Front Line Employees

Front-line employees are the face and voice of almost every business. Are you developing them as brand champions?  Recent research has indicated that when organizations invest in their front-line employees, it’s one of the key elements to creating a high-caliber customer experience.

I was grocery shopping one Sunday – not my favorite shopping experience. From the middle of the store, I heard clapping and cheering, hooting and hollering. Obviously, something was being celebrated. When I finished and was at the register, a very pleasant cashier, “Jane” was helping me. One of her associates joined us and started bagging my groceries. She turned to Jane and congratulated her on her award. “Was that you they were clapping for? What did you win?” I asked. Jane was the proud winner of a customer service award. In addition to the heart-felt recognition, she also received a gift certificate for a dinner out for two. “How nice that the company recognizes its employees,” I said.  “Oh, the recognitions would have been enough. The gift certificate is like the frosting,” Jane replied. Both women went on to tell me how much they loved working for Harris Teeter and how much the company recognizes and appreciates its employees. I left the store after completing this required errand feeling uplifted. What a great story.

Compare that to two other recent experiences I had with organizations I won’t name. When Barbara and I gave feedback about a style preference in a clothing store, the sales associate responded, “Write to the company, please. The e-mail address is on the receipt. They don’t listen to us.” Don’t listen to their sales force – their face to the customers? Seriously? Or the flight attendant I was sitting next to once who told me the CEO of the company told them that the flight attendants don’t add to the bottom line! Seriously, with whom does the flying public most interact? Not the CEO, that’s for sure.

The front line of your organization is critical. They can create a culture of efficiency and excellence and that results in productivity and profitability. Are you assuring that they are the best that they can be? Are you investing in them?

Investment in your employees can take many different forms. We recently heard the story of Michelle. She worked in customer service for a large organization in the health-care industry. Cost was an issue—one of the factors holding her back from an education, but the company made an investment in her through tuition assistance and a special program that allowed her to get an associate’s degree in 12 months. She got promoted and went on to work towards a bachelor’s degree. The investment of their money and her time paid off.

Investing in your employees, however, need not always have a significant dollar amount associated with it. Jane was thrilled to be recognized—which cost nothing. The gift certificate was a nice, additional investment. While her attitude was pleasant, our sales clerk’s self-esteem and enthusiasm could be elevated to great heights if the company invested some time to listen to their front line. They could be superior brand champions. As far as my flight attendant goes, I know the industry is having its challenges, but I’m not sure I’d rush back to fly on his carrier anytime soon. If you don’t treat your employees with fairness and respect, how will they treat your customers?

The Culture of Communication

Social media is fascinating. Is it replacing the way we communicate or giving us more avenues of communication?

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a twitter chat. I’d been intrigued with the idea of them since first hearing about them at a workshop about 18 months ago. It’s an interesting experience. The host was tweeting my prepared questions and I responded with a number of tweets – A1a, A1b, etc. Other participants can pose questions or comments to which you respond, or they can “favorite” or retweet one of your comments. Comments, favorites and retweets continue and it certainly provides good marketing exposure. One metric I was given toward the end was that we reached 278,000 twitter accounts. Oh, if each of them would buy The Big Book of HR! (Our twitter handle is @bigbookofhr.)

One scathing comment was received blasting us for conversing in this manner. Downside of the social world, the internet, the cloud, anonymity reigns. To this anonymous contributor, you might want to consider watching “Frozen” and take heed from the song, “Let it Go!” Had s/he been paying attention (listening in the virtual world), s/he would have seen my comment “Communication methods r changing rapidly w/technology & social media. Deliver messages in a method in which ur employees like to receive info.”

I must admit that while I was fascinated with the whole process and will eagerly participate in twitter chats in the future, I wouldn’t put them at the top of my list of communication or conversation methods. Nothing beats sitting and having good conversation. Barbara and I have had some great phone interviews since “The Big Book of HR” was published and are looking forward to more once our next book “The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook” hits the streets this fall. 

Looking back to the early 20^th century, a story about (and lesson from) my paternal grandmother, who emigrated with my grandfather from Italy and settled in Brooklyn, NY. I never knew her – she died before I was born – but I’ve heard stories about her including about how she was  sought out by the other immigrants in her Italian neighborhood to read and respond to letters from relatives back home because my grandmother was one of the few women who knew how to read and write in that era. Apparently she had a cottage industry of transcribing the thoughts of other people because letter writing was their only form of communicating long-distance then. We’ve come a long way.

Here’s the irony. The topic of my twitter chat was Must Haves for Successfully Managing People. The next day it was published in blog format by my host, Melinda Emerson a/k/a #smallbizlady, on her web site http://succeedasyourownboss.com. The same topic appears on www.bigbookofhr.com – our webpage – as a short video to provide a resource for small businesses. Finally, Barbara and I have presented this topic in a face-to-face meeting. Same message, four different methods to deliver it, and we probably got the most exposure from the twitter chat.

Technology has been a powerful influence in the way that we communicate and get information today. While everyone has their individual preference, it’s important to recognize the value of each method. If you have to get a message out, deliver messages in a method in which your audience likes to receive information. Don’t hesitate to diversify your method and try something new.  

Curiosity Sparks Innovation

There is a wonderful new book out by Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman titled A Curious Mind…The Secret to a Bigger Life.  You may recognize Brian Grazer who is the Academy Award winning producer of such films as A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash and more. He also produces award winning television shows which have been nominated for 43 Oscars and 149 Emmys—in other words, he is a successful entertainment producer!

I first heard about the book from an interview with Brian in the United Airlines magazine and I loved reading about how for years Mr. Grazer has been holding “curiosity conversations” with just about anyone you can think of!  He’s sought out interesting and accomplished strangers—from spies and Nobel laureates to artists and CEO’s. These talks have inspired many of his films and TV shows.

The book makes a strong case that “curiosity is the tool that sparks curiosity and curiosity is the technique that gets to innovation.”  He suggests that questions create the mind-set of innovation and creativity. Curiosity presumes that “there might be something new out there.”  I love the way Brian explains it—he says” he keeps asking questions until something interesting happens.”

He says that “being curious and asking questions creates engagement” so there is a link to one of the most frequently discussed management topics today—employee engagement!  Another link to the world of work is his belief—and I totally agree—that curiosity sparks innovation.

So, what should you do if you want to have a curious conversation—especially one that might lead you to innovation?  The authors suggest you start close to home with people you already know—family, friends, work-related colleagues. Think of someone who might have an interesting job or who has had a very different life experience from yours.  Begin the conversation by telling the person that you’ve always been curious about their work (or their achievements or education or whatever makes them unique) and that you’d like to spend 20 minutes or so talking to you about what they do (or what their challenges are or…)

Here are some tips for having a successful curious conversation:

·       Be sure to clearly state that you want to hear their story—not that you are looking to sell them something or looking for advice—you are curious about them and their story!

·       Be careful to stay within the timeframe you agreed to before you started so that you honor them.

·       Prepare your questions ahead of time and be sure to ask open ended questions like, “Tell me about why you decided to study … “or “What was your first professional success?” or “What’s surprised you the most about where your passion has taken you?”

·       Even though you have thought your questions through ahead of time, be flexible if the conversation goes in a new direction!  That’s where you will learn the most!

·       Listen carefully and respectfully.  Follow up questions with probes like, “Tell me more…,”  “How so?”  Your goal is to learn as much as possible from the conversation. 

·       Be grateful for the time the person spent talking to you.  Of course, you would thank the person at the end of the conversation but the authors suggest you send a handwritten thank you note in which you mention something that was particularly interesting or in which you share a story of how something they said caused you to think or behave differently.  You can also send a thank you email but handwritten notes get a lot of attention because no one sends them anymore!  And, remember, a thank you note should not ask for anything—it is to say how much you appreciated their time and information!

We challenge you to use curious conversations to drive innovation in your organization and let us know how it works for you!

Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For

Each year when the Fortune 100 Best Companies to work for list issue is released, I pour over it to see if something new is revealed.  While I always learn something, what comes through loud and clear is that it isn’t the things these firms do for their employees—it is the organization’s culture that really makes the difference.

You may not know that the primary tool Fortune uses to select and rank organizations is the Great Place to Work’s Trust Index (TI).  The TI is sent to a sample of employees at each nominated company so, as Fortune puts it, “in effect, the workers vote their companies onto the list using criteria related to their workplace cultures.”  It really makes the ranking meaningful to know that the organizations aren’t selected just by what their leadership says—the employees themselves participate and share how they feel about their company.

