With BridgeCon2015 only two months away, I have to say that I am personally excited by this event. I am so looking forward to hearing from all the amazing speakers that are supporting this conference with their experience.
This first edition of The BridgeCon Scoop has shone a spotlight on Chloe Strauss, and what better place to start than by getting to the heart of what drives people to engage with the brands they represent and the people that they share this journey with. The importance of better understanding our internal and external customers is key to the future success of businesses, and Gallup has proven to give access to insights into this area. Chloe will share some of this data and bring it to life in a way that just makes sense.
Building a happy and productive culture is demanding and takes considerable concentration across key trigger points within the organisation. However, without a question in my mind, it is also one of the most exciting and rewarding adventures leaders will ever be on.
Having worked across most industries and in countless organisations, the one thing that often surprises me is just how many ‘sames’ we share when it comes to what truly motivates us at work. I look to an organisation like Gallup as a gift; their research team and consultants gain access and answers to questions that puzzle me daily. The work that they do allows me to see trends in behaviour, desires and many work-related people opportunities that I otherwise would not be able to access.
I encourage you to come prepared with questions for Chloe as I know she will take your thinking into new and exciting places. The BridgeCon strapline says “everything begins with an idea”, and this exciting start to the event will set the pace for the rest of the day.
Last week Bridge celebrated 10 years in business, and in that time I have seen an industry come alive across the UK and globally. We are often so struck by the latest gadget launch or advancement in technology that we forget the advancements in how we view people and brand.
From my early days when call centres became contact centres, all the way through to today’s explosion of social media, new terminology and new ideas – it has been quite a journey. Bridge’s timeline is only 10 years in length and in that time the Bridge brand has acquired so many wonderful experiences to tell as part of its brand story. What stories sit inside the timelines of some of our more established institutions? If the walls could talk…. or can they?
Over the past few days I have be researching storytelling and how this can be better used in emotionally connecting our people to our brand story. I am looking for great examples of companies that instil pride, passion and purpose as part of their employee engagement strategy. This comes at a great time as Scott Northcutt, Senior VP of HR for Bacardi speaks at our June 2nd BridgeTalks. Here is an amazing example of a brand that uses its proud history wisely, as both part of its active customer marketing and as part of building its internal culture.
Bacardi is the world’s largest privately held spirits company and the word ‘passion’ is very much part of the Bacardi brand story and culture, as well as being one of their brand values. This started me thinking about the word and its true meaning. Bacardi’s global campaign ‘untameable’ is an amazing example of how passion has been a driving force behind the brand since its beginning. One ad says: ‘Earthquakes, fires, exile, prohibition – sorry fate – you picked the wrong family.’ It takes viewers on a roller coaster ride through history, showing tipping points that would have ended its journey if not for the true grit and passion of its owners to survive.
We often think of words like ‘innovation’ as looking to the future. This is an amazing word to run along your brand’s timeline, pulling out those moments in its journey that exemplify that value. Values are not just words for today – they should be part of your brand’s DNA. It is not the job of management or marketing to make up values so they are fit for purpose. It should be viewed through both the eyes of an historian and futurologist as these values make up your brand personality and are the greatest driver of your employee culture.
Looking back to Bacardi and the word passion, as one of its values it can openly share its story on how this strong emotion had driven success and its people throughout its proud history. At Bridge we use the phrase ‘turning wordings into actions’ and talk about this in either our present and future states, however a wonderful exercise in building a brand story is to run this over the brand time line. Pulling out great stories of when the brand has overcome challenges and diversity. We all come with a few scars, but the things that make us human are the stories we can tell. If brands are alive, then the stories that they tell surely make up part of their brand DNA and act as learning points for its future.
I have always been fascinated by the intrinsic link between brand promise, employee engagement and how employees’ belief in and connection to their organisation’s vision comes to life. Years ago, in the height of the banking sector’s heyday, I ran a series of sales courses designed for relationship managers from one of the UK’s leading high street banks. The series was a huge success, with attendees charged and hungry to win new business. Their belief in the organisation’s growth and the vision of its future prospects was unequivocal and left a lasting impression. In fact, I was so taken by this enthusiasm that when setting up my own company, I decided that this was the bank for my business. I wholeheartedly bought into their brand promise and felt that if my business could be supported by employees with that much belief in their organisation’s offering, I could not lose.
