Recently I spent some time with a VP and his senior managers of a very large multinational company. I was amazed by the way he had built a series of constraints around himself that actually didn’t exist.
The meeting started with him outlining the work they currently had underway to improve their Customer Experience. After some two hours of hearing about what was essentially “stuff” I focused the conversation on trying to understand their strategy. My challenge was “Where are you trying to head”?
I asked them to tell articulate what was the experience they were trying to deliver? They couldn’t. This in itself is no surprise as most organizations cannot answer the question of “What is the experience you are trying to deliver”.
I showed them examples of other companies where we had helped them define their strategy and define the experience they were trying to deliver. What amazed, surprised me and shocked me was when the VP told me:
“There is no point in creating something like this (company values or a strategy) as our people ignore them anyway. Those things never work”
It was like he believed that all you needed to do was write them down and they would happen. He had failed to realize that once these things were in place this is where the hard work started! You could have knocked me down with a feather. We debated the point for some time. I diplomatically explained that it was his role to get his people to follow the strategy, after they are his people! But he disagreed.
Think about what he was actually saying. He is saying “My people ignore me; I am powerless to change anything; it is not my fault; we will always have to live this way.”
After the meeting I reflected on our conversation. I concluded this VP had built a cage around himself. A cage of constraints that do not exist. Actually he probably liked living in this cage as it means he is not responsible. It means he doesn’t have to learn anything new and he can live in his own little world where he knows exactly what works and what doesn’t. The sad thing is he had also constructed this cage around his direct reports and his organization as well who were at the meeting as well. He had condemned them to eternal suffering. The phrase “If you think you can or you can’t you are right” was written for him. He thought he couldn’t and he was telling all of his people they can’t either.
As I wrote in our first book Building Great Customer Experience; great customer experiences are created by an empowering culture, inspirational leadership and happy people who are happy and fulfilled.
A friend of mine, Brady Rafuse, wrote a great post: “Frustrated” the other day that highlights the impact of this in an experience.
It is unsurprising that this organization provides a poor experience and the sad thing is that it destined to continue until this person is removed and replaced with someone who things there is a world outside of the false cage that he has built.
By COLIN SHAW | Published: MARCH 10, 2009