Each year the pressure grows on all areas of a business including its people, cash-flow, leadership, innovation, business models, technologies and ability to implementation strategies successfully. This pressure can lead to issues arising across the business that ultimately impact its overall growth and profit potential.

Standing back from all the specific issues stemming from this 'high pace' of doing business most can quickly be related back to the in-ability to implement 'change' successfully.

So what does a business leader or owner do? What are the strategies that should be implemented to 'adjust' the business and its people to this NEW normal environment for doing business?

Here are three strategies that can assist businesses and teams cope with the high pace of doing business:

Strategy 1 - Focus on Micro tasks
Think back to the last planning session you had or project team you were involved in. What was the nature of the strategies and actions that were set? Were they quite broad or were they very specific outlining the steps that need to be taken. Too often planning sessions lead to broad statements such as: 'Do a marketing plan', 'Refine our sales process' or 'Fix that problem' but rarely outline HOW to achieve those outcomes or the micro steps / tasks required. This leads to teams either heading down the wrong paths or not starting to change at all. The simple solution when you see this occurring is to keep breaking down the broad task into micro tasks that highlight the HOW and the steps required to reach the desired outcome. Try this simple strategy in your next planning session and you instantly see the benefits.

Strategy 2 - Provide just-in-time learning
Sending teams to two-day residential training sessions to learn new skills are slowly becoming a thing of the past. There is certainly still a need to hold those types of events in specific situation but 5-7 years ago every training event was a two-day off-site with little accountability to the new learning acquired or how it would be implemented. The retention of new learning was thus very low and too often forgotten (until a need arose and the learning had to be acquired again!).
To obtain the skills to address specific issues in this fast paced business world you need to shift the thinking of your people to 'just-in-time' learning. This means that as a need arises to address a specific issue (such as understanding the strengths and weaknesses’ of your competitors as part of a marketing strategy) the focus should be on putting time in your schedule to learn that skill in 30-60 minutes via an online learning platform or quick internal training session and then applying it in the field quickly. The retained learning is much higher with this approach as there is immediately application of the learning. Best of all a solution to the issue is provided straight away to allow momentum to continue with the desired 'change' or 'new strategy'.

Strategy 3 - Capture and track your strategies and actions using innovative technologies
How often have you gone to reflect on a strategy you development months ago and then had to spend hours searching through your emails, journals, files or go and follow-up a team member to get yourself up to speed again with the discussions that occurred and actions that were confirmed. Even if you have a good discipline of having 'One Page Plans' operating in your business (and even pasted to your office wall) it can still waste many hours in your day searching for the detailed plans you have developed or putting yourself back in the same 'head-space' you were in to reflect on the next steps you should take.
To assist this process and speed up your pace of implementing strategies it’s critical in any modern business to be using the latest cloud technologies / applications to help you track projects and tasks. What are you currently using in your business? Nothing? There are a lot of great, cost-effective options available. The time savings and productivity gains will be felt immediately and free you up to be focusing on the growth and profit of your business.

While these three strategies are not a magic bullet they do help you adapt both you and your teams approach to allow you to implement change much more effectively in this fast-paced business environment.

To assist this process I provide all my clients with access to Mindshop Online. Mindshop Online allows you to capture and track in one location all your strategies, actions and professional development that are only visible by you and me as your advisor. I can then provide confidential support and solutions drawn from hundreds of tools, courses and resources within Mindshop Online.

Mindshop Online is a fantastic way to help leaders speed up their pace of implementation to give them back valuable time to focus on the growth and profit of their business.

“Success in Business is all about people, people, people. Whatever industry a company is in, its employees are its biggest competitive advantage”. Richard Branson







We often focus on the What we do – great products, great strategy, and pay too little attention to the Why and the How. The Why being our belief in our role and the How being the way in which we conduct ourselves. I had a boss earlier in my career who was very fond of sound bites and one or her favourites was ‘If you can’t do people, you can’t do business’. I have never forgotten this easy to say, but hard to do lesson. But is it so hard? Some context around culture and a definition of Emotional Intelligence may help.

