More Like a Guild, Less Like a Factory

I had an interesting conversation with a good friend yesterday. Jim’s organization has a well-deserved reputation as one of the leading design firms in the Southeast.

Businesses that rely on construction were especially hard hit during the recession. His firm was no exception, yet they managed to maintain most of their clients as a result of superior quality work. During our chat he remarked on a disturbing trend I had heard from other business leaders.

Some prospective clients informed him they should be able to purchase his services at rock-bottom prices (below cost). His firm provides a custom service, not a product or commodity. His prospects’ reasoning went something like this: “Since you need this work, and probably don’t have enough business right now, you should be happy with what I am willing to pay.”

He conceded that, barring any other work his firm might consider that kind of offer before declining it outright. But he and his team know from experience that as the economy picks up, those low-bid clients will require just as much attention (or more), absorb their workers in work that affords little or no profit margin, distract them from better-paying clients and create “low-quality service experiences”.

Like Jim, I would place my confidence in his ability to stabilize and grow his business by creating better ‘experience’ opportunities, rather than better pricing strategies. Why?

Psychological research suggests that, in the long run, “experiences” make people happier than possessions. Think of “possession” as the end product, service or deliverable, in Jim’s case, an architectural design. Even more significantly, these customer experiences have the ability to make other people (future clients) happy, as well.

A client will remember his team and the experience, long after they have moved in, lived in and/or sold the property Jim’s team designed. Jim’s team will remember working with a great client and take pride in their work.

Likewise, you will remember how the manager treated you with respect long after the fresh plastic smell has faded inside your new car. You will remember the exceptional flight attendant and the way he or she treated you long after that (hopefully) unremarkable flight.

Our lives have the potential to change when we deliver or receive one of these great experiences… Wow! That’s an amazing concept and scientific fact. Given the choice, I’d prefer to work for an organization that strives to create those experiences. Wouldn’t you?

Jim was smart. He and his team sat down and clearly defined their challenge – ways to express their passion for design and how to deliver it affordably– with customer feedback and input driving most agreement.

Based on his client feedback, Jim began a program to connect clients with suppliers in real-time virtual meetings, with team members acting as facilitators. They also began to explore innovative ways to collaborate with clients, such as design contests that include local students and virtual tours of buildings around the globe. Finally, they are making sure that each one of their employees submits ideas for regional competitions, with opportunities to champion their ideas.

Essentially, everyone serves a customer. The trick lies with understanding your customers and their needs, respecting their values, and delivering memorable experiences as part of every transaction.

10 Questions to Ask Your Learners

Creating a great learning experience begins with a systems approach to course design - looking for ways to structure the total learning experience (before, during and after an interaction).

Ask your audience these basic questions to quickly spot some opportunities:

1. How did you hear about this training? What were your expectations?

2. In general, how do you feel about this course?

3. Were you able to demonstrate your skills before this class?

4. What else do you need to learn about ___?

5. Are there opportunities to learn (resources) outside our training curriculum that you would like to include?

6. How could we create more informal and social learning?

7. Would it improve your experience if we invited customers to assess your performance?

8. Can you see yourself having to address any of the scenarios or customer-driven situations we offered?

9. How could we create even more meaningful challenges for future students?

10. Do you think our leaders support the learning through their behavior?

Somewhere Between Theory and Reality

“Drill, baby, drill.”
Don M., Englewood, Florida
Letter to the Editor, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

In October 2008, I happened to drive past a crowd gathered on a downtown street in Sarasota, Florida. The held a variety of signs calling for the opening of Florida’s coasts, to within 3 miles of the beaches. Drill Baby, Drill went their chant.

We all know about the collapse of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resulting damage as hundreds of millions of gallons of oil and methane have gushed into the Gulf.

A theoretical belief in safe oil drilling (It must be clean technology, I can’t see it harming me…) is very different than the reality that began washing ashore in 2010.

Some leaders seem increasingly isolated from long-term accountability, and more focused on short-term profiteering. The dichotomy between an advocated position (Drill!) in theory and the resulting outcome (Damage!) can create unintended consequences. Let’s see how this plays out in other aspects of American society:

• Major corporations outsource work to foreign workers yet expect a local economic recovery as millions remain unemployed.
  
  
• Banks advertise the success of their products, while simultaneously and secretly betting their own finances on an opposite outcome.
  
  
• The Federal government borrows billions from China to offset excessive spending while declining to improve the current tax structure or enforce collection.
  
  
• Politicians proclaim war, without proclaiming any way to pay for it, worsening government deficits.
  
  
• Recipients of Medicare (a government healthcare program) oppose government healthcare programs.
  
  
• I want my cake for free, and I want to eat it too.

We all know life doesn’t work that way. There is a spiritual, emotional and financial price to pay for our collective misbehavior. The truth ultimately wins out. We, or our communities, ultimately pay the tab.

An experience generation values the experience that “connected” leadership can deliver. This type of leader has first-hand knowledge of the situation, is committed to any actions he/she takes, and does so while demonstrating compassion for her team, her followers and her environment (community).

Some Ongoing Research

A variety of companies from four major industries (healthcare, retail, insurance and automotive) told us that leading organizations (those that create great experiences for their clients or end-users) clearly define the customer experience and seek to fulfill it creatively, hold their leaders and employees accountable for that experience, and then maintain open (transparent) sales and service processes.

