December 6, 2010

Competencies to Covet: The Full-Meal Deal

Lots is written on what to look for when you hire people. First of all, hiring is really not the right word. You HIRE to fill a job but you RECRUIT to bring in the right human essence to breathe life into your Strategic Game Plan. This Article is all about what to look for in people who will excel in doing the SIMPLE things required to serve customers, be effective team members, be loyal to your organization and committed to getting the job done.

Here are the ABSOLUTE Competencies that should drive your People Recruitment Plan:

> LIFELONG LEARNER—If you’re not learning you’re dead (or soon will be). Look for evidence that prospects have been active learners. What areas are they interested in? Who have they learned from? How can their learnings be put to use in your organization?

> INFECTION AGENT—the ability to “infect others” with the virus of your Strategic Game Plan is critical in terms of executing it. Some people have the interest, passion and tenacity to get others excited about advancing the cause. Find them!

> LISTENING—you can’t discover Customer “Secrets” and create dazzling Customer Moments if you are not a 100% Listener.

> APOLOGIZING—a successful Recovery Act after you have screwed a customer around begins with “I’m Sorry”. Make sure you covet people who do this naturally. Some can’t. Some don’t want to.

> HUMAN BEING LOVERS—Dazzling customers is all about taking care of them and it can’t be done if your people would rather be doing something else other than dealing with humans. It’s always amazed me how a customer quickly gets that the server really doesn’t like their job!

> HIGH PAIN TOLERANCE—greatness doesn’t come without disappointment and pain along the way. Resilience pays off.

> BORN DESIRE TO SERVE —again, memorable Customer Moments are possible ONLY through employees that have the natural ability and desire to serve others. Find them. Nurture them. Protect them. Hug them. Reward them. Cherish them.

> ABILITY TO FAIL SUCCESSFULLY—Progress requires people trying stuff and failing along the way. That’s innovation. But failing is only useful and strategic if the learning from it advances us toward our Strategic Game Plan. Failing begets LEARNING.

> FRIEND-MAKING—deep customer relationships result in a revenue stream that goes on forever. Such connections depend on trust… and friendship.

> STORYTELLING—stories “breathe life” into a strategy. They paint pictures of what it looks like when a Strategic Game Plan is being successfully executed in the field. You need people who can “light their eyes up” with a story about some aspect of your strategy. Talk the event. Talk the person. Talk…..

> SIMPLE THINKER—BE DiFFERENT is simplicity. Execution is simplicity. Elegance that can’t be implemented is worthless. Think Simple. Find Simple. Dumb EVERYTHING down.

> @CONNECT—think about this one from an internal perspective. Results (i.e. delivering what the customer wants) are produced through processes working ACROSS the organization and vertically. A customer Order is created in Sales; fulfilled in Operations and billed in Accounting. A team of people engage together to get the job done. This requires the ability to CONNECT with others and build effective relationships with them. Service breakdowns often occur when a link in the teamwork chain breaks. Constant CONNECTIONS go a long way to avoiding such problems.

> REACTION MANIAC —a HUGE aspect of surviving a major (or minor for that matter) screw-up is responding to what has occurred in the right (read as “Loyalty Building”) way. The truth is, a successful Recovery actually builds Customer Loyalty MORE than if the mistake never happened. Counter-intuitive I know, but true. Remember the BE DiFFERENT formula: Service Recovery = FIX it + Do the UNEXPECTED (the Dazzle Factor).

> MELLOW YELLOW —you really do need folks that react well under extreme pressure. See Competency above. STOP—PAUSE—THINK—RESPOND THOUGHTFULLY. This is tough to train people in (sometimes I think it is impossible). Covet the Competency.

> “I’LL REMEMBER YOU”—Memories….. the fact is a good memory will go a long way to dazzling a customer. It shows you paid attention the last time you connected with the person. It shows you care enough to remember. True story: this year’s vacation at the Maui Ocean Club in Kaanapali Maui. Mellisa greets us as we check in. First thing she says “Welcome home Mr. and Mrs. Osing. How are the book sales going? Have you written your second book yet?”. Impressive. Dazzling. A Memorable Moment for me. A story to tell.

> CONSTRUCTIVE EMULATOR—tough to come up with an original idea these days. Go find someone else’s idea that excites you. Morph it to work in your organization. Execute it with passion. Infect others with the Desire. A BE DiFFERENT copying skill is worth its weight in gold…. and survivability.

> NANO-INCH SEEKER—there’s no such thing as a Silver Bullet. Progress is made by having a distinguishing Strategic Game Plan and executing it flawlessly…. inch-by-inch-by-inch. Get an inch of progress FAST. Look for people who have demonstrated this capability.

> CUSTOMER EMPATHY—can you look at yourself through the customer’s eyes? No, I mean REALLY look. Objectively. Compassionately. Solution-mindedly. It’s not about your organization; it’s about the Customer Moment and you need Practising Empathizers if you want raving lunatic fans as customers (which we all do).

So how did you do? Out of the Competencies I discussed, what percentage does your organization Covet? 100%—you’re dreaming! Over 50%—you’re on the right track and have the RIGHT momentum going. Less than 50%—you need a Competencies to Covet Plan (probably a renewed Strategic Game Plan to provide a new context for your organization should precede this).

Final note: Competency Coveting is NOT an HR matter. It is the responsibility of senior leaders to ensure the right people with the right skills, experience, aptitude and attitude are in the right places to EXECUTE your Strategic Game Plan. Delegation of this task is simply not an option.

Cheers,
Roy

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Posted 12.6.10 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment