The Employee Experience

This week I wanted to share with you my thoughts on a recent article for Forbes from Shep Hyken. In the article Shep shares six ways to create a better employee experience.

Why does employee experience matter? Let me refer to what Shep calls ‘The Employee Golden Rule’, which is do unto employees as you want done unto customers.

In the Forbes article Shep said, ‘what happens on the inside of the organisation is felt on the outside by the customer and he shared six ways to create a better employee experience.’

It follows what Richard Branson is quoted as saying, “If you take care of your employees, they’ll take care of your customers.”

Before we explore the six ways, let’s explore why the customer experience matters.

Why?

Why does the customer experience matter?

Customer expectations are higher than ever, and customers are scrutinizing their suppliers and service providers closer than ever. If we don’t exceed their expectations, someone else will.

Customer experience (EX) is now the new battlefront. It is the differentiator. It is your competitive advantage. Customer experience has overtaken price and product as the key brand differentiator. Here are three reasons it matters.

84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services.[1]

Two-thirds of companies compete on customer experience – not product and price.[2]

50% of customers will switch to a competitor after one bad experience.

80% will switch to a competitor after more than one bad experience.[3]

Let’s look at the six ways.

The Six Ways

1.     Vocabulary

What you call your employees matters. At WL Gore, they are called Associates. The reason for that title is explained on the Gore website.

“We’re more than employees; we’re trusted stewards of our business. Each of us makes commitments that help drive the business, and we work together in our lattice communications structure. 

Calling employees ‘Associates’ alone is not going to make a customer focussed culture, but it sets a tone, indicates intent and when that intent is carried out, the culture emerges 

Claudia Wintersteiger captured an aspect of the Gore culture in this extract from trainconsulting:

“As part of the company’s annual strategy process, which functions bottom-up as well as top-down, teams commit to their part in the company’s success. And they do it with a real voting process. Within the teams, every Associate has to define for themselves what contribution they can make. When someone doesn’t feel they can commit to their team’s strategic orientation for the year, then as an Associate they are free to look for another area where they feel they can contribute more. Because they’re Associates of Gore’s, not some manager’s employees!”

At Ritz-Carlton the motto “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” exemplifies the anticipatory service provides by all its employees.

The acknowledgement of the part employees play in delivering excellent customer service is stated on the Ritz-Carlton website.

‘At The Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests.

By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and the company.

The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton Mystique is strengthened.’

At Starbucks employees are called ‘partners.’ Starbucks says:

‘We call our employees partners because we are all partners in shared success’.

We openly value and respect each partner and acknowledge that our success would not be possible without the contributions they make on a daily basis.’

JetBlue calls all of its employees Crewmembers. They are considered crewmembers regardless of where they work. They dropped the word employee because they felt it did not accurately describe the passionate individuals that make up their workforce.

Frankie Littleford, JetBlue’s VP for the Customer Support Experience, Operations and Recovery said:

“We call our employees, regardless of position, ‘Crewmembers,’ and that’s how we strive to treat them: as being as essential to the JetBlue experience as the actual airplane crew.”

Other examples include Taco Bell who refers to their workforce as ‘champions’ and Disney who calls their employees ‘cast members’.

Considerable thought has to be given to these titles so that the intent does not backfire, but if you can find a title that employees identify strongly with, they will find them meaningful. Find a title that speaks to what makes a job special. Positive psychology research supports that premise that if you call your people "champions" often enough, they'll feel like champions.

2.     Feedback

Everyone loves to know if they are doing a good job but all too often employees only receive feedback when their performance is perceived to be below expectations.

Employees want to know both what they are doing well and where they can improve.

As a leader you need to provide balanced feedback and to do it effectively. Avoid giving both types of feedback at once. There can be a tendency to sugar coat the negative feedback between layers of positive feedback which is just confusing.

Employees can be selective about what they hear when there are mixed messages. Separate out the positive feedback from that regarding development needs.

The other mistake is giving unsolicited feedback which can make the recipient stressed. According to Gallup, only a third of employees believe the feedback they get is helpful. The reason, more often than not, is because it is unsolicited. If your employee does not specifically ask for feedback, you should ask them if, when and how they would like to receive it. This puts the control in the hands of your employee and increases the likelihood they will act upon the feedback given.

Feedback also must be specific and focused on solutions. Sweeping statements like ‘your work needs to improve’ provides absolutely no guidance to your employee about how they get improve. Be specific on the area that needs development and provide guidance on how the improvement can be made. Encourage your employee to come up with improvement suggestions themselves. Do not prescribe a solution as the chances are it will not be taken. Let your employee find the solution and there is more chance that will own it and do it.

Do it on a regular basis. Feedback has the greatest impact when it takes place as soon a behavior (positive or negative) has been noted. If undesired behaviour is left unaddressed the situation can simply escalate. Address it as soon as you can. Do not wait for a bi-annual performance review where you will face a multitude of issues that could have been avoided.

