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9 Reasons Why Leaders Are So Big On Hugging

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Modi has been honing this ‘skill’ for a long time!

Hugging is quite common among family and friends. We all do it and no one thinks twice about it. However, when a leader hugs someone everyone takes note. By a leader I mean anyone in a position of influence—a head of state, a politician, a business person, a celebrity, a religious leader or a sportsperson. Most recently, Modi’s bear hug with Donald Trump inspired endless op-eds and analyses.

It’s always interesting to find out the reason why a leader hugs someone.

A hug by a leader could be an expression of an emotion, it could be a gesture of goodwill, it could be an unpremeditated reaction to a certain behaviour, it could be a tactic to connect with someone or it could be deliberate strategy to achieve certain objective.

Let’s look at some of these reasons in greater depth.

1. To demonstrate bonhomie

When two leaders want to demonstrate bonhomie, a warm embrace is the easiest stratagem. It shows they have moved beyond a transactional relationship and have established a connect at a personal level. Such a hug is symbolic of a deep rapport and mural rapport.

Sometimes a leader hugs another much more successful person to shine in the latter’s reflected glory.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hugs with former US President Barack Obama were the stuff of legend. Modi had been earlier denied a US visa, so it became particularly significant when the two leaders demonstrated their friendship. Another hug that made headlines was between Fidel Castro and Indira Gandhi in 1983, during a Non Alignment Movement (NAM) meeting.

2. To be more likeable

These warm embraces typically happen when a leader seeks to be liked and wants to appear as a part of a group. Their hug is for an objective. They want to be trusted. When they hug someone, it immediately establishes a close connection— of course a leader knows whom and when to hug so that it’s not uncomfortable for anyone. We quite commonly see it during elections. When potential candidates go around hugging voters, children or seniors, often getting a photo op out of it too. They have broadly three objectives. They want to be liked by the voters. They want to appear as someone who is a part of the larger masses. They want to be trusted enough to win votes.

3.To show affection

This is the type of hug that a leader typically does when he meets someone much younger. The hug is to demonstrate affection. It is typically to someone who is much younger and the leader would like to show endearment and love. For example, when Narendra Modi was in Surat recently he stopped his car to hug a 4 year old girl named Nancy Gondaliya who came towards his SUV. Such gestures help humanise the leader.

4.To show caring

Sometimes leaders hug to show that they care for their team members. My friend Sanjay Rughani who is a CEO of a leading British bank in Tanzania hugs his team members regularly. This is to show that he is friendly and cares for them. This is does not mean that he is going to hold them less accountable for what they do. I once saw him giving a warm embrace to one of his direct reports in the morning. However, when it came to a business review meeting which got held after an hour, he was tough as ever with the same person about shrinking business volumes. In essence, the leader is acting like the head of a family—friendly but not a friend.

5. During festivities as a gesture of solidarity

There are certain festive occasions where a warm embrace is an integral part of celebration. It not only signifies brotherhood but also an opportunity to bury the hatchet. We’ve seen leaders of different persuasions hugging liberally during festivals such as Diwali and Eid, as well as during weddings and so on. For example, when Narendra Modi attended the marriage ceremony of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, he was seen embracing other leaders.

6.To recognise an accomplishment

Leaders sometimes give a hug when someone has accomplished something or has made a significant contribution. This hug signifies gratitude and thankfulness. For example, just before leaving office President Obama presented the highest US civilian award—the Presidential Medal of Freedom—to Vice-President Joe Biden. Obama called him “the finest Vice-President we have ever seen.” When Obama hugged Biden in this event, it was not only for his contribution but also to thank him for that.

7. To demonstrate empathy

Hugging is a way for leaders to show they empathise with common people and their problems. One leader who seems to have tonnes of empathy is John Kasich who is the current governor of Ohio. As a Presidential candidate during the last US elections, Kasich seemed compelled to hug a young supporter who’d had a run of bad luck recently.

8. An indication of a new beginning

When two leaders bridge their differences they hug and make a new beginning. A warm embrace indicates that they have decided to leave their past behind and move on. For example, when Pope Francis visited Egypt in 2016, he hugged imam of al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb for restoring relations between Roman Catholicism and Sunni Islam. Similarly when Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan wanted to keep their past differences aside and make a new beginning, they were seen hugging each other in Arpita Khan’s wedding in 2014.

9. To bask in reflected glory

Sometimes a leader hugs another much more successful person to shine in the latter’s reflected glory.

Here Are Six Ways To ‘Bask In Reflected Glory’ In The Workplace

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What is BIRGing?

This is a word derived from the acronym, BIRG, which stands for — basking in reflective glory. Or, the tendency among individuals to associate with people and entities who are successful. The entities could be a team, an organization or a social group.

These individuals seek glory from the shine of those who are successful and recognized by all.

They relish in the reflected glory of a powerful individual, a celebrated person, a well-recognized institution, a successful sports team, a reputed academic institution, a haloed think-tank or any other elite group.

Have we not seen people wearing T-shirts of a winning IPL cricket team or sharing in social media a picture taken with a celebrity. These are great examples of BIRGing.

Now, let’s take a look at our workplaces. BIRGing is quite common here too. Employees like to share their powerful associations. It is mainly used as a survival tactic but some also use it to enhance their self-esteem.

But why does an employee BIRG in a workplace?

Humans have a deep urge to look good in front of those around us. We want to be valued. We want to be taken seriously and have greater influence. We want to have an elevated status among those around us. This not only helps us to get things done but also have access to other resources.

Actually, many of us would have BIRGed sometime or the other. However, those who have low self-esteem and have doubt in their abilities do it more. Let me share examples of some common types of BIRGing in a workplace.