Then, years later, the banking crisis hit and the promises once valued seemed a distant memory. What happened to the engaged employees hungry to sell the virtues of their bank to new customers? Suddenly it felt, even as a customer, that the message ‘You are lucky to have a job in such uncertain times…’ had stripped the banking employees’ drive and commitment. Perhaps it felt safer to do exactly what was expected rather than try to stand out from the competition?
Donning my undercover detective hat, I hit the high street looking for a new business bank that would once again share my values and commitment to employee engagement and meeting the brand promise. The first point I noted was that of the four branches that I walked into, not one had a dedicated business representative. After waiting in line at the first bank for over 15 minutes, I was given a brochure on business banking but told that the phone number listed was incorrect – yet the representative could not provide the correct one. A representative at the second bank wrote the business banking phone number on a scrap of paper. At the remaining branches, I was directed to take a brochure from the display. No one offered to take my details and pass them on to a relevant person.
‘We care about you and your business’; ‘we grow with you’. Brand promise matters to customers, and words seemed to restore my faith in finding a bank that could deliver. This was further supported by analysis from the Institute of Customer Service’s UKCSI (UK Customer Satisfaction Index) research that the banking sector scores relatively well on people-related measures and received above-average scores in areas such as friendliness of staff, attitude of staff and staff doing what they say they will do. I figured, perhaps over time, some branches had just become transactional shop fronts, unequipped to deal with walk-in business. I took this on the chin and entered into round two: a phone-a-thon, attempting to access the service I had been promised by the fresh and polished websites I saw online.
On the phone, I was met by indifference. At bank one, the phone rang out twice without an answer. I went onto their outsource call centre, who instructed me to call back in an attempt to get the department that I needed. I tried four more times over two days and finally requested for my call to be returned. No call ever came. At another bank, the representative told me that they were still being sold and rebranded; I should wait until the process was completed to become a customer. The third bank simply directed me back to their website. I never spoke to the fourth after three calls spent on hold for upwards of 10 minutes each.
Barriers and broken processes prevented me from reaching anyone remotely akin to the engaged employees that I met on the sales course all those years ago. Though their marketing teams made strong and enticing propositions, their frontline teams failed to deliver their brands’ promises. With employee satisfaction falling in the UKCSI from 77.9% in July 2013 to 76.3% in July 2014, I firmly believe that businesses must better focus their employees on the future prospects of their businesses, allow them to be participants in its future growth and ensure that internal communication reflects the external brand promise. It is time to put the drive back in the service industry.
As an advocate for great service, I often find myself being challenged by the mere thought of having to contact a few of my service suppliers – as I just know that I will be met with indifference or confusion. On the other hand, I have others that are such a complete delight to deal with that I am left feeling confident that I actually matter. Over the last few months I have been making a conscious effort to truly understand what is driving the different levels of service that I receive when I engage with a contact centre, and why.
Last year, Bridge was part of the transformation team that rebranded a 5-star hotel in Palm Beach, Florida from a well-known, high-end brand to an independent, new-fashioned luxury property. We worked exclusively on the internal messaging, employee engagement and building a new culture that would support both the vision of brand and better meet the needs of this new type of guest. It was not until working on this project that I began to realise just how the changing hospitality industry was a core reflection of new emerging customer trends and expectations across the board.
For those of us who have stayed in a branded hotel chain, we enter this relationship with a clear expectation of service. In the more high-end franchises, we expect consistency – no matter where we are in the world. I was surprised to discover the number of new, boutique, high-end hotels that seem to be opening up globally; these can range from sole independents or new, exclusive brands such as Marriott’s Edition hotels. So, what can contact centres learn from this evolution in customer needs and wants in a hotel experience?
This brought me back full circle to a recent call that I had with my AMEX Platinum contact centre and the delightful service that I consistently receive with them. It was made clear in one interaction that I was unique in my contact with them. They offered me a boutique-style service, one that was exclusive to me. They took the time to build a relationship with me on my terms, and took the time upfront to better understand my needs and the style of my personality. They clearly have the elasticity to deal with and respond to many different types of customers, and quickly fell into the personality type that best complemented mine.
At the hotel in Palm Beach, we ran several workshops on living the values. As true hoteliers, all members of the team play an equal part in the success of the business. We also underscored this with how the service offered in a boutique environment needs to be more flexible, and how to build moments that leave guests with goosebumps. One might argue that it is much easier to do this in the face-to-face, tangible environment of a hotel, and I would agree with this; however that is the challenge that the contact centre world needs to address and find more creative solutions to overcome as it seeks to eliminate barriers to success.
