I had a couple of interesting experiences recently from a customer point of view with, let’s call it a large German transport company. You know when you have a strange or negative experience with employees from a particular firm once? Most people would figure it’s a fluke, someone had a bad day, maybe the wind blew in from the wrong direction…. yada, yada….
We all have enough empathy to understand that others, just like us, are not always at their best and on-point.
What was remarkable to me here was that within a very short space of time, I had two experiences, completely separately from each other, with employees of said company, and both left me wondering what – in a literal translation from a German saying – ‘louse must have run over their liver’, meaning what had happened for these individuals to behave in this way. Both incidences, to keep things simple, involved a situation where I was requesting some help, one in clarifying a detail on a ticket, one in ordering food.
When interacting with people I focus on attributing positive intentions, as that is, in my experience and belief, what the vast majority of people go into situations with; this attitude has proved itself to be right again and again and has held me in good stead in leadership and without.
Being someone who is interested in people and how they interact with each other, these encounters left me wondering what could have led to two representatives of one company showing the same level of lack of concern for customers.
This is where culture comes into play.
Organisations, similarly to people, work from the inside out.
To use a comparison, when your skin is irritated, this, in many cases, has more to do with what is going on underneath than what is coming in (apart from the obvious examples of accidents, burns…). The same counts for organisations.
As Erin Meyer writes “culture is the personality of a group“.
Organisational culture directly affects employee engagement, satisfaction, productivity and communication.
McKinsey reports that 60% of negative outcomes at work are due to organisational cultures at work, impacting employee engagement and performance.
“In the long run, no matter how good or successful you are or how clever or crafty, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire.” — Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony
And when employees feel engaged they are emotionally committed to an organisation and its goal. Making it all the more likely that they will go above and beyond basic requirements.
That engagement will register with your customers and their perception of your organisation.
Even scientific research has found that “A great organizational culture supports excellent customer service and induces both employee and customer satisfaction.” (Anning-Dorson, T.; Christian, I.O.; Nyamekeye, M.B., 2020).
Taking all of that in, and keeping in mind, as Peter Drucker is reported to have said ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ (this attribution is frequently made, but has been disputed): What do negative and repeated negative customer encounters do to your organisation?
- They indicate to customers that employees in this organisation are anything from not fully engaged, to downright unhappy.
- They indicate that internal customers, ie employees, in this organisation, are not treated well, and allow for the conclusion to be drawn that you, as an external customer, may not be valued either.
- They reflect a possible level of over-loading or stress that could concern potential and existing customers to the point of continuing to shop around, rather than buying.
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Building empathy: nurturing human connection
Coaching the underdog & servant leadership
