Fostering a Best - Practices Community among Your Employees
When employees are working to the best of their ability toward the goals of a company, they are more likely to pass that sense of engagement onto customers. This article explores how promoting good best practices can build a more engaged employee community at the office.
Employers who are serious about success desire the best from their employees, especially when it comes to customer service. As a result, many organizations attempt to discover how to motivate employees to efficiently operate at their highest personal ability and realize their maximum potential. This is generally done by providing "best-practices" to follow. By outlining best practices managers can better and more consistently empower employees to exceed expectations.
First, it's imperative to understand that best-practices cannot be reduced to a rigid set of customer service techniques or a single formula. Every organization's culture is unique and requires a similarly unique solution. There are, however, a number of universal strategies that prove applicable to the majority of organizations. Below, four of these strategies are designed around the acronym "BEST" to help managers implement best-practices within the workplace.
Build Authentic Community
This doesn't mean simply hosting the annual Christmas party or instituting Casual Fridays. On the other hand, it also doesn't mean singing "Kumbaya" around the campfire together. Striking the balance between strictly professional and close personal relationships is difficult but necessary. Workplace community can be more than a group of individuals with shared interests; rather, it can be a safe, supportive, singular entity where growth is encouraged. Community thrives when people feel heard, needed, and genuinely cared for. If employees are going to exceed expectations, they must feel comfortable and supported not only by managers, but co-workers as well.
Empower Employees
Employee empowerment is a crucial ingredient in ensuring customer satisfaction. Empowerment involves giving your employees the authority to solve a problem. To their detriment, many managers reserve power and decision-making responsibilities for themselves, even when 1) employees are the logical choice to solve customer-related problems and 2) employees are capable of resolving situations if given the means to do so. Joseph Michelli touches on this in his book The New Gold Standard by explaining how the Ritz-Carlton has empowered their employees to resolve customer complaints: "Every person, including a member of housekeeping and an employee working in the laundry, is empowered to use judgment, without seeking permission from a supervisor, to spend up to $2,000 on each guest each day!" At two-thousand dollars per person per day, the Ritz-Carlton clearly takes employee empowerment very seriously. When employees feel empowered, they take ownership for their actions and become confident in their role within the organization.
Search for the Right People
Bill Hybels, in his book, Courageous Leadership, says there are three criteria he considers when adding a member to his team. They are:
Character - your employees need to align with your company's values and vision.
Competency - your employees should possess the ability to do their job well.
Chemistry - your employees simply have to gel or "click" with the community at-large.
Jim Collins' book Good to Great addresses the same concept. In essence, he says one of the traits that makes an organization successful is its ability to "get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off it." When companies hire employees that compliment their organizational cultures, they are free to develop and succeed.
Tell Employees They're Number One
At first, this may seem counter-intuitive. Yes, your goal is customer satisfaction; yet, by focusing on the employee and providing him an environment to thrive, good customer service will naturally follow. Take farming as an example. A farmer does his best to create a healthy environment and right conditions for a crop to grow, but he does not make it grow. Likewise, managers, need to cultivate an atmosphere that will encourage employees to grow and thrive.
Employee engagement breeds customer engagement. If you can achieve a community of best-practices among your employees, then your customers, in a sense, will also exceed your expectations.
~Kate Feather, Executive Vice President
PeopleMetrics
First, it's imperative to understand that best-practices cannot be reduced to a rigid set of customer service techniques or a single formula. Every organization's culture is unique and requires a similarly unique solution. There are, however, a number of universal strategies that prove applicable to the majority of organizations. Below, four of these strategies are designed around the acronym "BEST" to help managers implement best-practices within the workplace.
Build Authentic Community
This doesn't mean simply hosting the annual Christmas party or instituting Casual Fridays. On the other hand, it also doesn't mean singing "Kumbaya" around the campfire together. Striking the balance between strictly professional and close personal relationships is difficult but necessary. Workplace community can be more than a group of individuals with shared interests; rather, it can be a safe, supportive, singular entity where growth is encouraged. Community thrives when people feel heard, needed, and genuinely cared for. If employees are going to exceed expectations, they must feel comfortable and supported not only by managers, but co-workers as well.
Empower Employees
Employee empowerment is a crucial ingredient in ensuring customer satisfaction. Empowerment involves giving your employees the authority to solve a problem. To their detriment, many managers reserve power and decision-making responsibilities for themselves, even when 1) employees are the logical choice to solve customer-related problems and 2) employees are capable of resolving situations if given the means to do so. Joseph Michelli touches on this in his book The New Gold Standard by explaining how the Ritz-Carlton has empowered their employees to resolve customer complaints: "Every person, including a member of housekeeping and an employee working in the laundry, is empowered to use judgment, without seeking permission from a supervisor, to spend up to $2,000 on each guest each day!" At two-thousand dollars per person per day, the Ritz-Carlton clearly takes employee empowerment very seriously. When employees feel empowered, they take ownership for their actions and become confident in their role within the organization.
Search for the Right People
Bill Hybels, in his book, Courageous Leadership, says there are three criteria he considers when adding a member to his team. They are:
Character - your employees need to align with your company's values and vision.
Competency - your employees should possess the ability to do their job well.
Chemistry - your employees simply have to gel or "click" with the community at-large.
Jim Collins' book Good to Great addresses the same concept. In essence, he says one of the traits that makes an organization successful is its ability to "get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off it." When companies hire employees that compliment their organizational cultures, they are free to develop and succeed.
Tell Employees They're Number One
At first, this may seem counter-intuitive. Yes, your goal is customer satisfaction; yet, by focusing on the employee and providing him an environment to thrive, good customer service will naturally follow. Take farming as an example. A farmer does his best to create a healthy environment and right conditions for a crop to grow, but he does not make it grow. Likewise, managers, need to cultivate an atmosphere that will encourage employees to grow and thrive.
Employee engagement breeds customer engagement. If you can achieve a community of best-practices among your employees, then your customers, in a sense, will also exceed your expectations.
~Kate Feather, Executive Vice President
PeopleMetrics
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