The interaction could have been for a very short duration in an elevator, in a food court or in the office corridor. However, the employee does not miss the opportunity to talk about it with her or his colleagues.

  1. Dropping the name of someone powerful

Have we not seen individuals frequently dropping names of CEOs or any other powerful leaders during their day to day interaction. They do it deliberately to achieve myriad objectives. They do it to show their connection with those who matter in the organisation. They do it to get things done, especially when they know that they don’t have the ability to sufficiently influence the teams to act. They do it to demonstrate their importance in their organisation — if they are interacting with the high and mighty they must be important. They could do it to stay relevant and not be made redundant by their bosses. This form of BIRGing especially happens when the individual does not have the confidence in herself or himself, doubts her or his ability to get things done and is not able to move the organizational mountain. Hence, they take refuge in name dropping of someone powerful. For instance, when a project manager is not able to influence team members to close pending action points, she or he says that the CEO is keenly watching this project and it can’t be delayed.

2. Talking about a chance interaction

This happens when an employee has a chance encounter with an influential leader who is counted among the movers and shakers of the firm. The interaction could have been for a very short duration in an elevator, in a food court or in the office corridor. However, the employee does not miss the opportunity to talk about it with her or his colleagues. They want to convey to all that they know people who matter. Sometimes employees exaggerate these interactions by talking about things which might not even have come up.

Sometimes, these interactions could also be with powerful people outside the company who matter to the organisation. For example, a mid-level banking executive might talk about their brief chat with a well-known banking regulator at a book launch.

There could be a picture with a CEO or other senior leaders. These displays tend to communicate to all that they rub shoulders with those who matter.

3. Placing pictures with movers and shakers

This is another form of BIRGing seen among employees. They will place in their workstations and cubicles, their photographs with well-known individuals within or outside the organisation. There could be a picture with a CEO or other senior leaders. Or, it could be a picture of the employee with a celebrity or a well-known expert. These displays tend to communicate to all that they rub shoulders with those who matter. This is a major status enhancing tactic.

4. Displaying certificates received from a haloed institution

It is very common for employees to display framed certificates that they might have received from a haloed academic institution. These are typically received upon completing training, workshops or management development programs attended at well-known institutions. These individuals may not have studied in these institutions and would like to tell the world about the few days spent at these places. For example, we have all seen people displaying certificates of management development programs that they may have attended at Harvard, Sloan, Wharton or even IIM Ahmedabad.

The other kind of certificate that people display is a professional certification that indicates their association with an elite group. For instance, an improvement professional displaying their Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification. This is done to show that they are a member of an elite group.

There are two reasons why they do it. One is to show to all that they have studied in these institutions (even though it was a very brief stint). The second is to enhance their self-esteem.

Also, usually, an individual who has actually studied in a reputed institution does not display their degree. This is because they don’t need the reflected glory.

As far as performance goes, these employees might not be in the top quartile. Hence, they want to raise their self-worth by mingling with those who are valued by the company.

5. Hanging around with high performers

This is another common form of BIRGing seen in the workplace. Employees look for opportunities to hang around with top performers or someone who is a rising star. As far as performance goes, these employees might not be in the top quartile. Hence, they want to raise their self-worth by mingling with those who are valued by the company. This is also a tactic used to raise their brand equity within the company. They believe in the philosophy that a person is known by the company he keeps. Sometimes these employees may be persona-non-grata with the high performing stars, still they don’t give up. Their goal is to survive in the reflected glory of the top performers.

6. Talking about time spent with a notable executive or expert

Another common form of BIRGing is when employees talk about the time they spent with a well-known business executive or an industry recognised expert. This could be either in their previous place of work or during activities outside the workplace. For instance, a newly hired software executive might talk about the well-known founder of a successful software company with whom he had worked earlier. They drop names of notable people in order to demonstrate competence.

However, employees who indulge in BIRGing will jettison this behaviour if the person they are associating themselves with fails or sullies her or his image. So what if they placed their pictures on the wall or liked to hang around with them — they will drop them like hot potatoes.This is called CORFing or cutting off reflected failure.

Please share with me examples of other forms of BIRGing that you may have seen in your workplace.

Does A Company Really Care About Its Customers: These Three Instances Will Tell You

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Organisations aspire to be customer-centric. They launch big transformation programs to try and align the entire organisation towards this goal. To make it happen, they look at customer insights, understand customer journeys, launch specific customer propositions, train employees and work on employee engagement programs. A CEO committed to customer-centricity tries to create a sense of urgency about it and gets involved herself or himself when required.

Irrespective of the efforts put by the organisation, what counts is its performance when the rubber meets the road. A company’s commitment to customers can be ascertained by three instances. They may look like simple cases that are easy to deal with but they can make or break the relationship with the customer and also put a question mark on a company’s commitment to its customers. So, here are the three instances which companies need to manage effectively.

When there is a product & service failure

No business likes instances when their product or service doesn’t meet the customer’s requirements. For a consumer goods company, it could be a washing machine breaking down within a month of purchase. For a hotel, it could be a vegetarian guest receiving a meat item in her plate. For a credit card company, it could be a customer’s payment not getting credited into her account as a result of which she receives a letter from her bank talking about the consequences of not paying dues on time. Each of these are cases wherein the organisation has let the customer down. It could be due to myriad causes, such as broken processes, inept product design, or negative employee attitude. Ideally, such incidences should never happen but if they do, the company should go all out to resolve the issue and take additional steps to ensure that the emotionally charged and angry customer turns into a loyal customer. Research has found that satisfaction with service recovery has a direct impact on a customer’s repurchase decision.

When a problem occurs it is critical to act with a sense of urgency, understand the customer’s concerns, apologize and ensure that the problem is resolved.

