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Two decades ago I was mentored on an enterprise "best practice" which had contributed, over 25+ years, to the growth of almost 2,000 operational units.  As a process, or set of actions, it had withstood two of the toughest tests in daily operations - those of time and growth.   It wasn't until this past decade that I realized its value in a customer-centric global business world.  The practice had always benefited the "people part" of an enterprise by leading the soft skills involved in workplace relationships and experiences.  Displaying remarkable ability to help frontline team leaders/managers maintain attention, involvement, self-motivation, and accountability from those on their team/group. 

I spent years of discovery and research into why and what made the practice effective in the workplace in order to transform it into an actionable model which could be maintained for a journey and not a destination.  Working backwards with a process, or set of actions, that a team leader could implement on the frontlines with support from their supervisor.  Not a program with meetings, deadlines, procedures, and budgets as those must be top-down.  

The following points (color coded) became discoveries and premises from which ThankingCustomers.com evolved into a user-centered approach for a career skill and enterprise tool to drive customer retention and loyalties through daily operations.  Premises are laws of human nature that always apply and we link a principle source or expert for more information.

The first 3 epiphanies are the reasons why the practice works on the frontlines of daily operations:

• When you ask the question you then own the answer!  Asking is more actions than words--inquiry more than questions--reflection more than expression. The reason it is so important in leadership is that "asking/inquiry/reflection" in human nature is fundamental to the learning process. In fact, learning is initiated from asking and then re-enforced with feedback. So, in other words, *while feedback supports learning, it is really the process of asking/inquiry which not only initiates learning but also continues learning. While it is common for organizations to share feedback with those on the frontlines and even the questions, the missing link is the actual participation in the process (set of actions) of asking.  

• ".......Feedback may come from colleagues and supervisors but preferably the activity itself will provide the feedback....." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi   While feedback from colleagues and supervisors is important for maintaining structure and discipline, *it is feedback from the activity itself that provides long-term learning, focus, and commitment--leading to the ability to give oneself constructive feedback."  Feedback from ones own daily activities can be lead through workplace experiences and relationships.  

• "95% of all thought, learning, and emotion is unconscious.......most of communication is non-verbal" -- Gerald Zaltman  Our objective through the practice "Propel Frontline Leaders" is to simply give team leaders and frontline managers a process, set of actions, to *lead this non-verbal portion of thought, emotion, learning, and communication.  Acquiring a career skill to lead workplace relationships, the "people" part, for follow-through (continuation) of their existing managerial activities.  An enterprise tool to lead workplace experiences 

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• We train our associates individually but they deliver our services and products as part of a group or team.  Psychologists tell us, as in the "Power of Context" that when associates consider feedback or make decisions in a group they come to very different conclusions than they would by themselves.  Is it not reasonable to expect that the training programs, as beneficial as they may be for (hard skills) structure and discipline, may not be able to help the frontline leader with winning the hearts and minds (soft skills) of a group?

• Failure to lead "soft skills" is one of the greatest causes of burnout for those appointed to positions of frontline leadership.  Often referred to as the "caught-in-the-middle syndrome."  Having received their appointment for excelling mainly in hard measurable skills, new leaders are often not expecting and have little training for the softer "people skills" which deal with thought, emotions, learning, and non-verbal communications.  An example would be an associate with strong managerial/administrative skills being promoted to supervisor and having to simultaneously win the hearts and minds of associates. 

• It is dysfunctional to separate leadership from management.  Especially on the frontlines of operations, both involve and affect direction.  Both also should involve processes or sets of actions.  In fact leadership complements and continues management.  Management is more the foundational structure and discipline of the the enterprise with leadership being more of the people-part or "hearts and minds" of the enterprise.

• *There are three types/areas of workplace relationships that must be managed and lead simultaneously through daily operations in order to maintain customer loyalty and retention.  Those are between associates and 1) customers, 2) fellow associates, and 3) partners (internal and external).  We typically manage these relationships individually using programs for customer service, teamwork, or collaboration.   In practice, each area feeds of the others such as customers being motivated (or de-motivated) by associates and, likewise, associates being motivated by customer relationships.  Leading relationships should provide processes, sets of actions, to complement and continue these programs by addressing all three areas.  

• Attention is one of the scarcest resources in daily operations.  The concept of multi-tasking is much more theory than practice because the capacity of the brain to concentrate on different tasks simultaneously is extremely limited.

• While managing business models, processes, plans, systems, and administration certainly play a key role in customer retention and loyalty they are but one aspect.  The other second aspect is the "people part" of the enterprise.  It comprises such soft stuff as feelings, emotions, intentions, attention, appreciation, etc. on the part of everyone in the above three areas.  *Customer loyalty ultimately depends on not only the successful execution of all managerial activities, but also leadership activities for long-term customer 1) focus, 2) learning, and 3) commitments from everyone. 

• The new leadership paradigm for operations is to develop leaders rather than merely lead followers.  This requires processes, or sets of actions, on the frontlines--as leadership is situational!  

• *The closer you get to the frontlines in daily operations the greater the need for team leaders/managers to lead and manage simultaneously.  Just as programs provide activities to manage relationships to maintain the structure and discipline of the enterprise so to do team leaders need complimentary activities to lead workplace relationships and experiences such as dialogue, pride, intentions, enjoyment, inspiration, sharing, and enthusiasm.  These provide the feelings, perceptions, confidence, and intrinsic emotions for customers, team members, and partners.

• In daily operations, workplace relationships and experiences are virtually inseparable. They continually occur whether planned or not and lead directly to learning.  Studies confirm that "informal learning" can contribute as much as 75% of total learning!  The group/team leader who can channel them in a common direction for everyone, such as towards the customer, has a greater chance of maintaining results as well as making their tasks more enjoyable.

• Experiences form the basis of beliefs for any enterprise.  *Three conditions form the beliefs and basis for actions in all areas of the enterprise.  These conditions are 1) awareness, 2) understanding, and 3) ownership.

• Actions get results on the frontlines of daily operations.  For team leaders to maintain results their "means" are most often senior management's "ends."  The key here is the continuation of results for the long-term through daily operations.  Team leaders must share the "ends" or goals and objectives of senior management but, at the same time, turn then into actions--or their "means."  

For example, virtually every enterprise has a "Customer Service" program in which they will have an objective or "end" being a certain level of  service.  Our practice helps a frontline manager/leader continuously execute this level of service by making this "end" their "means" on a daily basis.  In other words, "Customer Service" becomes "Service Customers" where daily actions focus on delivering service and then directing the service towards customers.

 

• The closer you get to the frontlines of an enterprise, the greater the need to consider management and leadership as compliments of each other.  "...Let's stop the dysfunctional separation of leadership from management......" .  Leadership, especially on the frontlines, is situational.   "There is a paradigm shift from leading followers to developing leaders" thus we must "transform managers to leaders at all levels."

• Long-term results for the enterprise (demonstrated with the pyramid) hinge on culture, alignment, and accountability of daily operations.  Our research indicates these must be both managed and lead on the frontlines of the enterprise.  This maintains structure and discipline while addressing the "people" factors.  *We discovered that activities for leading relationships will foster the experiences and beliefs needed to continue the actions and results created through managerial programs for the long-term.  

A Leadership Pyramid:

a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery b : a revealing scene or moment

© George Reavis - george@thankingcustomers.com

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