might have looked different for different situations but shared these common underpinnings:

1. A clear, well communicated statement of the team vision
2. The importance of every person’s contribution
3. Interdependence
4. Everybody had a voice even if not everyone could decide
5. Acknowledgement of the person (not just the role they performed)
6. Respect and support collective decisions (even if you do not agree personally)
7. Recognise and celebrate achievements
8. Share disappointments and learn for next time
9. Equity and no ‘seniority privilege’

These principles have been applied and been effective in a single business unit, multi-site organizations, a large global organization in different locations around the world and even in ‘extended team’ settings such as supply chain service partner groups.

This collection of research in the area will be an interesting follow on read for those who are curious to know more Workplace Communities: The Research (cultivateall.com)

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we believe in creating a sense of community in organizations. The SERVICEBRAND approach and associated tools and techniques enable this. When your business runs in an interconnected way, your employees will be happier, more motivated, and far more efficient and productive. They will be loyal and proud ambassadors for your business. If you are struggling to build a strong company community, why not see what SERVICEBRAND Global can do for you?

Engaging Employees

July 8, 2022

“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek

Everybody has days of low motivation and energy from time to time. But in some organizations, for many employees this is the norm rather than the exception. They are content to set themselves on autopilot – not to do bad work, but not focused, engaged or directed to excel either.

It is not that disengaged employees are intentional in their desire to reduce your organization’s efficiency, reputation, and profitability. They just aren’t motivated and passionately engaged to give their best.

The Plague of disengagement

When have you experienced that contagious feeling of disengagement? It might have been as a customer, dealing with a disengaged employee, or as an employee yourself, perhaps excited to begin a new role, only to discover that your colleagues are not as engaged or connected to fulfilling the same purpose.

In these moments, the lack of motivation and engagement is palpable, and spreads easily. It can spread seeds of doubt, dash hopes and make people reconsider and re-evaluate their choices. People become less focused on being the kind of employee they thought they’d have the opportunity to be, instead focusing more on if their choices are right, or even if they matter. Disengagement is powerful and not to be underestimated.

Why engagement matters

Having the ‘right’ people is only as good as their level of engagement, motivation and alignment with your organization’s purpose and values. When your employees are engaged, they stand ready to do more than just the bare minimum. They will be excited to face challenges, to innovate and foster creativity, all the while having a high level of pride in the work they do.

One third of employees are leaving their jobs to seek new challenges that better engage, motivate, and align with their values. If you don’t take action to address how you are engaging your own, your top talent will leave in search of a more meaningful existence.

Engaged employees are around 21% more efficient and productive than their disengaged counterparts. This translates to tremendous added value in terms of performance, efficiency, profitability, retention, and customer satisfaction.

Employee Experience

Employees are organizational stakeholders in the same way as customers are. In both cases the objectives from the organization’s perspective are similar: attract and retain, engage, make productive, and create advocates of the organization. The term employee experience and the abbreviation Exis being used increasingly in a similar way to the use of CX was adopted in the field of Customer Experience. In Chapter 7, Employee Engagement in our book The Values Economy, How to Deliver Purpose-Driven Service for Sustained Performance we identify eleven stages of the EX. In the SERVICEBRAND approach a critical feature is the alignment of brand identity with employee engagement because, just as with customers, the employee experience does not exist in a vacuum. The experience is more relevant and meaningful when it is rooted in the organization’s brand identity.

Appreciation

In my experience, the best return on investment in business is appreciation (including recognition). When employees feel appreciated, the levels of engagement, happiness, and productivity increase, sometimes dramatically.

Appreciation (and recognition) works best when it is intrinsic. This is not to say that you should not consider some form of financial or material reward, but this should not be the dominant element. It also needs to be proportionate, so, if your company achieves record profits because of your employees’ hard work, consider how to express your appreciation of their efforts. This can be from a whole range of options from a personal thank you from the CEO, some form of team based ‘reward’ or more tangible compensation and benefits ideas.

The role of hierarchy is an interesting area. There is often a focus on recognition from senior leaders and we know that this instils a great sense of pride. On the other hand, if you want to boost your employee engagement, encourage peer to peer recognition. This will incentivise your employees to support one another, feel more connected, and be more engaged with the organization as a whole.

Peer to peer recognition frees senior management from being the gatekeepers of praise, and highlights behaviour that is valued ‘on the ground’.