When a problem occurs it is critical to act with a sense of urgency, understand the customer’s concerns, apologise and ensure that the problem is resolved. The company should also give something of value as a compensation for the inconvenience caused to the customer.

This is also called Service Recovery Paradox, which is when the customer thinks highly of a company after her problem has been resolved.Unfortunately, many companies don’t get their service recovery right. They just look at it as a cold process and forget the elements of emotion and empathy required to engage with customers. As a result, the customer gets further aggrieved and doesn’t hesitate to talk about it with her friends.

Take Away: Look at service failure as an opportunity to deepen customer relationship. Institutionalise a service recovery process and administer it with empathy.

When customers want to sever the relationship

Companies go all out to woo customers. They try and make it easy for customers to come on board. However, what they ignore is making it easy for the customer to get out of the relationship. A customer-focused company will make sure that both customer-on-boarding and customer-exit are smooth for a customer. Sometimes companies deliberately make it difficult for customers to exit. This is because they don’t want to lose their business. However, they forget that imprisoning a disengaged customer is of little value. Forcefully keeping a customer could make her badmouth the company which can dent its image. When the company knows that a customer is peeved with something, the company should try and resolve her concerns. However, if the customer insists on walking out of the relationship, make it easy for her to go out. Rather, if the company has not been able to manage her concerns which have led her to exit, it should ensure that the exit is smooth and hassle free.

However, if the customer insists on walking out of the relationship, make it easy for her to go out.

I would recommend that wherever possible, have an “exit conversation” with the customer (this may not be possible if the customer base is large but could be done for high-value customers), hear her out and try and make her leave on a high. This is to ensure that she does not badmouth the company and instead talks about her smooth exit. Also, let’s not forget that the customer can always come back. Rather, if she is a profitable customer; the company should go all out to woo her back. I always recommend that companies should not only have a robust customer acquisition process but also a rock-solid exit process.

Take Away: Make it easy for customers to exit. If they haven’t made up their mind yet, try to change it. If that does not work, make it easy for them to go.

When customers write to the CEO

Sometimes customers directly get in touch with the CEO with their concerns (if they can lay their hands on her or his email id or telephone number). This could be out of desperation or because people under the CEO have not been able to resolve their concerns. This is another of those moments that can make or break a relationship. When a customer writes to the CEO on a customer issue and nothing happens, it not only puts a black mark on the brand but also on the quality of leadership.

Ideally, a CEO who is committed to customers should not only respond to customers but also ensure that the issue is resolved. Yes, there are CEOs who do it. For instance, in the UK, CEOs of Metro Bank British Telecom, easyJet, Thomas Cook regularly respond to customers directly.

Ideally, a CEO who is committed to customers should not only respond to customers but also ensure that the issue is resolved.

I had a very different experience with the CEO of a leading mobile services company headquartered near Delhi which is known for lavish advertisements on TV. When my problem did not get resolved by the store and customer-service team, I wrote a mail to the CEO. There was a flurry of action but my problem did not get closed. I could sense that they were not following a structure and just trying to close the issue. When the problem did not get closed and I got my connection disconnected. All the advertisements and claims about customer-centricity appeared so phoney.

CEOs should learn from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. When someone writes to him on his email, jeff@amazon.com he just forwards it to the concerned person with a “?”. The employee who receives the email knows that it is a ticking time-bomb. He reaches out to the customer and ensures that the problem is resolved.

just forwards it to the concerned person with a “?”. The employee who receives the email knows that it is a ticking time-bomb.

CEOs concerned about customer satisfaction should provide their email contact. And, it should not be a mailbox that is handled by the customer service department but an email box used regularly by her or him.

Take Away: When a customer writes to a CEO, her concerns should be taken up with utmost urgency and closure ensured. When a CEO is not able to close a customer issue, not just the company but the CEO’s commitment to customer becomes a question mark.

Here Are 7 Reasons Why Teams Often Leak Information

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In recent days we have been reading about leaks from the White House. Leaks are always symptomatic of disgruntled team members who spill the beans to make the leader’s position precarious. There are reasons why information leaks happen in certain teams. Information leaks indicate that the team is not cohesive and some team members are disgruntled and disengaged. So, what are the reasons behind information leak? Here is my take

1. Lack of shared purpose

A lofty goal which team members are excited about acts as a glue to hold the team together. They know they are a part of a meaningful effort and this knowledge energizes them to achieve the team’s objectives. The best thing about such a dynamic is that team members know that whatever the interpersonal equation among them, they have to make the team function. They are driven by a larger purpose and will never do anything to put the team’s effectiveness in jeopardy. Hence, there are no leaks.

2. Lack of trust

A cohesive team believes in vulnerability based trust — team members shun their ego and are brutally honest about their shortcomings. They don’t shy away from sharing what they are not good at. They do this as they know that their fellow team members will not use this knowledge to belittle them and will support them when needed. Team members are transparent as they don’t mind being open about their weaknesses and this helps in achieving the team’s larger objectives. Clearly, when trust is missing among team members they talk about it outside and leaks happen.

A cohesive team believes in vulnerability based trust — team members shun their ego and are brutally honest about their shortcomings.

3. No outlet to voice concerns

Many leaders treat their team members as robots. They believe these followers will execute what they are told without any questions. When you force people to do something and don’t take their inputs, they don’t own it. They do what they are told for some time and then retaliate. The right way to build a team’s agenda is to involve everyone in shaping it wherein not only are their ideas taken but all their concerns are addressed too. When this does not happen and members are not able to vent their concerns, they vent it outside the team context.

4. Autocratic leadership

An autocratic leader often believes he has answers to all problems. He believes that his teams are there to just execute his ideas and not think much. As a result, he will try and push his ideas on his teams even if they don’t buy into it.

