Tap into employees' emotions
Masterclass article in HR Magazine, October 2008 by David Evans, Chairman and Chief Executive, Grass Roots Group
Employers can only achieve an engaged workforce by making employees passionate about the service they offer. David Evans explains how to go about achieving this.
In the past decade there has been a growing trend to educate staff to improve their customer service skills to the best standard.
Many companies focus on enhancing their workforce’s knowledge and expertise of the products or services they are offering. However, the intangible element that actually makes for successful service is employee engagement - that is, employees being tuned into and passionate about what they do.
Despite its significance to a company, employee engagement is often overlooked by employers as ‘attitude’, and something which cannot be taught. However, a great customer experience can only be delivered by someone who really wants to do a good job and a greater knowledge and understanding of the company does not necessarily make sales representatives care about it passionately.
Employers can only achieve tangible employee engagement by tapping into employees’ emotions and getting them charged up about the service they are offering. So, how do they achieve this?
Before - Get the basics right
Take time when planning an employee engagement programme to assess the basics; who are you attempting to engage, what is their role, what is expected of them and what drives them?
The overall objective is for employees to gain insight that enables them to provide better levels of service. Consider the fundamentals of that experience – what it looks and feels like and how to make the experience real for the people who are learning how to deliver it.
Our work in O2 contact centres, addressing customer retention, started with the experiences that encourage customers to stay with the firm and the ways in which customer service advisors knew that they could create this experience.
Another key consideration is to personalise the customer experience by allowing employees at all levels to play some part in shaping the way it can be delivered. The result is that each individual employee feels valued and it gives them a sense of importance. If your staff feel valued and understand how they are helping the customer, they will be more inclined to do so effectively.
Create a cascade effect within the company so employees buy into the training. People are influenced by their peers and immediate managers far more than by their trainers.
But it is important that managers take some of the responsibility for getting the rest of the staff involved and recognise individuals who have already taken the training on board.
During - Give staff control
Open people’s minds to the kind of learning they need by creating ‘demand pull’ - generating interest and promoting curiosity about what staff can do to give a great customer experience. People will learn if they want to learn. They will also only engage with a subject if they are able to take actions and feel in control. Blended learning provides numerous opportunities for involvement and interaction.
Communication during this phase is critical to reinforce messages. Let employees know what is expected of them throughout the whole training process, and the reasons behind it. Providing skills and knowledge is crucial, but measuring the change and rewarding accordingly is equally important. Positive attitudes spread very quickly when there is overt recognition of people who do the right thing.
After - Keep the programme fresh
Any employee engagement programme should be an ongoing process. It should constantly reward the behaviour that is being encouraged. Refreshing the programme will also promote continued buy-in and participation. Good programmes will stand the test of time but should evolve to suit both business and employee requirements.
CASE STUDY - Above and beyond the call of duty
Any employee engagement scheme should constantly reward the behaviour that is being encouraged. The objective of the Above & Beyond recognition scheme created for Camelot, the UK National Lottery operator, was to equip managers to promote the tangible recognition of employees who demonstrated role model behaviours that were in line with the organisation’s brand and values.
The result has been a strengthening of Camelot’s performance management system; a better understanding by employees of how their work fits in with the strategic aims of the business; and managers who are better equipped to assess how well employees performed against clearly defined goals.
The scheme also improved the internal perception of recognition. It allows managers to offer immediate rewards to staff who demonstrate their behaviours in practice. In the past 12 months, nearly 980 Above & Beyond awards have been made, and a survey showed that more staff thought their manager gave credit where credit was due.