By contrast, they also indicated that individuals (their own, or others) who do not support exceptional experiences (learner, leader or customer) do so due when there is a misalignment of organizational support or team development.

Some examples they provided helped us identify warning signs that are indicators for underlying issues, that in turn lead to unsatisfactory customer experiences:

· executives that cannot align or trace their work activity to the customer experience

· training that does not support the customer experience (either directly or indirectly)

· sales or service policies, incentives or guidelines that are in conflict with the stated customer experience

· observable employee actions that do not enhance or support a quality customer experience.

This feedback also included examples of how employees who do not have customer contact, but whose work ultimately impacts the experience, still have a positive or negative impact on the end-user experience.

One health care insurance executive, when describing a previous downturn in customer satisfaction and an increase in customer complaints, identified the source of the trouble as a "new leader in the sales department who had begun focusing more on quotas, and less on the feedback his team was providing him…not acknowledging their experience and ideas on how care could be delivered.”

By shifting focus to the user experience–how the customer feels about their brand and their organization–this insuror has begun to realize significant gains in user-based referrals and fewer requests requiring more costly service-recovery efforts.

As a result, changes have also been implemented within the organization’s training and development program. In a follow-up discussion, the Director for Customer Service Training indicated that in addition to core competency and technical training, she partnered with the sales department to cross-train sales and customer service agents so each can understand how the actions (and promises) of one team impacts the other.

Our experience shows that this is not only anecdotally expeditious, but that the return on steps like these can be measured in terms of cost savings and additional revenue, a step the organization is now undertaking.

Regardless of economic climate, experience shows that organizations, like this one, can achieve meaningful results given a total commitment to a unified vision of the customer experience, when coupled with an environment of transparency and accountability.

(based on a true story…)

You’re part of a 8,000-strong employee organization, and are responsible for creating the new:

ü leadership development program

ü a yearly update to a sales compliance manual

ü selecting and implementing a Learning Management System (LMS)

You have a budget of $15,000, no staff, 3 months, and limited access to subject matter experts that are often too busy to explain technical details.

What's the biggest challenge?

What's the best solution?

What would you do?

Experience Is Our Teacher

I don’t know about you, but I work with adults. Adults respond both intellectually and with their emotions to a learning moment.

This means most communication, and specifically education, has to engage adults on both a cognitive and emotional level. For now, I will assume you create learning for a variety of audiences and clients (both internal and external) using various tools and techniques.

Regardless of their age, the following rules apply to most adults:

Everybody Likes A Good Story. We learn through stories. Most people love to experience a good story and share them. For thousands of years we have passed along information by telling informational stories. As a result, this preference is hardwired into us like a pigeon’s sense of direction.

Everybody Enjoys Discovery. Kids learn quickly that the process of pulling wrapping off a box leads to a surprise. They also learn just as quickly which person’s gifts under-whelm or delight them. As adults, people still enjoy an element of discovery within learning.

Everybody Learns by Trying. Most people want to learn through experience, and in fact, most people learn best by applying knowledge immediately to job or task.

Everybody Likes to Succeed. Most individuals do not set “failure” as their primary objective, unless a perceived failure leads to a larger success. In general, we want to be seen as successful and become more like our heroes: inspiring us to greatness.

These fundamentals haven't changed over thousands of years. They won’t change anytime soon. Our approach to learning should acknowledge this fact, regardless of the tools we use, online or in the classroom.

The Learning Experience Matters!

Let’s pretend I could magically place an educator into your organization that was focused completely on Making the Moment for your students.You wouldn’t need an awe-inspiring office or training center. Your employees would feel GREAT!

Students will ask where you found the new trainer. They will remember how good they felt, they will feel more engaged, they might even feel challenged to learn more or come back sooner.

Moreover, they will will remember the one person that turned an otherwise hum-drum training course into something meaningful through a genuine level of commitment, transparency, and honesty. And then, they will tell others and encourage them to interact with your organization. And next, they share that excitement with your customers.

You don’t necessarily need the latest tools to make learning great. You simply need people who are passionate, committed and open to creatively using the tools you have to the advantage of their students.

Faces & Places

Your choices determine whether your employees learn faster, easier and more frequently.

We are wired to remember people and places. You can use those assets to your advantage. Most organizations can't afford to build their campus beside a beautiful mountain stream or tropical bay. But they can afford to hire, train and promote great people.

The quality of your facilitators does matter. For God's sake, don't transfer your worst sales rep into training where they can pollute all of your new hires! By replacing a ineffective teacher with a more talented one, you can turn a dull technical course into something more meaningful, memorable, and engaging.

Fundamental Fact #1

In order to survive, our ancestors needed to recall faces and places, not shopping lists. Our brain physiology developed accordingly. We respond eagerly to agreeable faces and interesting places. Humans that avoided bad people and bad places survived to share their story.

Fundamental Fact #2

The process of developing from child to adult (school years) is a time that is loaded with personal development and self-exploration. The courses we took inside the classrooms were often sidebars to the main event: surviving social traumas and learning how to cope, work with and love other people.

Fundamental Fact #3

We measure the quality of human interactions by how we feel, not simply what occurs. People quickly forget what we said, but will remember how we said those words – and how they felt working with us - for a long, long time.