LEADER’S GUIDE
Overview
This class helps participants
- Realize that Company goals cascade down to the individual level
- Honor your customers by recognizing the value and importance of change
- Understand how well the Company is meeting customer expectations
Use the information below to enhance class discussions.
Roles
Manager – Help class participants recognize how their individual performance objectives contribute to the achievement of the Company’s goals, how change should be welcomed, and how well the Company is meeting customer expectations.
Employee – Understand how your individual performance objectives are tied to the Company’s long- and short-term goals, how you play a role in supporting change in the organization, and how well the Company is meeting customer expectations.
Preparation
Review the regional, departmental, and team goals gathered as part of Preparations section in Tenet 8 – Create Value. Not all companies will have regional goals. Use terminology and language appropriate to your Company’s culture.
Identify current change management initiatives in order to demonstrate the Company’s commitment to achieving its long- and short-term goals. Examples may include implementations or changes to systems, processes, sales or distribution channels, goods or services, or industry. Most change management projects fail because it has not been made clear to the employees why they are important. This class offers an opportunity to reduce the resistance to those projects by connecting their purpose to the Company objectives.
Collect statistics on sources of feedback mentioned in the Preparations section in Tenet 5 – Feedback from Customers is a Gift. Examples may include the number of complaints received, the number of customers gained or lost over a specific period, or the number of employees gained or lost over a specific period.
Review class guidance below.
CLASS GUIDE
Getting Started
At the beginning of the session, welcome everyone and follow-up on last week’s homework assignment where they were asked to become familiar with what the Company’s competitors offer and identity some ways to differentiate the Company through the actions they take and the service they provide to their customers.
Ask: “What did you learn from your homework assignment last week? What were some of the most interesting facts you learned about our competitors?
Remember to encourage conversational dialogue by using open-ended questions. Another technique is to say, “Tell me more,” or “Tell me more about that.” Be prepared to share some of your personal thoughts and examples, if needed. Refer to the Getting Started sections in Tenet 1 or Tenet 2 for more information.
Introduce the final Tenet – Honor Your Customer
Say, “Today, we will focus on the tenth and final Tenet – ‘Honor Your Customer’.”
Ask, “What does this tenet mean to you?”
Main Discussion
Say, “In our last two sessions, we’ve discussed our Company strategies and goals and our competition. Today, we’ll tie those discussions together by focusing on your role.
In Tenet 8 – Create Value, we discussed our Company’s direction from a high level. Those goals are based on what the Company needs to do in order to remain relevant to its customer base. We also need to understand how those goals translate into our regional, department, team, and individual goals. The further we look into the organization, the more granular, manageable, and actionable the goals become.”
Using the information you gathered in the Preparation section, discuss the Company’s regional, department, and team goals.
Ask, “Now that we have are aware of these goals, where do you fit in?”
Say, “You and your Manager/Supervisor should work together to determine and define your individual objectives in a way that allows you to understand your contribution to helping the Company achieve its long- and short-term goals.
“Some individual objectives may be related to projects already in progress. Each project is meant to affect a change in the Company and move it closer to its goals. You may be aware of some of these projects and not recognize them as being change-related.”
Provide a few examples of the change management initiatives you identified.
Say, “Change is hard. Some of these projects may require us to change the way we currently work and that is not always easy. If we resist these projects, we delay their value to the Company. To honor our customers, we must embrace these changes because they ultimately benefit our customers and help differentiate us from our competition.
“Speaking of our competition, the second part of today’s discussion builds on Tenet 9 – Do More, Better, Faster, Different. We’ve discussed some ways in which we can impact customer expectations, but how do we know how we are doing?”
Using the information you gathered in the Preparation section, help the participants understand how well the Company is meeting customer expectations.
Say, “We have to understand the current state of our customer service efforts in order to build on any strengths and to address any issues. Through the 10 Tenets, you’ve learned ideas that can have an immediate and positive impact on customers. It is up to you to begin incorporating them into your daily activities. It is up to the team to hold each other accountable for providing the level of service customers expect.”
Summary
Understand how you, as an individual, impact the Company’s long-and short-term goals.
Honor your customer by recognizing the value and importance of change.
Keep your customers in mind at all times. How well are we meeting their expectations?
Takeaway
Build on what you’ve learned over the last 10 classes by actively incorporating the information into your daily interactions with customers.
Let’s Engage!
I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.
Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.
You can follow me @agtinengagement.
Email me at g…@a…t.com.
Connect via LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/GregoryFSimpson.
Learn more about me at gregoryfsimpson.com.
P.S. First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.
You can access information on The 10 Tenets of Better Engaged Employees below:
Tenet 1 – Customers Make the Rules
Tenet 2 – Service Comes from the Inside Out
Tenet 3 – Provide Solutions and Show that You Care
Tenet 4 – Customers Define Quality and Service
Tenet 5 – Feedback from Customers is a Gift
Tenet 6 – Know Your Customer and You’ll Be Rewarded
Tenet 7 – Skip Satisfaction, Exceed Expectations
Tenet 8 – Create Value
Tenet 9 – Be More, Better, Faster, Different
Tenet 10 – Honor Your Customer