So, you will have many team members executing an idea without fully owning it. And, when teams execute ideas mindlessly, the members become disengaged and the quality of final outcome suffers. Team members are left disgruntled, peeved and highly demotivated. They then voice their concerns outside. If you have a narcissist leader, leaks are likely. Members leak information to tarnish the image of the leader as they dislike him or her.

When you force people to do something and don’t take their inputs, they don’t own it. They do what they are told for some time and then retaliate.

5. No defined “Ways of Working”

Irrespective of the level of familiarity among team members, it always helps to establish a “Ways of Working” that stipulates the behaviour they need to demonstrate in their day to day working. It acts as a ‘Dos and Don’ts’ list for members and guides them in times of confusion.

Team members know that they would be held accountable if they don’t follow the rules spelled out in “Ways of Working”. Not having well defined rules can lead to leaks.

6. No fear of retribution

When team members know that they can leak information and get away without being punished, they don’t mind repeating the same behaviour. Companies such as Google have very clear rules around this. While a team freely exchanges information with its employees, it takes a serious view of those who try to spill the beans outside the company. The errant employee can be sacked.

Conflicts are opportunities to resolve issues and find the best possible answer to problems. When there is trust among team members, they welcome conflict.

7. Conflicts are Avoided

If a team’s tendency is to maintain bonhomie and shun conflict, the consequences can be bad. Conflicts are opportunities to resolve issues and find the best possible answer to problems. When there is trust among team members, they welcome conflict and members share their views, have solid arguments, and arrive at a beneficial solution. Remember, team members have different world views and conflicts are inevitable. What is critical, however, is to hear each person out, agree to disagree if required, and then stand behind the course of action decided by all. However, when team members are not honest with each other and try to maintain a pseudo veil of warmth, it leads to frustration and they never commit to an agreed course of action. And leaks happen.

10 Good, Bad And Ugly Shades Of ‘Choice’ In Business

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Choice is such a powerful concept. We all love it. When we have choice it gives us a sense of autonomy and control. No one likes being in an environment without choice as it is claustrophobic and constricting.

However, we should know that like many things in life “choice” can have both positive and negative impacts. One should know when to provide choice and not to. Here’s my take.

When Choice Empowers

Having a freedom to choose can be so empowering. Let me tell you what I mean by this.

1. Choice helps to engage

When employees in an organisation are led by leaders who do not micromanage but give freedom to them to operate the way they want, it can be very engaging. The leaders just set out the objectives and let their teams decide on the approach they will follow to reach the goal. This not only provides flexibility to teams, but allows them to be creative and natural. They are not forced to mindlessly conform to something that is being pushed from the top. Such an approach is intrinsically motivating for employees and they willingly go above and beyond for the organisation.

2.Choice helps to innovate

When employees are provided autonomy it can trigger major innovations that can be beneficial to the company. For example, Google allowed its employees to spend 20% of their time on projects they liked—an initiative which saw innovations such as AdSense and Gmail. Though Google has removed this policy, other companies have similar programs. For example, Apple has Blue Sky which allows employees to spend time on their favourite projects. Microsoft has Garage to work on their project using the company’s resources.

3.Choice creates customer convenience

The way customers like to be served varies with context. Let me give you an example from the retail industry. Supermarkets provide various store formats to cater to the convenience of customers. For example, Tesco in UK provides a range of formats to cater to various customer circumstances with sub-brands such as Tesco Extra, Tesco Supermarket, Tesco Metro, One Stop etc. So when a customer is in a hurry he stops by a Tesco Metro in a train station. When a customer has some sudden guests and has to grab some food item he goes to the Tesco Express in his neighbourhood. However, when he has time during weekend and wants to purchase items not available in the neighbourhood, he goes to Tesco Superstores. Clearly, choices that fit different circumstances and needs create customer convenience.

4. Choice creates ownership

When employees have the freedom to voice their concerns and ideas, they have a greater sense of belonging for the company. When employees have autonomy and are involved in decision making, they feel more empowered. No employee likes working in a company where even for small decisions they need to go to a higher up. And this freedom creates ownership.

5. Choice improves work-life balance

When employees are able to take breaks to complete their personal work during office hours it improves their work-life balance . The break could be completing some errand outside or buying a flight ticket online or just do some quick shopping. What happens is that when you allow people to mix office work with personal tasks they are more focused and have this moral responsibility that their work gets completed in time.

6. Choice improves productivity

When employees have the freedom to work from home they are often more productive. You can give them the option to work at the time when they are most productive—whether it’s early in the morning or late at night. At home one is more focused and there is this quiet pressure to complete tasks to as high a standard as would be expected at the office. At home one also has the freedom to take regular breaks instead of following a regimented schedule, where working despite tiredness leads to lower quality work. The biggest advantage is that one does not have to deal with office distractions.

7. Choice gives direction

When the goal is strategy deployment, it’s all about making choices. The strategic choices that we make give direction to the organisation and help it to achieve its vision. It gives focus to employees and steers them to work on important tasks rather than waste time on trivial ones.

8. Choice drives self-motivation

If you use pressure to invite compliance, you will likely face resistance. When people are told the reason for a suggested action but given the choice of whether to follow it or not, they are more likely to engage in the desired behaviour. For example, you are more likely to stick to a diet if you believe in it rather than if your loved ones try to force you.

When choice debilitates

There are instances when choice can have detrimental effect.

9.Choice makes decision-making arduous

Sometimes facing a vast array of choices (such as in a large supermarket) can lead to a form of paralysis and you find it difficult to decide what to choose. Sometimes we even walk away from the purchase altogether. This is because when we have more than five options it’s cognitively difficult to choose the right product. It gets exhausting. Here’s an interesting nugget: President Obama always wore a gray or blue suit. This is because he did not want to waste his time and energy on deciding on what attire to wear.