Customers are changing – as they have been since I began my career 20 years ago, and customers will never stop evolving. We have had the introduction of so many new communication channels over the last few years and people seemingly want things to happen faster in a world of immediacy. I have several devices at my fingertips, which means I can complete complex transactions without ever speaking to a person. Many organisations are building such a fortress around their contact centres that it has almost become impossible to find a telephone number to call. All this change has altered the face of both the contact centre and the relationship that we have with them as consumers.
For the foreseeable future, contact centres are not going anywhere, but I think that we need to give them the boutique status that they deserve. They have the ability to make true and lasting connections with the real face of customers. This now extends to all customers that take the time to contact them by phone, as it is a medium that they still prefer. This personality type is one that values being heard and one that builds loyalty in the live environment. For those that work in and support the contact centre, they too need to better connect to the purpose model of their organisations and better understand how they can offer five-star service to boutique-style customers.
Lately I have been noticing a trend where L&D directors from large international corporations have spoken publicly about how they have started recruiting people who have the right attitude, rather than a long list of relevant skills.
Why would they do this?
Years of Learning & Development experience have proven that employees can easily learn or pick up specific skills and information relevant to business. What has proven not-so-easy, is training employees to have the right attitude or behaviour for reflecting brand values and providing the desired brand experience for their customers.
Is this only important for customer-facing roles?
Absolutely not. Brand values are important not only in that they create customer expectations and an understanding of company offerings, but because they do this for employees as well. Employees should experience their company in exactly the same way that their customers do. If, for example, a company prides itself for its integrity, respect and accountability, it should be all of those things to both its employees as well as its customers. In doing so, that company will be helping to establish a strong company culture that is in-line with brand values.
It is imperative, however, in maintaining that strong company culture that a company ensures that its employees have the right attitude for that company. Should one or two negative or dis-engaged workers start bringing down the employee experience for everyone else, this could result in bringing down the customer experience as well.
What is “the right attitude” and how can HR teams recruit for it?
The right attitude is different for every company. It is key that the management team js clear on the attitude and behaviours that define their company’s culture, projecting the employee and customer experience by which they would like to be characterised. An employee’s attitude can often be determined by what an applicant lists on the profile of their CV, and certainly it can also be recognised during an interview. Sometimes though, showing an employee has the “right attitude” requires something a bit more overt.
Metro Bank, for example, has a very interesting induction and training programme for new employees which involves their participation in regular, company-wide activities that are deemed fun and genuine – like the conga line – which reflects the kind of up-beat, non-stuffy, personal banking experience for which Metro wants to be known. If a new employee disengages with the activity, showing that joining in the company conga line is not for them, this indicates that, perhaps, that employee is not for Metro Bank.
Old Mutual is another company whose induction/L&D programme is based more on technical skill/knowledge-based training, while their recruitment process is based more on finding candidates with the right attitude and behaviours.
“You can teach a call centre advisor about emerging markets and fund management and how to use our software to find information… but you cannot teach them to care or to have patience or to be genuinely kind and helpful. That has to come from the employee…” said Jennifer Graham, Technical Coach with Old Mutual Wealth.
When a person is not right for the company, they are not going to be right for the job.
HR teams must consider not only if a perspective employee is the best person for the job, but also if that individual is right for the company. Does this individual suit the company culture? Will she/he add to it or detract from it? Will this individual be a good and consistent reflection of your brand values whether working directly with a customer or sharing who they work for at a social function outside of work? Would you put this employee on a poster as an example of what your company stands for? All of these questions help to keep the primary question in mind – Does this person reflect your company values and will she/he continue to do so and be an engaged member of your team if hired?
On 2nd June, Scott Northcutt, Senior VP of HR at Bacardi Limited joined BridgeTalks to present “Inside the Brand DNA of Employee Engagement”. Scott has over 20 years’ experience in HR, with previous positions held at Walmart and DHL. He joined BridgeTalks to give insight into Bacardi’s successful people strategy.