What Emotional Intelligence is and why it matters

A pretty good definition is from Peter Salovey & John D Mayer as far back as 1960. “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions".

To my mind it’s the effect you have on your self and on others – the impact of behaviour. As we know, good, indifferent or bad behaviours significantly affect those around us. Workplaces are communities of people – these people need to feel good about each other and whom they work for.

According to Salovey & Mayer there are 4 key components of emotional intelligence:

Perception: The ability to read other people’s non-verbal cues. Body language, facial expressions, reading the room. How many times have we all blasted ahead with what we are doing and failed to read subtle changes in how people are reacting?

Reasoning: Knowing yourself. What triggers your behaviour? What motivates you and grabs your attention. Knowing yourself is vital – because that has an impact on how you operate.

Understanding: The ability to see things from somebody else’s point of view. For example if somebody is angry, aggressive, unreasonable – Understanding gives us the ability to think about what’s driving that person to behave in this way, increasing likelihood for a better outcome.

Managing: Regulating your own behaviour to create the best impact and outcome for others.

Emotional Intelligence = Behaviour = Culture

Booz and Allen Change Management survey suggests that 84% of senior and middle managers say culture is critical to their organisation’s success. In addition, 60% see it as a bigger success factor than either their strategy or their operating model. So it’s big for business.

Culture, I believe is the culmination of people’s behaviour, essentially, how things are done around here. The trouble with culture being that it is a hard thing to control, develop and change. I hear people talk about the culture of an organisation or team in very reactive terms, as if ‘it is what it is’. Where culture and behaviour sets are deliberately thought through, strategically set up and managed by leaders, they become key tools for individual and organisational success.

Barriers to changing emotional intelligence

Changing behaviour is challenging. The biggest single barrier is that we are dealing with the core of who we are, what has been learned subconsciously over many years. Many of us lack the tools and insight to effectively change what we have learned since we were very young. It’s not surprising when we resist somebody looking to change who we are!

The good news is that it can change – but it needs time, thought and focus. Within an organisation, the strength of the Why or purpose of the organisation helps set the guidelines.

Value of values

Values are critical tools for the business. They help to create belief in why things are done this way – i.e. the culture. Leaders who use the values to set standards for their own behaviour will be setting expectations for others around them. If it feels right, we generally conform – we want to fit in, to be part of the tribe. Over time using value sets to support clear business strategy and vision, leaders can create the boundaries for effective and collective behaviour.

5 ways to driving business growth through Emotional Intelligence

1. Create integrity against values, live them and hold yourselves accountable. These act as an effective filter for decision making. Combined with a clear vision it underpins a powerful growth strategy.
2. Engage and empower your staff. They are your best resource. Use the 4 principles explained above to allow them to feel connected and impactful in what they do. Connected staff will do wonders for your business and customers.
3. Recruit clearly against value sets. Get the right people in the business. Short cuts on recruitment and selection cost big time later on. You need to surround yourself with the best – in behaviour and skills.
4. Reward and manage on behaviour KPIs as well as business KPIs. If you mean it, then show it. Giving clear feedback and reward, says you take this seriously. Then staff will believe it too.
5. As leaders – lead the way – show how great values and behaviour combine to create positive outcomes for people. Staff will follow your lead.

Emotional Intelligence is good business. Those leaders that pay lip service to this may be in danger of being unable to obtain and keep that precious thing – Sustainable Competitive Advantage.

The importance of customer culture for marketing success
Tony Hsieh from the US online shoe retailer Zappos said “Your Culture is Your Brand”. This statement embraces what is becoming increasingly important in defining a brand’s DNA, where the leadership vision and behaviours of the organisation are dedicated to delivering customer value. This is a critical success factor to sustained growth. Customer culture is where the organisation is focused and aligned on the strategic brand vision and delivering the brand promise for the customer.

Leaders need the whole value chain to be focused on the strategic priorities, to be motivated and agile enough to deliver great customer experiences every day.

These leaders who are accessible to their employees and articulate a compelling brand vision, create an effective platform from which to drive strategy and deliver great customer outcomes.