10. Choice creates complexity

With an objective to please customers, companies often launch a large variety of the same product as they want to provide choice. However, not only do these create useless complexity but if you probe deep, you will see very few of them really contribute to business volumes. For example, in 2015, with an objective to reduce its losses and complexity Tesco scrapped 30,000 of the 90, 000 products from their shelves. It found that its competitors Aldi and Lidl were growing in market-share yet only offered between 2000 and 3000 lines. Apple has successfully addressed this challenge. Each of their products has limited range which makes it easy for customers to choose what they want.

Use These Eight Guiding Principles To Build A Customer-Centric Company

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Customers are the reason why businesses exist. Many businesses want to be customer-centric and spend time, money and other resources to make it happen. But they don’t get the desired results. One reason why this happens is the lack of a holistic approach by the top management. When you think about companies such as Disney, Zappos, and Southwest Airlines, what differentiates them is their embedded customer-centric culture. These organizations openly share their strategies & tactics; yet people find it difficult to replicate their success. Do you know why? Companies can copy specific organizational practices but will find it very difficult to emulate a winning culture.

But, what is culture?

Simply put, it is the values, beliefs, mindsets, norms, and practices that make an organization.

Clearly, customer-centric culture requires changing the operating system of the company and includes modifying the habitual behaviour of employees, and how they think about the company and it’s customers. This is not easy and requires all the drivers to be aligned in a new direction.

So, what are eight key pillars for building a customer-centric culture —

Everyone, right from the CEO to the front-line staff to the janitor to the back-office staff, should know what comprises customer service.

1. Demystify quality service

Defining what is customer service is one of the first things a company should do to become customer-centric. Hence, the organization should come up with a ‘service intent’ or a definition of what customer service means for the enterprise.

This ensures everyone, right from the CEO to the front-line staff to the janitor to the back-office staff, knows what is customer service and it is not left to interpretation. Employees should clearly know that when they have to serve either an internal or external customer, they need to ensure that the attributes of service intent are adhered to.

2. Know your customer

Employees who don’t interact with customers often don’t understand their needs and aspirations. Hence, it is important for companies to provide their employees opportunities to understand how customers think, feel and do things. They need to know what jobs customers are trying to get done through the company, what are their pains and what do they expect to gain by giving you business. There are tools such as customer journey mapping, ethnographic studies, big-picture map, and DILO (a day in the life of) for the purpose.

One value that an enterprise on a journey of customer-centricity should not overlook is empathy.

3. Embed values that matter

Values are the backbone of an enterprise culture. They act as a guide for employee behaviour and clearly stipulate what to do and what not to do, in a workplace. Whatever values are chosen to embed to build an enterprise known for customer-centricity, it’s important that it inspires the employees and they demonstrate clear bias for action to do what is right for the customers and the company. I believe one value an enterprise on a journey of customer-centricity should not overlook is empathy. Empathy is a universal value. You can read more about it here.

Having decided on the values, these should be reinforced consistently and continuously, and senior leaders should live by them everyday.

4. Walk the talk

You cannot create a culture of customer-centricity if the CEO and other senior leaders make tall proclamations on a public platform and yet do not find time to follow through. They don’t find time to review issues around customers and customer performance. A CEO committed to customer-centricity will clearly communicate the broad contours of the culture so that all employees know what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior. The CEO should ensure that the customer-culture guides the organization’s strategy and the entire top management day in day out

5. Recruit & train to embody the culture

Recruitment plays a critical role in building a customer-centric culture. People who get hired should be for culture fitment. While looking for all roles, it would help to clearly state the must-haves and nice-to-haves. Even for roles that don’t face the customer, it’s important to ascertain if they demonstrate the values that make up the customer-centric culture.

Having hired people, company should immerse them on the dimensions of culture in the first few days and clearly tell them what is the service intent. Each employee should know how they would contribute towards customer-centricity. I always recommend that we follow the Centre of Creative Leadership’s 70-20-10 model.

Employees need to understand how their work impacts the company’s big picture.

6. Engage employees

Research done by Timken shows that companies that outpace their competitors in CX have 50 percent more engaged employees than those with CX that lags their peers.

Clearly employee engagement is a sine qua non for customer-centric culture. When employees are engaged, they like coming to work, are more involved and go above and beyond to meet the organizational objectives. Of course, ensuring this is not easy and requires many things to be in place. The employees need to understand how their work impacts the company’s big picture. Regular communication with employees not only helps ascertain if they have any issues but also if they need any help. Employees need to know on a regular basis how the company is performing and should be reached out to for their ideas. They have to be involved and empowered, so that they can give their best.

7. Install metrics that make a difference

Metrics drive behaviour. At a strategic level, the metrics that get installed should not only align with strategic aspirations but also help to embed customer-centricity. The metrics that are put in the core-processes should be customer-led and end-to-end cutting across the functional silos. They should also be intuitive so that teams can immediately take actions. To ascertain overall customer engagement, they should have metrics around satisfaction, loyalty and customer-effort. What’s critical here is that all employees in the company should get rewarded on customer performance irrespective of whether they are doing a customer facing job or doing work in back-office.

8. Establish standards but let employees innovate

A company keen on building a customer-centric culture needs to embed standards for organizational activities that face the customer as well as those that don’t. However, it’s critical that employees should not be told to blindly follow them, instead they should be told the reasons behind the standards and be provided the freedom to decide how to carry them out. They should also be given the freedom to change the way a task needs to be done if there is a better option. However employees can question these standards if they find there is an even better way to enhance customer experience. Remember, great customer experience cannot just happen by forcing people to conform, instead you need to create an environment wherein they not only conform but also innovate.