To give some background, Bacardi is the largest privately-held spirits company in the world. It began as a family-run business in 1862 and to this day has survived fire, earthquake, prohibition, civil war and exile from Cuba. Throughout all this, people have been the key to Bacardi’s success, with family values close to its heart. With 8,000 employees in 160 markets; Bacardi now incorporates brands such as Martini, Grey Goose, and St Germain to name a few.
Guests were welcomed with Mojitos, Martinis and St Germain cocktails at registration and finished off their drinks to be ushered into the Courthouse Hotel’s private cinema. Dale Smith, Director of Creation at Bridge Training & Events began the BridgeTalk with his introduction. He spoke on brand and storytelling, and how for employees to really engage with an organisation, they need to be part of the story. Reflecting on Bacardi’s history, he explained to delegates that stories stretch out from the past into the future, and that success needs to be celebrated.
“A really great brand story in the now is like being a great futurologist and a great historian,” said Dale.
Scott then kicked off his talk by setting the questions for the evening: What is engagement, how do you know if you’ve got it, what can you do to get it and how do you keep it?
After introducing himself and the company, Scott introduced the “Virtuous Cycle of Sustainable Success” whereby enablement and engagement are self-sustaining. Scott went on to talk about Values-Based Performance. Here he drew some formulaic conclusions:
P + V = Y
If a person performs and has our Values, that is who we want and should build around.
P – V = N
The person performs but does not have the Values or fit for the Company. Then they need to leave the organisation.
V – P = ?
The person has the Values but is not currently performing. It is the responsibility of the organisation to check for job fit, see if the person is aware of the issue, offer coaching and training. These options should be explored before deciding what to do, but the person ultimately needs to perform.
Scott then gave delegates a taste of Bacardi’s recipe for success; how they achieve engagement.
He explained, “There are no silver bullets, it’s more a cocktail of different ingredients that satisfy the “taste profile” of your employees.”
Making Bacardi the place to be is one Scott’s directives as VP of HR. There have been many programmes implemented to support this, and Scott touched on a few; such as Living Legends, Talent Exchange, Step Up, Rising Stars and Winning at Bacardi.
In summary, Scott’s top 10 tips for engaged employees are:
1. Communication : Consistent, transparent and authentic
2. Values Based Performance
3. Ability to Make a Difference
4. Visible & Approachable leadership
5. Development Including Career & Succession Planning
6. Recognition – as an Accelerator
7. Make Tough Calls
8. Social Responsibility
9. Break down Barriers – Speed Decision Making
10. Have Fun
Finally, after a Q & A session, St Germain Brand Ambassador Camille gave delegates the opportunity to learn how to make one of the three cocktails they tasted at registration. This was a big hit at the networking reception with guests enjoying candid chat with Scott while sipping on martinis, mojitos and St Germain cocktails.
On Tuesday, 14 April Hamish Pringle joined the BridgeTalk community at the Courthouse Hotel in Soho to present ‘Engaging Employees with Brand and Culture’.
To begin his talk, Hamish tackled the question: Why engage employees? He explained that with more points of contact available through social media and contact centres, these days more employees are at the front line of an organisation, and therefore employees are directly related to a leading factor in retaining loyal customers.
Exploring the relationship between brand and culture, Hamish defined brands as not being rigid; each person builds his or her own experience and perception around a brand. As such, a brand exists uniquely differently to each person and so is owned by people as an intangible promise in the customer’s mind.
“Very often employees are absolutely crucial in achieving that. They are crucial in conveying that promise and then in keeping it,” said Hamish.
Hamish used the example of Tesco’s ‘Every Little Helps’ campaign as a best practice brand promise. In the early days, all business decisions in Tesco were taken with the frame; ‘does this help the customer?’ However, as time went by, this promise was broken and 53% of its market cap was lost in a short period of time. Now, Tesco’s new Chief Executive, Dave Lewis (formerly of Unilever) is in search of Tesco’s DNA, to find what made it successful.
“We know what it is, it’s ‘Every Little Helps’. And unfortunately I suspect that they are going to come up with something else, which won’t be as good, and they will lose that enormous brand heritage they’ve invested millions and millions of pounds in, which all their employees, all their staff all understand deeply,” said Hamish.
Next, Hamish talked about culture; ‘the way we do things around here’. He said, at the heart of culture is brand story, and culture depends upon brands having a coherent, well-articulated story. A great story can orient all employees together, unifying them to one direction.