One of the lessons from this year’s list is that the best employers are focusing more attention on workplace culture as a competitive tool.  And, the great news is that most of the companies on this list are also doing really well in their business segments. 

One thing that amazed me is that 12 companies have made the list every year since it started in 1998.  That is a real achievement.  Since 1998, the 100 best companies are “shining examples of a different way of doing business that puts to rest the old notion that treating employees well might hurt the bottom line. “  These 12 companies prove it is just the opposite!

I worked for Marriott for many years and that organization (on the list again this year as a Great place to Work) follows the advice we all learned from the founder of the company, JW Marriott who said, “take care of our associates and they will take care of the customers.”  It was true when he said it and it certainly is true today.

Each of the companies on the Fortune list this year has leaders who sincerely listen to their employees.  They hear what is important to their work force and then do their best to provide benefits and policies that meet their employee’s needs at this point in time.  Some of these companies have amazing perks for employees but none of them merely add things to their benefits package just to be nice—they do it because it makes good business sense to take good care of the people who take care of your customers!  Fortune quotes the founder and CEO of Ultimate Software, Scott Scherr who says, “The true meaning of a company is how they treat their lowest-paid employees.”  How true!

Of course, many organizations on the list do amazing things for their employees but nothing stands out to me more this year than Google (six years as number one on the list!).  This year they increased their parental-leave benefits—new parents, regardless of gender, can now get up to 12 years of fully paid leave along with $500 of “bonding bucks” to all new parents to use during the first three months of a child’s life.  That is the kind of commitment to employees that really tells the employees how valued they are! 

Consider what you do each and every day for your employees.  Is there something you might do differently to let them know how valued they are? 

Connecting Generations

Can you stand one more lesson about generations and their differences? If you doubt there are differences among generations in the workplace, you may not recognize that each generation has their own unique cultural nuances.

I recently had an interesting experience on a personal level while visiting my son. It's an experience about rock music and artistic expression. It taught me we can always learn from each other – and it’s never too late to do so. My son, Erik, spent his teenage years in Washington DC, during what he would describe as the height of the punk rock scene. During that time, I tried my best to be interested even if I didn't understand or appreciate the music. I was not going to be like my parent's generation who constantly berated rock and roll. Full disclosure, I'm a rock and roll junkie, especially rock from the 50s and 60s. That was the music that influenced MY generation, just as punk influenced Erik's.

One of the things Erik always talked about was the indie music scene, specifically independent music producers (independent labels) like Dischord and Teen Beat, who worked out of houses, garages, and basements. I didn't dispute that they could produce records, but how could they have a reach outside their local community. Remember, the Internet was just catching on during that time and social media did not exist.

Fast forward from the 1990s to 2015. There's a documentary called Salad Days about the roots of the DC punk rock scene. Within a month of reading about it in The Washington Post, I'm visiting Erik in Albuquerque, NM and the documentary is playing at a local theater that shows indie movies. Full disclosure, I now understand the indie economy that Erik exposed me to decades ago as I explore the world of self-publishing or indie publishing.

I thoroughly enjoyed Salad Days, and listening to these punk rockers, who now look like totally respectable adults in their 50s (whatever a respectable 50-something is supposed to look like). I learned a great deal about the evolution of their music, their stories. I connected on some level with those stories since I'd lived them second hand through Erik. I recognized the venues since I still live in the DC Metro area. In fact, other than Erik who had met most of the people in the film, I probably had a greater connection than many of the other viewers in the theatre because of my proximity to Washington DC.  I didn’t have to understand or even like the music to appreciate what others were experiencing.

My lesson from this experience is that there are many differences in the workforce, generational differences being one. Generations are shaped by the events that took place in their lives, what and when they were exposed to those events.  It's part of their culture. Take some time to listen and learn the stories of other people. It's a great way to connect.

Choices We Make

Having recently had two nephews graduate—one from culinary school and the other from university—it got me thinking about choices.  In life, we are constantly making choices and some are meaningful and some are just ordinary events but even the ordinary choices can have consequences.

I used to do a lot of college recruiting when I worked at Marriott and one of the questions I always asked was why the student had chosen that particular college. I wanted to hear that they’d researched their field of study and this school had a good reputation in that field or that the school had a Nobel Prize winning professor whom they might be able to learn from.  Of course, that isn’t a question with a “right” answer. What I wanted to hear was how this student went about making decisions.