Organisational barriers that successful leaders must overcome
Day to day commercial reality can block what might be seen as the ‘softer side’ of doing business. Sue McDonald, Marketing and Communications Director Serco Global Services Australia says ‘‘Many large organisations are dealing with short term pressures; changing culture can feel too big, particularly when it needs to be effective across international geographies”.

At the same time, many employees feel they don’t have anything to do with the customer. David Bradley Senior Manager Marketing at CGU says; “The greater the distance from the customer, the bigger the challenge in getting discretionary effort for the customer”.

For CEOs, personal connection with employees and customers becomes bigger and more complex as the organization grows. “Lack of culture focus can occur at the top of the organization, growth forces this’”states Valerie Beeck General Manager, Marketing and Development of Independence Australia. Peter Zafiris, National Sales and Marketing Manager of Bluescope Steel agrees “Change is always constant, but many CEOs are in the position of saying ‘give me the voice of this organization and tell me what to do’ ”.

Chris Khor CEO of Chorus Executive, supports this notion that size can hinder the achievement of the right culture. “There has been a trend where great talent is actively seeking roles in to smaller organisations. There are a number of reasons including; greater access to leadership and decision makers, ability to make a greater impact on the business, strategy and culture, increased agility and flexibility and often a more defined company culture especially when the founder is still actively involved in the business”

How leaders can create a culture for customer
A priority is that a customer philosophy has to be owned and initiated by the leaders. This sentiment is echoed by Peter Zafiris. ‘Leaders as well as teams have to spend time in front of the customer’. “The brand promise must be demonstrated and articulated by leaders”. Zafiris adds; “Leaders must deliver on the brand values through appropriate and visible behaviours. Culture matters most when change happens.”

Chris Gilbert, Vice President, Director of Sales and Marketing IMG Australia talks about the small but effective things leaders can do to engage. “Things like creating opportunities for staff to book time slots to communicate directly with the CEO. It’s so effective and symbolic when CEO’s make themselves available to the entire organization in a one on one setting”.

Skev Ioannou Marketing Leader in Social Business and Collaboration Solutions at IBM advocates leaders facilitating staff discussions on a range of topics – these can be set up and supported by blogs and webcasts. This creates an avenue for staff to have input on new ideas, develop existing ones, with leaders measured on the outcomes. Skev says “Being part of these internal forums gives ideas internal credibility”. Staff engagement happens when employees can engage each other and with their leaders.

Chris Khor believes that leaders in business should be judged on hard measures such as business outcomes but also soft measures such as leadership
skills. “Measures may include 360 feedback measures, employee engagement and development, and KPIs that also focus on employee promotion, and employee skills enhancement, rather than just business outcomes”.

Organisations need to be agile for customer. By being clear on the brand vision and effectively engaging all staff to be passionate customer champions, the organisation is much more likely to deliver sustained and positive customer experiences. The following model illustrates the flow of the brand and customer promise through clarity of vision, focus for customer, and engaged staff.

Summary. Six key principles for leaders:

• Be clear on the brand vision and brand promise
  
  
• Don’t be shy, be visible and accessible to both customer and staff
  
  
• Empower your people to deliver the brand promise to the customer
  
  
• Determine gaps in the customer experience delivery and improve
  
  
• Celebrate the importance of customer and tell the stories
  
  
• Create visible crusades for customer 

Conclusion 
Although the barriers to achieving a lasting customer culture are not easily or quickly overcome, many companies such as Zappos are reaping the benefit of creating the customer culture for their brand. The principles around visible leadership, staff empowerment and clarity of brand are key to delivering lasting customer focus in the organization.

Articles for further reading:

‘It’s time to rethink the employee engagement issue’ Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com

‘Ushering in the new era for customer experience’. Thunderhead.com. http://www.thunderhead.com

An excerpt from the book, Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your

Business, by Francis Frei and Anne Morriss http://www.inc.com/inc-advisor/zappos-managing-people- uncommon-service.html

Upgrade Your Company's Customer Service Culture Through Positive Peer Pressure. http://www.forbes.com 

Consider this. How can you as a leader create an environment where employees are energised and passionate enough to play their role in delivering the organisation's strategy and customer goals? Sounds obvious, but employees are people, with particular points of view, some of which leaders hear, most of which they don't. Those highly customer centric and agile organisations are adept at keeping pace with and recognising employee needs for input, creativity and adding value.