“The single most important thing [a leader] have to do, is they have to have a great story, and they have to tell it brilliantly, and they have to never tire of telling it. And if they are a walking, talking brand ambassador, and culture generator, that’s the most powerful thing that a company can have,” said Hamish.
It is by creating a self-confident organisation, which is confident in itself and in which its employees are self-confident, that an organisation can find success. Hamish stated that a brand promise needs to be crystalized in its mission, vision and values; and this needs to be embedded and lived within the organisation. Leadership needs to communicate the brand story to employees and internal and external values need to be aligned; which means recruiting on attitudes and values as well as skills in order for employees to fit into the culture of the organisation. Staff should be fluent in the brand story; good advertising can create a language helps engage employees. It is also important that defined powers of decision-making are given to brand ambassadors in order to make discretionary decisions in the customer’s favour. Doing all this creates a self-confident organisation, where brand and culture are brought together most successfully.
“If employees are given the information as to what counts as good service in their particular market, for their particular business, their particular brand; and if they understand why the expectations are less than 100% and where the areas of weakness are; and if they’re empowered to address those areas of weakness, and if they just simply know about them, I think there’s a much greater chance that they will then deliver and manage people’s expectations and over-deliver against good service. So that’s how you get a great customer experience. That’s how you get the customer delight that we keep hearing about,” Hamish said.
In summary, Hamish put it simply:
Why engage employees?
It makes for a better, more successful and profitable business.
What is a brand?
A promise that has to be created, conveyed and kept. What is a culture? A natural fit between the staff and the brand story, living in a narrative that is completely engrossing.
What is a self-confident organisation?
One where staff are aligned, and able to ad-lib, express themselves around the narrative that has been delivered by the leadership.
Nic Marks joined the BridgeTalks community on Tuesday evening, 24th February, to talk about Happiness in the workplace and why it should be taken more seriously by businesses and business leaders.
Nic began his BridgeTalk by explaining how his background as a statistician led him to pursue happiness in his company, Happiness Works. Nic is a numbers guy, and as such, he has made it his life’s mission to be able to provide business leaders with the numbers and statistics that prove that the happiness of their employees is of utmost importance to their businesses financially.
Emotions are a natural and evolutionary part of the human experience, Nic explained. Happiness is an emotion that we not only seek but that drives us forward as well.
When people are happy in their roles, happy with their colleagues and managers, happy with the work they do and the services and support that they provide, they are far more productive, effective and efficient in their roles than when they are simply happy with their earnings. Happiness impacts productivity far more than productivity impacts happiness, Nic explained, and he had the numbers to prove it!
Nic also offered five key ways that people can take control of their own Happiness, particularly in the workplace. “Connect with others, be fair to yourself and to others, be empowered by what you can and have achieved, challenge yourself and allow yourself to be inspired.”
“Turn the music on and dance,” Nic said, as Happiness is important – both to the individual and to the business – and it must be taken seriously! Unhappiness costs businesses millions of pounds every year and should therefore be monitored on a regular basis.
How can you measure happiness in your workplace? Happiness Works, “can provide the measurements necessary to kick start positive change.” This is how Nic described his latest work, an online system that asks one question every day – How happy were you at work today? Using this tool, business leaders can begin and maintain an active dialogue with their employees so that they may ensure they are getting the most out of their workforce. (To learn more about this programme, visit moodmap.io)
The Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth was founded in 1856. Even today, it strives to provide the highest quality health care for all who seek it.
Thus, in 2013, the hospital launched its culture and employee engagement initiative, “Excellence – Making the Difference,” and with a renewed clarity of their mission and values, succeeded in bringing Service Excellence forward as a key market differentiator.
Taking BridgeTalks attendees into his confidence, David Marshall spoke about the history, the significance and the impact of this programme, about the strategic drivers and the cultural benefits that have seen this initiative succeed.
Following the amputation of his legs five years ago, Duncan Slater continues to amaze and inspire those he meets. Finding his own motivation and utilising the leadership skills he gained in the military, with drive and insurmountable determination, Duncan set out to encourage others in similar situations to follow his example.
Whether running a marathon, cycling across the UK or completing a 200-mile journey on foot to the South Pole, Duncan Slater’s story has been an empowering reminder to us all.
Never let anyone tell you what you can and cannot achieve. Never accept a fate you know you are capable of overcoming. At the end of the day, it is all about the attitude you keep. These are just a few of the lessons learned from Duncan Slater’s BridgeTalk.
