FROM CUSTOMER TO…..PEOPLE CENTRIC

The day before a CEO retired from the bank I worked for I asked him what his final piece of advice was! It stuck with me for many years. He said ‘look after your people and they will look after your customers’.  That turned out to be the most useful 11 words of advice I ever received. I got to thinking that ‘customer centric’ has been the thing for maybe the last decade and I think that thought process has enabled many companies to change the way they do things. So should we now be thinking ‘people centric’. If we take the advice above then it’s certainly logical. Having had responsibility for very large teams for the last 10 years I developed a number of thoughts on ‘engagement’. My view has always been that we spend a lot of time at work so it better be worth it! Do you get out of bed in the morning looking forward to the days challenges or dreading your job. Disengagement of employees is a huge cost to UK companies and for some it can run to 30% plus of the workforce. So why does this happen and what can we do about it? Well, yes you do get square pegs in round holes and I have seen many examples of people repositioning themselves in other walks of life and finding that refreshing. One person actually rang me up to say thanks as they were enjoying the freedom of their new life as a taxi driver. It’s also the case that you do get some bad eggs. But both of these are the minority. The biggest cause of disengagement in my view is …….. poor management. I have seen that most people come to work to do a good job. I certainly always found that. It’s what happens when you get there that can cause the problem. Of course people need help, coaching, direction, motivation and support. And people need to be listened to! One of my things in running a business with over 200 teams was to focus on getting those teams right and that means the right managers. Whilst I was lucky with the managers we had I do like Gary Player’s view that you make your own luck. If you have ever been lucky enough to be a member of a successful team you will have felt it! Being part of something that is working well is great fun. So how would a ‘people centric’ business face these challenges. Good managers look after their people, get to know them, understand and value them, coach and sometimes mentor them, give tough love, feedback and importantly spend time with people. The last point is an important one as that can be the limiting factor especially in busy stressful times. Eyes go off the ball or (for squash players) you get pulled off the T. Very simply people also need to know what you need them to do. Going back to my old CEO above we had launched a new proposition for higher value customers and established teams of people throughout the UK to relationship manage these customers. We were presenting the launch plan and he said to me ‘do they all know what to do’! To be honest the answer was no! The other vital attribute of a good manager is they never forget why they are there. They have focus on achieving their goals. Establishing the norms in terms of activity and what is required does result in regular high performance and it’s a tough thing to achieve. So a good manager is ruthless about achieving goals but not ruthless to the detriment of others. They find ways to get things done. So to be ‘people centric’ here are 3 ideas for you.

1. ALL NEW MANAGERS HAVE A MENTOR FOR A YEAR.In simple terms you can’t leave the above to the training course. Experience matters and find a Mentor for every new manager to learn how to get the best out of people and to manage their time.

2. DEVELOP ACCREDITATION FOR MANAGEMENT SKILLS So what this means is that a manager would achieve standards of people centric management. It would help in the development of culture and have the effect of measuring how things were done rather than just the result.

3. MAKE IT A LEADERSHIP PRIORITY this means talking about management and picking up good behaviours. Importantly ensuring time is given to the tasks required in managing teams well. And a final thought should we still be measuring engagement once a year! Is it not so important that we should find a way to get simple feedback from teams on a monthly basis? It would need thought through so it does not become stale but it does seem to make sense that engagement levels become a primary business priority.