These Are The Two Things That Customers Expect From A Business

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What do customers really want?

Plenty has been written on the subject. Companies do tons of research to find out what their customers want. They do market research, commission ethnographic studies, set up focus-groups, and much more. These are all important, of course. But if you zoom out away from specific product attributes and look at customer psychology, you will see that they actually need two things.

If an organisation takes note of these two points, it will help the customer as well as its own bottom-line.

Please note that the word ‘product’ here includes both a ‘physical product’ and a ‘service’. An example of a physical product is a car and ‘service’ refers to the way the car owner is treated when he goes to the car garage for a regular checkup and overhaul.

I am talking about two things:

1. Consistency

Consistency is about fulfilling what has been promised to the customer every time. It is about delivering a product to the customer with the desired attributes every time. The attributes we are talking about are performance characteristics which the customer expects when he purchases a product. Consistency ensures customers experience the product or service in the same way every time. The two things which the customer abhors are ‘uncertainty’ and ‘unpleasant surprises’. And consistency ensures that both these concerns are addressed.

Consistency is about fulfilling what has been promised to the customer every time.

The concept of consistency is fairly universal and can be used in different contexts. What that means is that whatever performance attribute has been promised to customers, consistency is about ensuring that it gets delivered every time, in various ‘contexts’. ‘Context’ here refers to various distribution channels used to deliver a product to the customer. In the case of banking, among other things, these would be retail branches, mobile phones, ATMs, and contact centres.

A company can offer different types of ‘consistency’. These could change based on the product type and the market-segment it caters to.

Here are some kinds of ‘consistency’ that a company could provide the customer:

  • Performance Consistency: This pertains to product attributes and refers to consistency at two levels. At one level, it is about the company providing the customer the promised standards or specifications. At another level, after the customer has bought the product, it is about ensuring that the product performs in a consistent manner during its promised product life. Say, you go to purchase a mobile phone with a 1 MP (megapixel) camera. So, when you purchase it, the first level of performance consistency is that the phone in your hand should have a camera with 1 MP resolution. At the second level, having purchased the phone, every time you click a picture, it should deliver images of the promised quality.
  • Interaction Consistency: This refers to the way in which the staff interacts with customers. A company needs to ensure that all employees show the same positive emotions, pro-activeness, and empathy, irrespective of who the customer is and what he or she needs.

Whatever performance attribute has been promised to customers, consistency is about ensuring that it gets delivered every time, in various ‘contexts’.

  • Omni-Channel Consistency: This refers to the seamless and effortless experience that customers experience across channels. The focus should be on ensuring that customers receive the same experience across each channel and don’t sense any difference.
  • Communication Consistency: This refers to the messages that the organisation sends out to customers and how it lives it day to day. A consistent communication is about making sure that the brand promise and its values resonate across all customer touch points. For instance, if ‘transparency’ is one element of brand promise, the company should ensure that it is evident during the entire customer relationship.
  • Reputational Consistency: This about ensuring that a company maintains it’s ‘reputational’ commitments. This includes commitments met to regulators, society, environment and others. For instance, a retailer might want to ensure that it does not source products from vendors who use child-labour. And, it will adhere to this commitment even if that means losing business.
  • Experiential Consistency: This is about consistency in service at every touch point provided by an enterprise, and includes key elements of customer service beyond personal interaction. This includes things such as personalisation, convenience, ambience, access, and timeliness.

What customers want is that they have acquired a product that is worth the price.

2. Best Value for Money

The second thing that customers really care about is that the product they acquire should be available at a price they feel is right. This is essentially a perception of value in the eyes of the customer. What customers want is that they have acquired a product that is worth the price. What customers look for here is the utility of the product compared to the money they paid to buy it. There are many variables that can impact ‘value for money’ and it is a complicated subject. However, the common variables that impact value for money include novelty (how many competitors who provide similar product) , availability (how easy is it to acquire the product), economical life (the time when it is more economical to replace a product than have it), after-sales service, fitness for purpose (extent to which it meets the customer’s specific requirement), cost (this includes acquisition cost, maintenance cost, operating cost and more), brand perception, and so on. Clearly, if a company does not get the product’s perceived value right, it will lose customers despite having the best product.

Value for money’ does not always mean the cheapest product.

Companies should constantly work towards improving value for customers. One of the initiatives taken up by forward looking companies is ‘value improvement’ efforts. The focus here is to remove costs associated with producing poor quality goods. Of course, there are many other initiatives that need to be taken up around product development, branding and so on. One thing to note here is that ‘value for money’ does not always mean the cheapest product. Yes, in certain cases the lowest price is what matters to customers, such as in a Walmart store where the focus is to provide quality product at the lowest price. Hence, their constant focus is on supply chain efficiency and weeding out anything that could be wasteful. On the hand, in the case of an iPhone which is fairly expensive, customers don’t mind spending the money. Customers perceive that what Apple is offering in terms of features and service justifies the price.

So the next time you think about customers, remember the abbreviations ‘C & V’ which stands for ‘Consistency’ and ‘Value for Money’.

Are Slackers Dragging Your Team Down?

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Teams are an integral part of all organisations. Without an aligned team it’s almost impossible to achieve the strategic aspirations that have been envisioned by the leaders at the top. Our commonly held belief is that what a team can achieve an individual can’t. We also believe that in high-performing teams the outcome is greater than the sum of contributions made by individual members. However, this always not the case. A team’s performance can suffer because individuals do not deliver in accordance to expectations. Such individuals can let the entire team down. There are two primary scenarios when it comes to team members delivering sub-par performances.

