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 Frontline
Leadership can be learned!
"Propel Frontline Leaders" © A Breakthrough 5-Step Leadership Process for Associate and Customer Engagement/Loyalty that Really Works!
A recipe of five actions which you can use to keep the members of any group enthusiastic, self-motivated, and working together in the same direction and purpose. This unique practice works backwards in building connections between associates and customers through daily operations. Providing a career skill for team leaders and line managers to build a cycle of engagement for any group. Where engagement is defined simply as "involvement with heart and mind". How does the practice work? By providing the missing-link for associates to participate in reflecting on the critical questions for "How are we doing?" Both individually and collectively. When one asks the question they then own the answer. In leading the steps with associates--the activity itself provides the feedback! This is important, because studies show presently only one third of group members have learned to get feedback from their own daily activities and hence stay engaged. The reality is that feedback from colleagues and supervisors (which unfortunately is our administrative and educational habit), by itself, will not sustain engagement. To sustain engagement everyone must learn to also receive feedback from their own daily activities. Then, and only then, can people put their hearts and minds into their efforts! Yes, challenging themselves with activities that strengthen, self-motivate, and energize them. Discover more and ask questions by freely accessing our live webinars, online workshops, eBook, and eBrochure (from our online publisher).
Group or Team Leaders: Are you frustrated by associates who lack engagement? Three questions for you: Do you often feel caught in the middle between executing programs and keeping everyone's hearts and minds on what they are doing? Are customers sometimes disappointed due to a lack of focus, learning or commitment from staff members? Would you like to learn five simple steps to lead experiences/relationships and complement managing them? In short, do everyday pressures keep your group from all being on the same page and working in the same direction? Well you've come to the right place. Demonstrate intentions, reflection, and attention to continue commitments, learning, and focus respectively. User-centered actions for leading a cycle of engagement to build customer and associate loyalties is what we do. While you are here, please take a moment to do at least one of three things. 1 Learn what you can do to practice a 5-step process to engage everyone through daily operations by downloading our free eCourse. Make use of the resources for virtual coaching/support in our Member toolkit. 2 Explore what we think by reading some of our articles as well as our most recent Tips and Lessons from our weblog "Frontline Leadership TRENDS" 3 Understand the unique ways we can assist you by exploring our services for both large and smaller enterprises.
Now Frontline Leaders can Lead a Practice to Keep Everyone Engaged and Self-Motivated through Daily Operations--where engagement is "involved with heart and mind." Build a Cycle of Engagement for the frontlines---Associates, Partners, as well as Customers!
Hello this is George Reavis, your virtual "frontline leadership" coach. This website is dedicated to skills/actions that any leader of any group can use everyday to keep people engaged in their activities. The key for anyone to be engaged is learning to receive feedback from their own daily activities. How? The answer is the missing link in daily operations! That of leading everyone in re-asking (mostly non-verbally) the critical questions for "How are we doing?"Studies suggest that one in three associates have learned this behavioral skill. This practice and website gives frontline leaders five-steps to demonstrate this skill and move everyone towards full engagement through daily operations! Everyone can develop the ability to give themselves objective feedback. Complementing the feedback which they receive from colleagues and supervisors which, if to intense, can even move focus away from customers.The real bonus comes when engaged associates who are absorbed in and self-motivated by their daily activities initiate a cycle of engagement. With the cycle, engaged associates engage customers who in turn reengage associates and partners! Reengaged associates gain enthusiasm and enjoyment as they receive energy and appreciation from customers. This is much the same relationship that performers experience from their audience. It is easy to spot the cycle of engagement because when you watch people they demonstrate intentions, reflection, and attention to produce behavior of commitment, learning, and focus respectively. Many resources at this website are free such as our eCourse for group leaders (enterprise or education) to develop a career skill for engaging and self-motivating associates. Also available here, for a very nominal charge, are membership coaching tools and our Handbook "Propel Frontline Leaders" (in print or download) to develop the practice within any type of organizational or administrative structure. A big idea but not a new one. This is your opportunity to learn a half-century old user-centered leadership practice whose focus and learning is specifically for helping frontline leaders (team leaders, line managers, supervisors) with actions for their unique challenges and perspectives. The missing-link is "Re-asking" or working backwards with a secondary group asking process for continuous learning, focus, and commitments. I call it "CRL"--actions to lead customer relationships/experiences to complement CRM, or the managing of them. How does it work? In order to win the hearts and minds of associates, customers, and partners it is no longer enough to only verbally ask questions and provide feedback, instruction, or information. You must also lead your group with actions to allow them to participate in asking the critical questions, mostly non-verbally, of customers for "How are we doing?" Thus engage associates through customer feedback from their own daily activities (internal) in addition to the feedback they already receive from colleagues (horizontal) and supervisors (vertical). Develop the cycle of engagement where engaged associates engage customers who, in turn, reengage associates and partners--thus completing and re-starting the cycle. The result? The missing-link in today's daily operations is a best practice rooted in the entrepreneurial ethic of over a half-century ago which keeps providers of products/services on the frontlines connected with customers. Leading a practice for alignment--the "Holy Grail of leadership! Lead with a "Guide" (group leader/instructor) and "Coordinator" (supervisor/administrator) the sequential five actions for customers, associates, and partners:
"If you give a team member customer feedback, you focus them for a day. If you teach a team member how to "ask" for customer feedback, you focus them for a lifetime!" Now winning the hearts and minds of associates can be an acquired leadership skill for team leaders and first line managers! Discover an enterprise tool and the "missing link" in daily operations for leading long-term customer focus, learning, and commitments!
