“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.”
- Colin Powell
I believe we can all agree - and if we cannot then you might be better off reading something else - that, in the main, leaders tend to pay much attention to things higher up and leave the ground level matters to those closer to the action. This is a perilous approach, as humorously illustrated in a scene from the movie Men Who Stare At Goats. George Clooney's character is driving through the desert - nothing for miles but sand and the road he's travelling - along wth Ewan MacGregor. The camera focuses closely on Clooney who, while driving, is staring intently up to the sky for long periods, then only briefly down the road, then immediately up again to the sky. When asked what he's doing, he replies that he is cloudbursting - breaking up clouds with his mind. MacGregor's character responds with a look that says, "Oh, of course you are, how silly of me to ask." Just as you are letting that sink in, Clooney crashes the car into what appears to be the only rock - heck the only obstacle of any sort - in the entire desert.
The physical humor of it gets a laugh and the action picks up quickly, so if you aren't paying attention you can miss the irony of it. A man who truly believes he has the incredible mind power to burst clouds at 40,000 feet cannot avoid hitting a rock right in front of him. He may (or more likely not) have the ability to deal with these 'higher up things', but it's the issues closer to the ground that are thwarting his mission.
I was once responsible for a multi-functioning service group that performed every function for our assigned group of customers - phone service, transaction processing, complaint handling, statements. Not long after I took over, I learned that we had been getting some feedback from the field that our phone service was perceived poorly by our customers. We had responded by placing a new quality review in production and believed we were improving. Now, there are some who might say, "Good, they owned up to the feedback and got cracking on a solution. Booyah!" I said, "Let's go listen to some calls."
My call center leaders, trying to be considerate of my busy schedule with 'important things', offered to make a disk for me of selected calls and I could listen to them in my car at my convenience. I wanted to send the message that listening to customer calls was not a matter of convenience but that it was critical to our mission of delivering a service experience our customers would remember and be loyal to. I also didn't want to simply listen to good calls someone would select, but as they came - randomly. I wanted to see how the managers would rate the calls so we all independently rated a call using the framework they'd designed.
During the very first call we listened to I asked for their reviews. The good news is that everyone of them was within a point or two so we had achieved consistency. Everyone agreed that the only trip was a particular question related to taxation of the transaction that the representative had not answered correctly. They had been kind, patient and attentive and had accurately handled the client's transaction, but booted the explanation of the taxes. The call was rated a 'low passing' grade with a note for feedback to the representative. I then asked a question that changed how we challenged ourselves from that point forward:
"I rated that call a '0'." Pins dropping. Then someone tried to re-explain the grid to me, sure that I had missed a nuance of the scale. After they'd finished I made as plain as I could without yelling. "If we give a customer poor information, it does not matter in the slightest how kind we are, how efficient we are or whether we listen with interest to the customer's complaint about rain in the forecast. Everything begins and ends with the assumption of giving accurate information to our customer."
I tell that story not because I am brilliant or special. But I know what mattered most. Too many leaders - and I've been guilty of it too - spend a great deal of time cloudbursting and are crashing into rocks right in front of them. If you really want to do the special things that matter all the way up, delight your customers by paying attention to the details.
My tips are these:
1. Meet your customer on the ground. If you couldn't identify a customer standing right in front of you, you'd better find a way to get your sales people to take you on some ride-alongs. If they won't take you, buy a better suit, comb your hair and ask them again. When you see how much help they need and how much trouble you give them with the smallest failures, your cloudbursting days will be over. Iti will change your life. I promise.
2. Spend time in the trenches. It might make people a little uneasy at the start, but soon they'll learn that you truly care not only about how we are treating our customers, but whether they have the right tools and training to deliver a sparkling experience. You will also find out things your managers are not telling you - not out of deception but because they assume you are too busy to be bothered (see above story).
3. Look deeply into and challenge what you measure. I absolutely believe the scorecard used to evaluate the calls I mentioned earlier was built with the right intention, but from a limited perspective. Ask customers what matters to them and measure that. You will be challenged and at the same time helping your buiness keep delighted customers.
PS - A buddy of mine bet me that I couldn't find a connection out of Men Who Stare At Goats. So there.