Social loafers

Most of us have seen occasions when individuals working in a team put in less effort than they would have done when working alone. Their individual contribution is much less than their full capacity.

When the group size is large, individuals get lost and the importance of their role seems diminished.

This phenomenon is called “social loafing”. Here the individual is less motivated while working in a group and puts in lower amount of effort. The first research on this was done about 100 years ago by a French Agriculture professor named Max Ringelmann who found that group members in a rope-pulling experiment put in less effort than they would have done while working alone. Hence, this is also called the “Ringelmann Effect”. Social psychology researchers have subsequently replicated these findings.

There can be several reasons for social loafing. One could be that individuals don’t see how their work will impact the final outcome of the group. Also, when the group size is large, individuals get lost and the importance of their role seems diminished. People slacken when they see that irrespective of their effort there is no change in reward. They think, why not get away by doing the minimum? Sometimes team members feel less responsible for what they are supposed to do. This happens because the team size is large and no one knows what others are doing. Also, when size increases, the level of coordination reduces and we don’t nudge others to do what they are supposed to do. Social loafing also happens when individuals have something more pressing on their plate and don’t give sufficient time to the group effort. Members also don’t give their all when there is no standard of performance and there is no one to hold them accountable. Besides, they may observe others slacking and thus decide to follow suit!

Free-riders

Individuals who make no contribution to a team are called “free-riders”. The term “free-rider” is from the world of economics and refers to individuals who use common resources without paying for them. For example, a citizen may enjoy the use of roads, free education and subsidised healthcare without paying taxes.

Many of us have been part of teams where the bulk of the work is done by a few people while others just float around without adding value.

Teams too sometimes have free-riders who get by without doing anything. Many of us have been part of teams where the bulk of the work is done by a few people while others just float around without adding value. Such people usually operate on the principles that their efforts are not required and they can get away with it. The other reason is because nobody has called out this behaviour. With such members in the group, overall productivity of the team goes down and those who have been high performers slowly converge towards the group average. Unlike social loafers, free-riders believe that they are dispensable and their effort is not required.

Clearly, both the above types of people are disastrous for a team. It not only impacts the team performance but also degrades its culture. Yes, there are instances where some team members pick up the slack and keep the overall performance up to par, but this is not sustainable over a long period of time. It is essential, therefore, to solve the problems of “social loafing” and “free-riding” in a team.

Dealing with the dead weight

Here are some strategies that can help deal with social loafing and free-riding in a team.

  • Make sure all members in the team feel their work is meaningful and know how it contributes to the big picture of the organisation.
  • Define clear ways of working for the team, clearly listing “acceptable” and “unacceptable” behaviours.
  • Hold each other accountable. If someone is behaving like a free-rider, call them out.
  • Ensure all members have a clear role with sharp deliverables that can be measured.
  • Keep the team size small. You can read more about the advantages of this in this post.
  • It helps if the team has a distinct identity that the members enjoy associating with.
  • Provide regular feedback to team members
  • Rotate the leadership of the team so that everyone is on top of what’s happening.
  • Don’t wait for problems to happen. If you see the beginnings of dysfunctional patterns, take immediate action.

4 Lessons For Business Leaders From AAP’s Downhill Slide

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The Aam Aadmi Party was an experiment that promised exceptional results. When they first fought elections in December 2013 and came to power for 48 days before resigning, everyone thought that they had been wronged. The people of Delhi were prepared to give Kejriwal the crusader a second chance—he was a common citizen like them after all, operating from a modest apartment and travelling to work in a small car. Images of him sitting in protest and even sleeping outside on a cold winter’s night were fresh in people’s minds.

So, when the elections were held again in February 2015, the citizens of Delhi gave him a thumping majority and the party won 67 out of 70 seats. However, it was a downhill slide for the AAP after that with countless controversies, infighting, and not enough action on the ground. The people took note of everything and they delivered their verdict in Punjab, Goa and the Delhi MCD elections, leaving AAP high and dry.

Leadership is about achieving a larger purpose, which may mean creating win-win partnerships with your opponents.

According to me, AAPs tryst with power provides important lessons for business leaders. Here’s how.

1. Don’t let your values erode

Somewhere over the last two years, Arvind Kejriwal and his party colleagues seem to have lost the values they stood for—change, progress, simplicity and authenticity. Citizens thought they would build a model corruption-free government, but quite the opposite happened. Indeed, AAP leaders acted in ways that directly contradicted their “official” values.

For example, rather than follow austere principles, they flew business class to exotic locations with taxpayers’ money. They also squandered major funds in hubristic, self-aggrandising advertisements. What people also found weird was that Arvind Kejriwal wanted the Delhi government to pay for his legal battle with Finance Minister Jaitley. On top of this were corruption cases against the Delhi government and a minister who had to reign because of his fake degree. This was from a party that promised candidates with impeccable credentials. Clearly, everything that should have gone right had gone wrong. AAP’s promise of providing good governance was in tatters.

A leader should always remember that if s/he does not live the values that s/he espouses, followers will desert him or her. People get associated with a leader just not for their charisma but the larger values and purpose that they bring to the table.

Takeaway: Don’t do things that don’t resonate with your espoused values or you will lose credibility in the eyes of employees and customers.

2. You have to forge partnerships even with your opponents

This is an area in which AAP failed miserably. There are primarily two reasons.

The first is Kejriwal’s leadership style. He does not seem to be someone who is able to tolerate dissension or deal with it constructively. For him it’s “my way or the highway.” Thus anyone who questions him is shown the door fast, as we saw in the cases of Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Mayank Gandhi, Ajit Jha etc.