The employee market is changing

It is predicted that by the year 2020 (only six years away!) as many as half of Australia’s workers will be employed on a contingent, project-based arrangement. According to research by recruitment firm Hays, 83.1 per cent of employers say up to a quarter of their workforces are made up of these workers. Lost productivity due to employee disengagement costs more than $300 billion a year in the US. However research by Amabile TM1, Kramer SJ in 2005 ‘Inner work life: understanding the subtext of business performance’. They found that the single most important differentiator for employees was their sense of being able to make progress in their work and deliver value.

What can leaders do?

Apply external brand principles internally by knowing your target audience as people. Brand decisions are about people’s lives, choices, who they are and who they aspire to be, their values. Clearly a one size approach to employee engagement and happiness does not fit all! Employees have choices, so emotional outcomes are as important for them as for customers.

Here are some key areas for leaders to help stimulate a creative and customer centric culture;

• Listen to and empower your people - everybody, and I mean everybody, has a point of view. Really show that you can listen. Provide regular, visible outlets and forums for people to express that view – you’ll be amazed at what wealth of ideas insights and underlying passion sits in your organisation and how your customers can benefit.

• Don’t be shy – be a visible leader and align with your brand internally and externally. Clearly understand your brand’s personality, its values and show evidence of this in action both to your staff and customers. Remember, your teams watch you carefully and will take your lead.

• Think differently, but simply – as leaders, try simple changes to how you create a different work environment. E.g. more informal gatherings to share updates and ideas, meetings can be at little or no cost off site to create fresh thinking e.g. in the park!

• Determine gaps in customer experience - understand your brand today in terms of delivering the customer experience across all touch points and where you aspire it to be – where are the leaks in terms of customer experience quality, what are the root causes, get your teams to contribute and share perspective. It’s them after all that will put actions into place.

• Celebrate the importance of customer – bring them to life across all parts of the customer journey – sales, technical support, customer service, marketing, advertising, bring them into the organization live or virtually – show customers as real people with names, lives and personalities. Create the human side to your brand.

• Think of the organization as a tribe – so tell the tribal stories. Brands are dynamic things, but without people behind them they are nothing – so tell the stories of the people behind the brand, successful outcomes and failures, customer experiences, they all form part of the brand folklore.

• Create a crusade - this can be big or smaller crusades, but following a common cause or a rallying cry, especially if its about customer, can give people a belief and something to care for, something that goes beyond the norm. It’s about leadership, but when it works it really works.

Ultimately, by creating happy and engaged employees we can accelerate the process of moving employees from a general awareness of the organisation’s goals, through to being passionate brand and customer advocates. The organization can see benefits in terms of better creativity, customer outcomes, loyalty and staff engagement.

For many organisations the brand focus is largely directed externally, for all the right reasons – customers, competitors, the market. The question is, how well do people within the organisation live and deliver the brand, compared to how you want it to be? How well are the people in the organisation connected to the customer and your brand experience ambition? Quite simply, many employees are not as emotionally connected to the internal brand as they are to the products and services they buy in everyday life outside of work. When employees feel great about the brand and the importance of customer, this allows them to play their role in delivering the unique benefits of the organisation’s brand through to the customer experience.

Customer Passion at Zappos

Zappos the US online shoe retailer exemplifies the notion of employees living the brand to drive great customer experiences. Zappos successfully connects very clear, customer centric brand values to employees and this has a direct effect to their customer service quality. An excerpt from the book, Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business, by Francis Frei and Anne Morriss sets out a very neat case study of Zappos culture and the corresponding effect on staff loyalty and customer service. The key point here is staff empowerment – aligning their values with the company’s values. It’s very compelling, because it empowers people to be who they are.

The Zappos case study is a worthwhile read – it might be seen by some as quite an extreme example of culture, but consider the principles at play; leadership, staff empowerment, meaningful and purpose, authentic brand positioning and values. These principles can be applied to any organization, not just a high energy online retailer.