Finally, people have an excellent ability to sniff out disingenuousness. If you aren’t being authentic with your thanks and backing this up with credible action, your employees disengagement can slide from passively unmotivated to actively malicious. The bottom line is to express appreciation for your people, or they’ll seek it elsewhere.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we believe in engagement as a powerful tool for productivity, employee satisfaction and retention. Why not see how the SERVICEBRAND approach could be tailored to help the leaders in your organization to build a more satisfied, engaged and productive workforce?

How to Deliver Sustained CX Performance

June 29, 2022

“You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.” ~Napoleon Hill

Customer Experience (CX) is about more than designing how you engage technically with your customers. It needs to focus on how each customer or service user feels about your organization. It is good to remember that, without customers, your organization would not exist.

The organization matters in its entirety, from the boardroom to the front line end even beyond, to service partner organizations, local communities and investors. A singular focus on CX can lead to poor employee engagement. Similarly, the most brilliant employee engagement strategy in isolation will not work. Achieving alignment across all areas, understanding the organization as one single entity, rather than a series of silos, is a critical step on the path to delivering sustained performance.

Never stop measuring

It sounds obvious, but many organizations miss out on vital data and understanding because of a lack of systems and processes to measure, track and improve the experience of everyone that has contact with the organization.

‘Measurement and insight are expensive.’ is often used as a reason or excuse for a lack of customer data. But this pure cost perspective misses the point because it is the value of this data that needs to be recognised. CX data is a critical component of understanding the financial health of the business. It can provide insight into how to sustain, scale and grow your business.

Measuring and understanding CX might seem expensive and time consuming, but the value of the data is priceless. Imagine creating a customer experience journey so that any problems that arise are flagged in real time, and dealt with immediately, before they can negatively impact your brand reputation. By continuously collecting and measuring data, you can deepen and widen your measurement pool. There is a caveat, always remember that data is only useful if it is used to make decisions. There is no value in collecting data for the sake of it. What decisions does your organization make with the CX data collected?

Little and often

It can be hard to know where to begin, there are so many different metrics to measure, how will you know which ones matter?

You won’t. Not until you start measuring, capturing, analysing and making decisions. Then it will become clear which data is useful in creating successful CX strategies and which is superfluous.

If you are really struggling, begin with direct customer feedback. Consider carefully how best to collect this information because the method will vary according to the setting, organization and context. This might be a customer survey in a hotel or restaurant (hard copy, electronic or QR code), it could be a push button smiley face rating as you leave the security area at an airport and some organizations hold customer events to proactively seek feedback in a less structured format. Any time a customer or service user engages with you, feedback about their experience is valuable, what was great and what could have been better.

If you can make this an integral part of the service delivery, customers will feel engaged and you will keep your fingers on the pulse of your organization. Once again, there is an alarm bell to be aware of: always think from the customer perspective eg customers might not appreciate being requested to complete a survey every time they use their credit or debit card!

Anonymous or not?

We don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer here. The focus needs to be on receiving honest feedback and there might be a place for both anonymous and attributed feedback. For example, in this age of social media, sometimes customers want a very public resolution to their issues, queries, and complaints. In this situation, the faster and more personally you deal with the situation, the better your customer’s experience is likely to be and other people will have a positive view of your organization.

On the other hand, some customers are reluctant to confront issues they find uncomfortable, and this is where anonymous ways to give feedback can be helpful. Take for example a regular guest at a global hotel chain. They might like the chain, generally but have issues with the behaviour of some service personnel in certain hotels. Having a way to share their feelings, without it becoming personal or facing reprisals, will give customers the courage to speak honestly about their experiences.

Happy employees make for happy customers

J. Willard Marriott said “Take good care of your employees, and they’ll take good care of your customers”. One of the best ways to improve customer experience, is to ensure your employees are happy and engaged. The feedback principles used for CX are just as relevant here. Survey and meet with your employees frequently, formally and less formally. Ensuring their feel heard and valued, will enable them to communicate that same feeling to every customer they meet.

SERVICEBRAND

At SERVICEBRAND Global, we believe in an all-encompassing approach to customer experience strategy. If you are struggling with aligning the whole of your business or just want to improve one area such as measurement and insight, get in touch to see how we might help you develop your customer experience strategy.