However, you can have the best systems and processes in the world - but these can be copied or bought by your competitors. What really makes the difference is the people - and one of the key differentiators is leadership or how they are led.
What does it mean to be a leader? This is one question that has academics in a turmoil as over the generations there have been many theories, ideas and concepts put forward, each with their own merit, but with none actually hitting the mark. These theories range from behavioural, situational, trait – to name a few.
For myself, having studied and delivered many leadership programmes, I believe that a leader will satisfy three basic areas: Vision, Engagement and Delivery – or what I call the V.E.D. Principle.
§ Vision: A leader will look forward, see
the positive in obstacles and planning for the future.
§ Engagement: Leaders are able to use
their interpersonal skills to engage, communicate and influence people to get
people on board.
§ Delivery: Leaders have the motivation,
will or influence to achieve what they set out to do.
When we contrast this to ‘management’, we can see that management
(and the literature around this) aligns to more of a process driven approach of: planning,
organising, monitoring and reviewing.
Simplistically, leadership can be seen as the ‘what’, and
management as the ‘how’.
In addition, leadership is also not just confined to the
higher echelons of a business (as some people natural assume) it should be a ‘golden
thread’ running through the whole organisation at all levels.
Jack Welch (ex CEO of GE) was once purported to have entered
a board meeting and said: ‘Don’t manage – lead!’, then walked out. His message was clear – that good leadership would
deliver what was needed.
What has this to do with Customer Service, and more importantly
when you are responsible for a customer service team or department? Everything.
The person supervising the customer service team needs to demonstrate
as much leadership ability as the CEO of the organisation. One of the main differences may be the scale
and context of their ‘vision’.
Adding leadership into customer service adds a whole new
value to the experience. Instead of just
applying a process management driven approach, try re-aligning the service to a
leadership approach.
For example, which sounds better to the team?:
Customer Service ‘Manager’: ‘Right, we need to achieve 100%
satisfaction rate in the next quarter. This
will be achieved by cutting down response times and focusing on the top
priorities first.’
Or
Customer Service ‘Leader’: ‘Right team, we aim to the best
the best in the business. There is a
National Award next month. To get this
we need to achieve 100% satisfaction rate.
This will take some work, but I believe that we can, with some effort,
get this award and prove our standing.
Right, to get this we need…..’
The first example demonstrates a typical process, objective
driven management style. In the second,
the ‘leader’ has highlighted the vision, the goal, engaged the team as they now
understand the reason for the extra work, which helps motivate the team to
going forward and achieving the deliverable.
The examples given are very simplistic, but they try to demonstrate
the difference between a management and a leadership approach. It is only one of many examples of customer
leadership, and is only scratching the surface.
The key message for those of you who
are responsible for customer service teams – it’s good leadership that really makes
the difference.
If you wish to develop your customer service teams to become
Customer Service Leaders, or in the key fundamentals of the PROUD Principle - then please do not
hesitate to contact me.
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