June 28, 2010

Leadership by Serving Around

Tom Peters has always been an advocate of MBWA as a tool for managers to promote Excellence in their organization.

I’m a fan of MBWA but I think the idea needs to be refreshed and more directly connected to the principle of Serving and Servant Leadership, hence my term Leadership by Serving Around (LBSA).

MBWA needs a purpose for it to be strategically effective. Its not about aimlessly wandering around chatting people up and listening to their issues. Rather its about exploring the nooks and cranny’s of the organization looking for an opportunity to SERVE people in ways that will enable the organization’s Strategic Game Plan to be executed. Furthermore I think we need to question whether the “Management” word should be retained given its connotations that fly in the face of the behaviors required in a SERVING leadership culture: control, momentum-based thinking, top-down and directive.

So what does LBSA look like?
> leaders wander with the objective of spotting a Serving Moment. An opportunity to SERVE someone. To help them in some way that will allow them to get on with their job more easily. Removing roadblocks. Bashing barriers. Destroying Dumb Rules. Enabling people to do what they know is required to do a good job.
> leaders allocate significant calendar time to this ritual. You can’t spot a Serving Moment if you are in your office. Get the hell out of it and do something strategic!
> LISTENING.
> LISTENING.
> LISTENING.
> Leaders serve well by receiving information, processing it and then acting on it. The process begins with REALLY LISTENING.
> INTERRUPTING is verboten. Give people time to tell their story. Allow them freedom to express their issues on their terms.
> ASKING QUESTIONS is the tool the leader uses to understand, to engage and to connect with the individual in the discussion. Questions “Rain Down” until the leader is satisfied they clearly understand the matter being raised by the employee.
> the specific question “How can I help?” is the theme of the conversation.

I want you to move beyond MBWA to Leadership by Serving Around. LBSA is a critical strategic act that leaders must perform. Strategy execution depends on it. Frontline success depends on it.

What else is more important?

Cheers, Roy
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Posted 6.28.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (5)

June 24, 2010

Labels for a Frontline Leader

The Frontline Leader position should “Rule the Charts” given the strategically critical role it plays caryying out the Game Plan of the organization.

When creating the list of Role expectations for this position, consider the following Labels….

> Barrier Basher
> Roadblock Destroyer
> Execution Maniac
> “One-And-Only” People Server
> Dumb-it-Down Fanatic
> Ultimate Cheerleader
> Praise Lavisher
> Celebration Host
> Recognizer and Rewarder of Dazzling Moments of Service
> Chief Custodian of The Customer Moment
> Relentless Advocate of the Frontline “on the inside”
> Customer “Secret” Gatherer
> Service Recovery Addict
> “Get-Me-The-Results”
> “SHE”. The fact is that women are generally better than men at the above!

Recruit individuals in the image of these Labels. Hold them accountable to perform these responsibilities in a superlative manner. Pay them for doing this stuff.

The result? Customer Moments that will create fans and advocates for your business for Life. Worth doing? You bet!

Cheers, Roy
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Posted 6.24.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 21, 2010

Are You a Customer Opportunity Spotter?

If your organization really is obsessed about customers, the following happens routinely because it is a fundamental part of your Strategic Game Plan, but for most it’s not even on their radar.

I’m talking about the inclination and ability for someone (normally a Customer Server) in the organization to anticipate an opportunity - a Moment -  to do something UNUSUAL for a customer and do the thing that will dazzle them. Give them something they don’t expect. Blow them away. Surprise them. WOW them.

SPOT > ACT!

My son and his family recently vacationed with us in Maui and they took the opportunity to spend an evening in the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, comforted by the fact that the kids were in good hands with Gramma and Papa.

Knowing that I am an absolute Service Fanatic, he told me the story of what happened to him around the Ritz pool; he was obviously very impressed. Apparently he was lying in his lounger struggling to adjust the back position of his chair and was startled when a pool attendant came up to him and said “Here, sir let me help you”, at which point the attendant adjusted the chair back to the precise position my son desired. My son said he did it cheerfully, with a gleam in his eye and an attitude that shouted out “I want to help you (no, I really do)!”.

A Customer Opportunity Spotter in action! Not serendipity. Not a fluke. Not an isolated incident. This was an occurrence that I would bet is hammered into Ritz employees heads as an expected behavior. Look for every Moment to serve a customer in a way that they DON’T EXPECT.

This is the essence of creating Dazzling Customer Moments. If you can surprise them and do something they don’t expect you will (as Chip Bell says in his new book) “take their breath away”. They will remember The Moment. They will tell others about The Moment.

They will take every opportunity to visit you again, and again, and again…..

So if your organization professes to provide great customer service, does your strategy include the Customer Opportunity Spotting Tactic? Does it articulate this specific expectation of Customer Servers? Is it included in the Server Performance and Compensation Plan?

If not, your Customer Server journey has just begun.

Cheers, Roy

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Posted 6.21.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 18, 2010

Reader Dialogue: Value-Based Offers and No Discounting

I enjoy having conversations with people who want to implement my BE DiFFERENT Practices. Jordan owns CJS Music, an on-line music lesson business. He is looking for advice on how to create a package without having to price discount. Here’s our latest exchange…

“Roy, We discussed a few weeks ago about how I could add more value into my services instead of discounting. I came up with a 25 lesson package that will include printed music flash
cards, a monthly report card from the teacher (me) and a free admission to one of our masterclasses during their studies with us. What are your thoughts on this?
Best, Jordan
PS I really like the twitter posts you are making very informative.”

My reply: Jordan, You are definitely on the right track. Make sure the attributes of your Package (i.e. the music cards etc.) are highly valued by your target customers. If not, you will have a clever Package that won’t resonate with customers. Test it . Do some Market Research to make sure the design is right.

The other point here is that if customers are not impressed with the overall value of the Package, they will not be terribly willing to pay you a Premium Price, right? Remember we don’t want to discount. Set your price and again do some testing with your target customer group for feedback. Once you are happy that your price point is ‘just about right’ then introduce the Package.

Be prepared to tweak it though if the market surprises you. Keep me posted.

Jordan is thinking about this the right way. Nicely done. Oh, by the way check out his ONLY Statement. Great job!

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 6.18.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)