Developed from a 50 year old best practice in the Hospitality industry for the people-part of daily operations. Inverting the organizational pyramid to keep customers coming back to grow a new or existing product, service, or market in any industry. Maintaining the critical link/dialogue between those providing services/products and the customers they provide them for.
The big idea? Rather than continuing to simply provide those on the frontlines of daily operations (associates/customers/partners) more feedback, consider involving them by leading activities to allow them to ask the questions and also get their own feedback! A "Secondary Group Asking Process." We coach a mostly non-verbal set of actions for team leaders and first-line managers to lead associates with soft skills and challenges for involvement and self-motivation. Perfect for a single-team trial for any project, service, product, or benefit because you do not change a single thing you are doing now! Complimenting, not changing, their existing managerial activities. Making work life easier and simpler by helping leaders from feeling caught-in-the-middle between simultaneously maintaining structure and discipline on the one-hand while winning hearts and minds of associates on the other. The secondary group asking process is five action steps to address six principles we believe are necessary to win and maintain the hearts and minds of associates as well as customers and partners. Most customer feedback in organizations is initiated by Management and then shared with the providers, but if the providers can also become involved in the process of asking the questions then they will "own" the answers to a much greater degree. A way for service providers to participate in "How are we doing?" for specific customers, products, and/or services. Our eHandbook is a practice for "how-to" do that.
From our experience it is never easy to make things simple. Enterprises devote significant chunks of time and money to "asking" what its customers want, how to give that to them and feedback to spread that message of providing for the customer throughout the entire organization. While management often gets involvement, they are also concerned about how to perpetuate the changes they have started. In the end, they hope it will continue to lead them to "simple" solutions and results.
Frontline associates in organizations which provide feedback from customers often are not involved in the asking process--only the feedback. Associates receive feedback from colleagues and supervisors but fail to necessarily get feedback from the work itself. This is a learned skill required for reflection and continuing focus, learning, and commitments. Like most things that really work on the frontlines, this practice is simple, back-to-basics, with a primary cost of time and attention. Leading associates in a critical and often missing feedback--that from their own daily activities (the work itself). An attribute of all "star performers" and an ethic of entrepreneurship.
Leading Total Quality and Customer Relationships (TQL & CRL) Dr. Deming, who's ideas were foundational for TQM, understood this missing link in daily operations. Rather than only giving a production foreman feedback on "How they are doing?" TQM provided the hard or tangible skills to ask and answer for the group "How are we doing?" Thus allowing associates to take ownership and stay focused, learning, and committed. We believe all customer service leaders should have the same soft skills of asking/inquiry to maintain involvement and self-motivation (intangible). Complimenting TQM with TQL (Total Quality Leadership)!
With this team leadership practice, you will discover, as we have, that activities which align daily operations with senior management are the 'holy grail' of leadership and keeping everyone's attention is the 'currency' of leadership. Since workplace experiences and relationships come together on the front lines of daily operation the same human experiences of TQL which compliment TQM can be used to develop CRL (Customer Relationship Leadership) to compliment CRM. Developing leadership throughout an enterprise.
© 2004-06 George Reavis - george@thankingcustomers.com |
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For those in an enterprise with rules against accessing content on private sites we now offer a free primer on the cycle of engagement on a public domain learning site named Squidoo
Now anyone can learn a five-step skill to lead a group/team in school, church, community, civic, or workplace (First read the Introduction)
The Handbook for engaging everyone within an enterprise. New edition with appendixes for the "leadership pyramid" and "cycle of engagement" ! Get the book "Propel Frontline Leaders" at 50% off with new online publishing technology
Charter Memberships offer for only $20 a year! (30-day, no obligation free trial)----Become a Charter Member by July 31, 2007 and get a free eHandbook and online coaching session. Join these great Enterprises who support "Frontline Leadership"
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