In a customer centric business, circuitry matters. Every piece of the people, process, operations and technology puzzle is connected to a centre of focus……the customer. But, here’s the inconvenient truth. It takes conscious leadership to connect the operational part of the puzzle, to the human side of the customer centric game.
Irrespective of how much technology, friendliness of processes, customer insightfulness and data integration, is thrown into the mix, the intentional outcome is the customer’s human experience and the emotional connection that is annexed to that experience.
What then, is the mandate required to produce a customer centric business that generates customer happiness? Connect everything in the business. It’s that simple…..and that complex.
What then, is the mandate required to produce a customer centric business that generates customer happiness? Connect everything in the business. It’s that simple…..and that complex.
Connectedness is a very elusive business commodity and the reality is that many businesses fail on the “connecting everything” practice. Just think about the ubiquitous silos that characterize many business cultures. When a business takes the time to become a connected entity, its operations become congruent and harmonious. It becomes a well-oiled operation.
This brings me to the role of leadership and a very particular genre……that of conscious leadership. This style is not one that is naturally-occurring in the world of business. Simply because it requires individuals to do a lot of internal work that emerges the best version of themselves. The pushback on this from many leaders, is that they do not have the time to do all of that “fuzzy stuff.” That’s code to mean that they would rather not do the hard work of confronting their fears, insecurities, scars and leadership malpractices.
The leaders that opt to do the work to elevate themselves to a level of consciousness that promotes mindfulness around all of the values that decorate many corporate walls, stand out like stars in a vast galaxy. These are the leaders who prevent their business from getting bent out of shape, by the many happenings that mar the journey to achieving business composure and remaining intact as an entity.
Conscious leaders are lynchpins in building customer centric businesses for several reasons.
When a business is intact on the inside, guess what happens on the outside? The formation of a gateway that enables synchronicity with whomsoever is within the orbit of that business.
Conscious leaders are lynchpins in building customer centric businesses for several reasons.
They are committed to building out a sales and service (customer experience) culture, where people come for the products and come back for the experience. Meaning that they are mindful of the need to maintain a delicate balance between revenue and relationships. To these leaders, the quest for money must not outrun the quest to build and preserve lifetime relationships. Whilst their competitors are busy chasing the money and sales targets, with customer relationships being the sacrificial lambs, these leaders are busy building airtight customer fan bases.
Conscious leaders are locked in to a three sixty-degree mindset. Meaning that they consider all angles of a situation or prospective decision. To them, everything is connected and they have elevated critical thinking to such a science, that the phrase, “connect everything” is both a personal mantra, as well as a business mandate. They are known for examining the circuitry of the business, continually, to ensure that fault lines are either patched, or prevented from disabling operations. Can you imagine how the diffusion of this style of operation across a business, can impact the thoroughness, urgency and consistency, with which customer solutions are deployed?
To the conscious leader with a customer centric mindset, teamworking and collaboration are core pillars supporting the promises that are made to the customer.
Another distinguishing feature of these leaders, is their ability to build well-oiled, intra-departmental teams, which, in turn drive cross-departmental collaboration. Typically, effective horizontal collaboration, is one of the most neglected areas of focus, when a business is developing its customer centric infrastructure.
To the conscious leader with a customer centric mindset, teamworking and collaboration are core pillars supporting the promises that are made to the customer. These pillars support continuity of communication and the back-end co-ordination of solutions. To this leader, they go beyond being fashionable buzz words that often show up with a high failure rate, during their execution.
Finally, the conscious leader is preoccupied with delivering value to both customers and employees. Customer centricity to him or her, is not a lop-sided phenomenon, it’s a commitment to a three sixty-degree perspective on responding to all audiences who are being served by the business.
One of the central tenets of conscious leadership, is the view that employees, customers and the business, should all win.
One of the central tenets of conscious leadership, is the view that employees, customers and the business, should all win. Equity becomes the driver in delivering value to each of these entities. None would lose, or be neglected.
May I invite you to consider the immensely transformative effect of applying this conscious approach to service delivery and customer experience?