Customer-centric culture starts at the top

April 4, 2011 - PRLog -- Leaders who once considered customer service as something that's soft, or not vital to the organization's bottom line, have had to shift their mindset and change their organizations, because strong evidence shows that customer-centric companies strongly outperform their rivals.

But changing organizational culture is not easy to do.

Organizational cultures are a collective set of values, habits and behaviors, and unwritten and written rules of how people work with each other, with customers, and with other stakeholders. Just as with changing any habit, when a CEO sees the need to create a more customer-centric culture, he or she will have to overcome inertia or resistance to change—a phenomenon we call "The Jaws of Culture."

In our work with CEOs for more than 30 years, we have found that change must begin at the top. Here are four priorities for CEOs to keep in mind when transforming their culture to ensure that customer experience stands out as a central focus.

1. Become the sponsor and cast the right shadow
A customer-centric culture cannot be created or sustained unless the CEO is seen as the sponsor—he or she must serve as the catalyst and "chief culture officer" to drive the transformation and embed it deeply.

We have coined the term "Shadow of the Leaders." It is based on early findings of our research, which shows that organizations take on characteristics and behaviors of their leaders. People have personalities, which play a great role in their success. It's much easier to work on the structure, the numbers, or the strategy. Yet, all too often, your company's initiatives can be chewed up by the "Jaws of Culture."

Leaders can cast the "shadow," right from the CEO level, by making customers a priority, by talking about customers and their needs in all their communications and presentations, and by spending time with customers to understand their needs (and truly making that a part of their priorities).

2. Make customers the focus in all communications, programs, and policies
Leaders need to have customers or service as part of the explicit, overall purpose of the organization; customers are, after all, why the company exists.

Therefore, everything from website content, corporate brochures, and press releases to the programs and policies implemented across training, HR, and other disciplines... must consistently make it clear that stellar customer service is not just a priority but the defining core of your brand.

Speaking about customer service as an integral part of your business will help make such customer service a reality.

3. Do for your customers what you do for your employees (and vice versa)
In our culture-shaping sessions with organizations, we often talk about the impact of moods on decisions and thinking. We call this phenomenon the "Mood Elevator." When employees are having a bad day, you can be certain that the customers they serve will also have a bad day.

How do you make sure both have good days as often as possible? The key is to help employees to connect to the belief that customers are central to them, and make those employees really believe that great customer service is part of their purpose. If they don't, and if their focus is elsewhere, then their customers' focus will likely not be on the great experience or product that causes them to buy and become loyal brand ambassadors.

I remember when we began our first retail engagement on customer service, we ended up with a slogan that captured this sentiment: "A great place to shop, a great place to work." It's hard to get one without the other. It all starts with the corporate culture that you intentionally cultivate.

4. Understand your customer
At the Conference Board's Customer Experience Leadership Conference, I will be co-presenting with Sharen Turney, CEO of Victoria's Secret. I am continually impressed by how that company really knows its customers. From Victoria's Secret sales associates all the way to Turney and her direct-report team, everyone intimately knows the customer. They can describe her, they can see the world through her eyes, and they can virtually think like her.

Their mindset encompasses the entire organization—how quickly people respond to their customers' needs, and, for example, how merchandise is designed or changed based on intuition that needs aren't being satisfied or have changed.

As business continues to become ever more competitive, leaders at the top are realizing that they have to differentiate themselves. We have seen that much of that differentiation begins with the customer experience.

Take those preceding four steps to make great customer service a part of your company's mindset and its brand ethos—and your business will reap the benefits.

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An international consulting firm founded in 1978, Senn Delaney is widely recognized as the leading international authority on culture change. We have worked with hundreds Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies to create healthy, high-performance cultures.