The same applies to positive behaviour. Positive reinforcement of the behaviours you want to see more of should be clear and delivered as soon as the behavior occurred. Telling your employee that they did a ‘good job’ three months after you noted something has no substance or meaning.

3.     Recognition

Adam Grant and Francesca Gino have found that when employees receive recognition and gratitude for a job well done, they are more motivated, engaged, and productive.

Just as with feedback, recognition should be specific and timely. Ensure that your employee, or team, knows exactly what they done to be awarded the recognition. Recognising your employee or team as soon as you can following their actions is far more impactful than leaving it for an extended period. During that time your employees may come to feel that their efforts have not been recognised and when they are recognised, it feels like an afterthought.

Be authentic. If your intention is not genuine, neither is your praise. When employees feel you are not being authentic in your recognition, it can be assumed that you are not authentic in other areas which can erode trust and respect. When the recipient of your praise realises it is not genuine, it can be devastating to their morale.

Depending on the form of recognition you are going to use, make sure you know the person or people you are recognising. What form of recognition would they most appreciate? Would they be highly embarrassed and uncomfortable with public recognition? If are planning a celebratory get together like a breakfast, lunch or dinner, which timing would best suit the recipient(s) of the recognition? Arranging celebratory drinks at 6pm in the evening when it is known that the recipient has other commitments, such as looking after young children, does not send an authentic message about the recognition.

Ensure you are not guilty of proximity bias if you are leading a team that is distributed. Proximity bias is putting a higher value on the work of a person in close proximity over a person who is not. Your recognition must operate on a level playing field on which everyone feels equity and inclusion.

4.     Accessibility

As a leader you must be accessible and available to all of your employees. Being seen as accessible and available is critical to the employee experience.

It is one thing to say you have an ‘open door policy’ but you also must be there.

When you are available, you put your employees on your list of priorities. You leave time in your calendar for unscheduled conversations. You make it clear to your employees how you can be reached outside of the regular one-on-one meetings you have with them. You do not reschedule a one-on-one meeting unless absolutely necessary. If you keep moving or cancelling these meetings, you are sending a message to your employee that they are not valued or high on your list of priorities. This will kill morale.

When you are accessible, you create an environment of psychological safety so that your employees feel free to speak up, ask questions and challenge without fear of negative repercussions or reprisal. You encourage open and honest conversation and lead by example. You are authentic in your conversation and prepared to share your own vulnerabilities. You lead with empathy and are an active listener. In addition to providing feedback, you actively seek it out and act upon what you hear.

When you are both available and accessible, your employee levels of engagement, motivation, and performance increase.

5.     Communication

There is no such thing in my book as over-communication if your content is of quality. No-one ever left and organisation because they were told too much!

The communication must be a conversation. Sending an email is not communication – it is a broadcast.

Keep telling people what is happening and why, what is being planned and why. If something is not happening as intended, explain why and the remediation actions being taken.

Be open, honest, and transparent. Even if the message is tough, it is better your employees know the truth than allowing speculation to get out of control.

When you stop communicating, you create a vacuum and people will fill it with rumour and conjecture. The rumour and conjecture then turn into a perceived reality. You must avoid this at all costs.

If you have nothing to tell your employees – tell them, you have nothing to tell them!

6.     Empowerment

Good leaders provide clarity about what needs to be done and then get out of the way. Managers direct whilst leaders provide direction. There is no place for micromanagement if you want to motivate your employees. If you do not let your employees do their job the way they feel best, you will just destroy morale.

Your employees should be given autonomy and empowered to deliver the desired outcomes as they see best.

As a leader of hybrid teams, you must trust your employees to do the right thing, and with the right leadership, they will.

It is critically important that you understand the difference between empowerment and delegation. You may have delegated, but that does not mean you have empowered. It doesn’t just happen organically. The team and team members need to be empowered and have the autonomy to decide how to work and then you can delegate the tasks and outcome you wish to have accomplished.

If you have not empowered, you can delegate all you like, but nothing will happen as everyone is waiting on you for direction. When you truly empower, you give the team space to set their direction and act. You give them the decision-making rights and ownership.

You make sure that you are there to support them when they need you and to help them remove obstacles they may encounter along the way.

Delegation is not management by abdication. You are there to guide but not control. You must ensure that all your employees know that you are there to support, guide and help remove obstacles when they need you.

When you give an employee a task to accomplish, be clear about your expectations. What is it they are to deliver? When is it needed? What budget do they have? How often are you going to have a check-in?

Ensure you get your employees to play back to you what you said so there is no doubt that you are both on the same page.

Summary

The employee experience drives the customer experience. If you want your customer to love you, then you must love your people.

In Shep’s words, ‘do unto employees as you want done unto customers.’

[1] https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/state-of-the-connected-customer-report-outlines-changing-standards-for-customer-engagement/

[2] https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/insights/articles/key-findings-from-the-gartner-customer-experience-survey

[3] https://www.zendesk.com/blog/what-is-bad-customer-service/