The biggest impact of MBBO [Management by Blaming Others] is that people don’t feel they are being led. They feel they are being taken for a ride.

The other is Kejriwal’s strategy to get into repeated skirmishes with the government in the centre. (Of course there is still some doubt over whether it is a “strategy” or just a lack of ability in forging partnerships.) Working with opponents is an art form, which is something I mentioned in a previous article about the Samajwadi Party imbroglio.

Leadership is about keeping a larger objective in mind and not getting carried away by one’s emotions. So if that means you have to partner with someone you don’t like, so be it. Go ahead and find a common ground, share the larger purpose and achieve the most important goals.

Takeaway: Leadership is about achieving a larger purpose, which may mean creating win-win partnerships with your opponents.

3. If you adopt MBBO, you will perish

What is MBBO? It is Management by Blaming Others. This seems to be a strategy that AAP seems to have adopted. Since they came to power, they have repeatedly pointed fingers everywhere but at themselves. There has been a lack of introspection and accountability. For example, when Delhi was overwhelmed by a toxic smog last winter, the AAP government blamed farmers in Haryana and Punjab instead of taking proactive steps. When they lost elections, they blamed EVMs! There have been many such instances, some of which you can read in old newspapers.

This strategy is counter-productive. When leaders don’t accept responsibility, they lose credibility in the eyes of followers. Followers expect their leaders to be problem-solvers and own up when things don’t happen as expected. No one wants a cry-baby and a complainer for a leader. The biggest impact of MBBO is that people don’t feel they are being led. They feel they are being taken for a ride.

Takeaway: Always take ownership. If a leader blames others, teams will not feel led.

4. Know when to respect the sanctity of certain things

In a nation like India no one tolerates anyone questioning our democratic process and national security. However big a leader, anyone who questions things is looked at with suspicion. Sadly, the AAP has been questioning the outcomes of the Punjab and Delhi municipal elections by blaming the Election Commission and EVMs. Earlier Arvind Kejriwal made a big mistake by asking for proof for the surgical strike. He did retract it later but came across as someone who questioned steps taken towards India’s security. Remember, every nation, every organisation has a set of things which a leader should never question. These are related to the edifice on which the organization is built. An example could be a new CEO coming and questioning the heritage of an enterprise or poking holes in the strategies taken by founders in the past. Doing this would be at one’s own peril.

Takeaway: Never question the unquestionable of an enterprise. These are hardwired to an institutional foundation. Questioning them would be rocking the institutional edifice.

Endnote: There may yet be hope for AAP—Arvind Kejriwal recently tweeted , “Yes, we made mistakes…” And I’ve always believed that when a leader realises his mistakes, it’s a new beginning.

Don’t Go Shopping When You Are Tired

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* You’re tired and drained but you just had to go to the supermarket. On entering you see the ice-cream counter at the corner. You are a very health conscious person and normally never buy ice-creams. But today you are not able to control yourself and buy one for yourself.

* You have been part of a rough board meeting. As a CEO you have been grilled on how you will grow your business by the board members. Your house is nearby and you are walking back home. You have been off caffeine due to medical reasons. Yet, on passing a Starbucks outlet, the aroma of coffee pulls you inside the store. You end up buying a café mocha.

* You are returning home after a long evening at work. You are hungry and enter a supermarket to get some spinach but land up buying a few other food items that you’d normally not have bought; you tell yourself you’ll consume it at some point.

* As a consultant, the day has been hectic and you have had to run a day-long workshop with the top management of your client firm. You are mentally tired at the end of the day. On the way home, you enter a store to get your watch which was under repair. A salesmen makes you an offer for an expensive designer watch. You get carried away by the salesperson’s talk and decide to buy the watch which you may wear once in a blue moon.

Have you ever wondered why these things happen to rational people who normally use their brains for decision making? If you closely look at all the above scenarios, you will find that in each case the individual was mentally tired. And when you’re very tired, your ability to make good judgement calls takes a hit.

When you are tired, distracted or hungry, don’t be surprised if you make poor choices or weak decisions.

A person may not be physically tired but still be mentally exhausted after a day of work, long meetings or even solving a bevy of tough math problems. He or she is in a state of what psychologists call “cognitive depletion.” This means you have little energy left to make quality decisions. And when this happens your self-control and self-regulation suffer. Self-regulation means being able to control your thoughts, actions and behaviours. However, when you are worn out and tired, you are distracted and are not able to muster up as much self-control as usual. You become more impulsive—whether it’s snapping at a loved one or buying something you don’t really need.

In 1998, noted psychologist Roy F. Baumeister in his famous chocolate and radish experiment asked one set of students to eat chocolate-chip cookies another set were told to resist the cookies and have radish. Then these people were given a puzzle to solve. Those who had consumed radishes gave up solving the puzzle, while those who had cookies continued.

Baumeister suggested that we have limited will power—hence the students who had radish did not have sufficient will power left to continue the puzzle. He also found that the energy that was used for self-control was also used during decision making. Hence after making decisions or doing strenuous cognitive work, people do poorly at self-control.

This is also called the “depletion theory” of self-regulation. What it means that if you have resisted from a temptation the whole day, you may struggle later on.

So what does it mean to us? It means when you are tired, distracted or hungry, don’t be surprised if you make poor choices or weak decisions.

So how to avoid these occurrences especially with your shopping?

Here are a few suggestions:

  • isit a supermarket with a list
  • When you are tired, avoid shopping that requires you to make a lot of choices.
  • Don’t go shopping when you are hungry; eat something before going shopping to increase your glucose levels.
  • Remind yourself before going the store that you will not make any impulse purchase.
  • Don’t make important buying decisions when you are hungry or tired.
  • Stipulate a specific amount that you will spend in a store.

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