I heard a lot of answers—many were well thought out decisions while others told me they chose this school because it had a good football team or that their high school love interest went there or it was close to home and they could commute.  None of these were “wrong” answers—but I learned something from the answers anyway.

Then, graduates are faced with the decision of whether to go on to graduate school or enter the workforce. If they opt for grad school, where should they go?  If they opt for work, should they go back to their home town and live with Mom and Dad while putting money away to get an apartment or try to go it alone or with friends?  What job to choose (if offered) is the next big choice to make and that’s one people agonize over when I don’t think they should—because rarely do first jobs meet expectations—it is still a choice that has to be made.

Choosing where to go to school, what to study, and where to live can have a huge impact on what happens later in life.  This brings up what is usually the next big choice we make and that is to choose a life partner. Many people meet in college or at a job.  I was reminded of this recently when Sheryl Sandberg’s husband, Dave Goldberg died so suddenly of a freak accident on a treadmill.  If you’ve read her wonderful book, Lean In, you know she says that choosing a life partner is the most important choice we make and she talked with great passion about Dave and how he was the right choice for her so she could have the career and life she’s had with him as a full partner.  I am sad for her now as she faces going forward without him to raise her young children and continue to be COO at Facebook or wherever her career takes her.

We make choices throughout our lives—where to live, where to worship, where to work, where to travel, who to be friends with, where to volunteer, where to retire…the list is endless.  I hope you embrace the choices you’ve made and will make and don’t have a lot of regrets!  Life is precious and to be lived to the fullest—each and every day!

The Middle Seat

When I fly, I always try to get an aisle seat.  When I fly with my husband, I try to get aisle seats across from each other.  Sometimes it doesn't work, but I always opt for two aisle seats, even if we're separated. 

On a recent flight, he was across the aisle, but a row behind me.  During the boarding process – we were fortunate to have boarded and got settled in early – I turned to ask him something. Before I could turn back around in my seat, I heard the man in the middle seat next to him ask, "Is that your wife? Does she want to sit here?" He was practically levitating out of his seat! You good see the glee in his face. It was saying, "Yes, I can get out of the dreaded middle seat!"  My husband very kindly responded, "Thanks, but she fine where she's sitting."

This got me thinking about organizations and the people who work for them.  More specifically, I got to thinking about the different roles people occupy in organizations.  Just like on planes, there are those very desirable, very visible, first-class roles.  These are the ones which typically get exposure and recognition – the sales person or team who brings in the big account or closes the big deal.  Then there are those still desirable roles in the second tier (translate – economy class) such as the aisle seats which may be occupied by team leaders, or window seats which attract individuals who may want a wide-angle view, perhaps those individual contributors.  Finally, there are the dreaded middle seats – nothing glamorous about them, but they serve the purpose of getting the individual to their destination. 

Middle-seat roles in organizations serve the purposes of the individual and the organization.  The individual has the opportunity to make a living, hopefully a decent one.  If he or she is fortunate, it may be a way to develop some skills that will help with advancement.  These roles are often support positions, positions that are vital to keep the organization working – facilities, production support, administrative services are just a few departments that come to mind.  Are the people who work in these departments visible?

The CEO of a mid-sized organization in a metropolitan city became aware that as the firm grew, he no longer knew everyone by name.  He made it a point to not only be more visible but make sure that the employees in those middle seats were visible.  Twice a month he'd make time to walk though those departments where he didn't have much daily interaction – those support departments – and stop to chat with as many employees as time permitted.  At his quarterly, all-staff meetings, he began to recognize not only the individuals in first class roles who brought in the revenue, but those in support roles.  "Great job by the account managers, but they couldn't have done their job without the infrastructure we have in place. So I'd like to recognize our facilities department, led by Joe.  Joe, would you and your team please stand? Let me take a moment to acknowledge each of you." He'd introduce each member by name and say something about them.  It was so simple and it didn't cost anything.  The return on his investment of a little time and effort was great.  The organization’s turnover was lower than industry average.

For leaders, it's important to move out of the first-class positions and find out more about what's going on in the middle seats.  Recognition is a priceless reward.  Like Norm on the TV show Cheers, people want a place where everybody knows your name.  Make your organization that place for your employees!