The Performance Improvement Blog

Culture Change and Leadership

The culture of a company is shaped by the values and behaviors of its leaders. In an interview that N.Y. Times columnist Adam Bryant had with Vocalocity CEO Wain Kellum, we see how one leader’s values influence the culture of an organization.

In answer to an interview question, Kellum said:

There are some core tenets about culture that you have to have to be successful, but then the
nuances of it vary dramatically. One tenet is that you have to have a core belief in others and a respect for the individual. It’s about how you listen to each other, because I think that teams have the best ideas, not individuals. If people don’t share that belief, they need to go work somewhere else.

Another one is to embrace diversity, because people from different cultures and different backgrounds communicate in different ways. If you don’t learn how to embrace diversity in a context of respect, oftentimes you lose the best ideas and the best thinking.

The third one is that people have to sign on to the belief that we have to grow — not just growing revenues, but people have to want to grow as individuals. If you buy into growth, then you buy into being open to feedback.

If I’m hired into a company, my first priority is to help people understand that things are going to change quickly. The more people absorb the fact that things have to change, the less likely they are to hang on to the way they used to be. You also really empower people who want to step up to be part of the new thing.

If a company is bringing me in, they have less than optimal performance, which means you always have a people problem. Sometimes people just need more help. They need more focus, they need more structure, they need more feedback on what they’re doing.

Sometimes people are just in the wrong job. Some of those people are in the wrong company. People who want to win care about me weeding out the people who are not contributing their fair share. But they also watch very closely how you let somebody go, and how you treat them.

The experience of Andrea Whitmer, a customer of Vocalocity who happens to be a blogger, suggests that the actions of the company are aligned with Kellum’s values. Kellum says he values respect for individuals, growth and change, and helping people get into the right jobs. This alignment is evident in customer service and quality of the products that Whitmer reviewed. Of course, this is the experience of only one person, and someone who is pretty clear about what she needs from Vocalocity. However, there is no doubt that the company is trying to create a culture consistent with the values of its leader. 

Customer Service Run Amok

I’m afraid we are witnessing a trend in customer service that signals the end of a short-lived focus on the customer. Call me old-fashioned, but I think this is a huge mistake on the part of companies that want to retain customers in a highly competitive environment.  Not everyone wants to talk to an automated phone service or talk to a customer service rep who acts like a robot.

I recently called the “customer service and support” phone number of a leading telecommunications company in the U.S. I was inquiring about a charge on my bill that I didn’t understand and I also wanted to arrange automatic payment of my bill. Now, you’d think that a company that size would have state-of-the-art, world-class customer service.  That was not my experience.

First of all, it took me 20 minutes to find the right number to call. I started with the main customer service number which took me to a list of automated options, none of which described my problem. When I finally reached a live human voice, I heard the person say, “How can we make you feel like a valued customer today?” That’s a good start, but then we proceeded to have a conversation filled with lines like:

• "I will go the extra mile to solve this problem."
• "I appreciate your patience so much."
• "Whatever it takes I will make this right for you."
• "I appreciate your patience so much."
• "I will stay on the line until you are satisfied."
• "I appreciate your patience so much."
• "It is my goal to make sure you are a satisfied customer today."
• "I appreciate your patience so much."
• "Thank you for being the best part of [company name]."

At one point in our conversation, this rep had to leave for a few minutes to check on a request and when she returned she started saying these lines all over again.  I might as well have been talking to HAL. And then, to top things off, I got this question, “Would you say that I treated you well during this call today?” This question reminded me of the car salesmen that I once had who ended the sale by asking me to give him a high rating when I received the JD Power survey. Obviously, measures of customer satisfaction are figuring more into performance reviews than they used to. But I can’t evaluate service until I see if the problem has been solved or, in the case of the car dealer, my new car has been delivered as promised.

Now, in fairness, I might have been talking to a new customer service rep who had been asked to use a script until she could integrate the intent of the statements into her own words. However, in recent weeks, I have had similar conversations with customer service reps in three different leading telecommunications companies, all using a similar set of statements over and over again.

I worry that customer service, for the sake of efficiency, is becoming so automated and routinized that the words are meaningless and the service is annoying and frustrating. Poor customer service is symptomatic of a company culture that espouses excellence but, in practice, only does things that reduce cost and increase efficiency. Telecommunications companies, in particular, would do well to heed the advice of J. Higgins:

1. Listen to customers; pay attention so you can resolve the problem as the customer views it
2. Apologize once for the problem and then get on with solving it
3. Only promise what you can deliver
4. Make it easy for customers to get back to you if they have more questions or want to check on progress
5. Make learning about providing excellent customer service a continuous, on-going process
6. Always be respectful of customers

Cultural Alignment

All organizations have a culture. Whether that culture is aligned with the values and goals espoused by
the organization is the question that all leaders must face. Often, the words that are published by the marketing department do not match how that organization treats its employees and their customers in practice. Laminated wall posters sound good but do not describe how people actually behave on a day-to-day basis.

Some companies are aligned. For example, Costco appears to be a company whose culture is aligned with its values. In an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, titled “Costco CEO Craig Jelinek Leads the Cheapest, Happiest Company in the World”, journalist Brad Stone links the success of this big-box chain to its culture and leaders who practice what they preach. CEO Jelinek is quoted as saying, “We sell quality stuff at the best possible price. If you treat consumers with respect and treat employees with respect, good things are going to happen to you.”

And there are many examples of Costco treating employees with respect. The company pays employees well, the hourly rate was increased during the recent recession, and nearly 90% of Costco employees receive health insurance paid for mostly by the Company. And employees know that Jelinek cares about them. He speaks publicly about the need for an increase in the federal minimum wage.

This is in contrast to other companies that say they respect their employees and customers then don’t pay a living wage, or fail to recognize employee accomplishments, or don’t provide adequate training opportunities, or make it difficult for customers to access customer service, or misrepresent their products and services, or…I could go on and on. These kinds of actions contribute to creating a negative culture in which employees and customers have little trust and respect for the organization. This results in poor employee performance and low customer loyalty.

Whether bricks and mortar or virtual, to be a high performance organization for the long haul, companies must pay attention to the culture they are creating. They must ask themselves, “Is the culture of this organization aligned with our espoused values?” If the answer is "no", they need to take action to achieve alignment.